“A culture change only happens when organizations go beyond check-the-box programs and invest in an ecosystem cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace,” says Donald Fan, senior director of Walmart’s Global Office of Culture, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He invites companies to consider the following in their DEI journey:
- Attain CEO and C-suite commitment to leading DEI in the driver’s seat.
- Develop a compelling diversity and inclusion framework and narrative that can motivate employees along the journey, including vision, mission, business case and guiding principles.
- Conduct an in-depth assessment of your company’s culture, purpose and DEI status through qualitative and quantitative analysis.
- Identify where to engage and how to win with explicit short-term and long-term objectives.
- Determine the game-changing measures to hold management accountable in sustaining the progress.
- Leverage design thinking to develop DEI programs that support and propel business growth and talent strategy.
- Integrate DEI into talent career lifecycle, as well as human resources policy, process and practice.
- Nurture an open environment with psychological safety to welcome and seek different voices, opinions and perspectives, while creating a compelling group identity that leads to greater cooperation and collective intelligence.
Read more about how Walmart and other retailers such as Albertsons and Target are advancing change here.