Today, organizations around the world are striving for workforce diversity that allows people to show up as their authentic selves in a culture that provides equitable opportunity for all. It’s a big undertaking that requires commitment from the top and a well-defined strategy to drive change. To encourage meaningful, sustainable, multi-generational impact and change, I learned early on the power of strategic partnerships and collaboration. Here are four core operating practices that organizations must have in place to excel in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I):
#1 – Set a clear vision and a common purpose.
DE&I leaders must establish a vision for their organization early on and actively communicate it at all levels of the organization. At Raytheon Technologies, we’ve established that our vision is to be a bold, global leader in DE&I. We want to use our power to be a force for good, fueling stronger business performance, innovation, and greater opportunity for employees, partners, investors, and communities to succeed. Every employee is a part of this mission. That means being intentional and clear at all levels – starting with the Board, CEO, senior leaders, and beyond. This creates focus, commitment, and most of all, drives action with intent.
#2 –Measure performance and tie success to tangible results.
Transparency matters.
DE&I is a business priority — and it needs to be treated that way. Leverage data to define and refine strategic initiatives – don’t chase “shiny objects”! Communicating progress and results while continuously improving and upgrading to advance outcomes is a critical piece of the pie. What gets measured, gets done. That’s why we directly integrated DE&I into our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy and outlined clear DE&I aspirations to serve as a guiding post to our commitments. To drive accountability for our strategy, we have tied our DE&I aspirations to our Executive Annual Incentive Plan through our Corporate Responsibility Scorecard – an important step to ensure meaningful progress toward our long-term goals.
#3 – Create cross-functional, joint accountability to drive real change.
Advancing DE&I must be a shared responsibility. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” as referenced in the African proverb. Creating an “army” to lead the work is mission critical. There are moments of choice every day that can impact the employee experience, customers, suppliers, and key stakeholders. Building an alliance of leaders who are innately committed to the work leads to an ability to accelerate. We established a Global DE&I Advisory Board to drive accountability for our DE&I efforts aligned to our four Pillars of Action: Workforce Diversity, Community Engagement, Public Policy, and Supplier Diversity. In addition, our global employee resource groups elevate the voice of our employees and advocate for grassroot initiatives that translate to authentically impacting equity and inclusion every day.
#4 – Surround yourself by the best people. Lift as you climb.
Build your own board of directors. Advance your career and the important work that you do by being adamant about working for and with the best leaders. You need to hire the best team and remain a lifelong learner. When you surround yourself with excellence, it generates excellence. I’ve been blessed and thankful for the guidance, mentorship, and direct counsel and advice from former managers who have brought out my best and I will continue to be unyielding to do the same for others. At the end of the day, creating a company that leverages DE&I is all about the positive, personal interactions we have with each other.
When you have purpose-driven, business-centric change agents as part of your collective team – along with a clear vision, a commitment to measurable outcomes and joint accountability, you and your organization will have a solid foundation in place to advance DE&I.
