While a considerable number of diversity professionals can competently navigate organizational politics, even the best succumb to the pressures of an nonsupporting leadership and limited authority when it comes to the diversity initiative.

This second article in the series continues the discussion about the top ten things diversity leaders need to know to navigate diversity politics. The full list includes the following:

1. Become a cultural diversity leadership expert and actively pursue continuous learning
2. Be clear about your own diversity lenses
3. Take the sting out of the diversity program in your business case
4. Be clear about the diversity and inclusion ROI
5. Have a really clear plan based on the big picture of the organization
6. Get the leadership on the front lines of promoting diversity and inclusion
7. Become part of a diversity professional network
8. Establish allies within your organization
9. Align the steering committee
10. Request the authority needed to do your work effectively
11. Neutralize diversity trouble makers
12. Hold managers accountable
13. Work with unit managers individually
14. Avoid personalizing criticism of the diversity program
15. Pat yourself on the back

The entire summary of the list of items is too lengthy for a single article. I covered the first three items in the first installment, which can be viewed by following this link. In this installment, I cover diversity politics items 4-6, which are shown above in red font.

Be clear about the diversity and inclusion ROI

Until recently cultural diversity initiative funding was primarily targeted for compliance protection training. Anti-harassment, civil rights, and cultural diversity awareness training received most of the resources. Today, managers want to make certain that they are getting a sufficient return on their diversity initiative investment (ROI). They expect better talent selection, increased productivity, a reduction in insensitivity complaints, and improved employee retention for the resources they allocate. These are basic cultural diversity talent management expectations.

Measurement of diversity initiative ROI starts with defining the diversity initiative business case, determining how much the initiative will cost, and verifying the amount of return.

Questions you will address in making your case are:

Start with making a case for the initiative

One of the most impactful cases for a diversity initiative based on my experience is made with results from our diversity scorecard analysis. In one case, our client’s diversity committee struggled with getting on the same page about why their initiative was important. One group felt that the company had an obligation to society to promote a diverse organization. Another group emphasized the fact that the metropolitan area’s demographics were changing with the increased numbers of people of Mexican descent. The need to remain a competitive and innovative bank was a third rationale offered by another group of committee members. Different committee members were voicing different opinions about the group’s work to colleagues and managers as a result their different views about why the initiative was important.

We used the diversity scorecard method to create links along four levels of analysis: the bank’s bottom line (top of chart), its mission and vision, the operations needed to produce results, and the cultural competence needed to be productive (bottom of chart). Participants were asked a series of questions and the responses were characterized by arrows pointing between the four scorecard levels on the scorecard chart.

The set of arrows across the scorecard levels indicate that the bank’s ability to increase revenue is directly linked to its excellent customer service vision and mission, and that demographic changes require new skills in order to fill the mission and impact the bottom line. While other diversity initiative goals expressed by the diversity committee were appreciated and maintained in the overall business case, the culturally competent customer service delivery piece took center stage.

Diversity Initiative Goals

Once the culturally competent customer service cultural competence goal was established, the need to provide training became the focus. Obviously, if the bank wants to determine the ROI for training, the allocated resources, especially hidden expenses, must be accounted for. The assessment data from our example indicated that customers of color find the bank tellers so difficult to talk to that they avoid using the services to the extent possible. One young Latina said that “I have to go to the bank often. The tellers act as though I am a burden to them. They are unfriendly and talk to me as though I am not able to speak and understand English. I was born and raised in the United States.” The woman tries to avoid using the services. She is considering moving her money to another bank.

The bank tellers, on the other hand, say that they know it is important to provide each customer with excellent service, but find those with limited English difficult to serve. Their stereotypes about Spanish-speaking people being in the country illegally and not putting enough effort into learning English make it difficult to serve these customers equitably. Training is the key to making the customers feel included and the tellers feel more competent.

Measuring the ROI

The amount of investment in the diversity initiative is determined by the goals and time line. Our bank client wanted to have a competitive edge over other local banks in reaching out to Spanish-speaking members of the community. They invested in the initiative as though it was extension of their advertisement. They saw the investment as an imperative.

The most important factor in measuring the return-on-investment for training is the diversity initiative goal. Measuring the amount of new accounts generated by the tellers before and after the training, for example, and then comparing the increase revenue with the cost of the training is the typical way to measure the ROI. Different components of the diversity initiative can be measured in a similar way. The diversity officer’s salary, support staff, and employee time away from the desk for training are other factors considered in ROI analysis.

Summary

Take the political game out of diversity initiative by linking it to the organization’s purpose. Instead of getting caught in the trap of uneven commitment and negative stereotypes about cultural diversity programs, get your audience to focus on the bottom line. The rationale for implementing a cultural diversity initiative should be to improve the organization’s bottom line. A non-profit organization’s bottom line may be to improve customer service, while a for-profit organization may focus on increasing shareholders’ value. Help your audience make the connection with a diversity scorecard analysis.

The investment in an initiative consists of the cost of designing, developing, implementing, and sustaining it. By measuring the effect on the organization’s bottom line before and after implementing different parts of the initiative, and then comparing with the costs, diversity professionals can determine the return-on-investment.

The next installment of this article about Navigating the Landmines of Diversity Leadership will focus on (a) the benefits of belonging to a diversity professional network, (b) establish allies within your organization, and (c) align the steering committee.

By Billy Vaughn, PhD–If you like this article you will love this one (Click Here).