The fact that Tech organisations with a diverse workforce will likely achieve greater profits is not news. These findings came to light in a 2015 report from McKinsey & Company, and in another, a year later, from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
To achieve true excellence, Tech businesses must achieve specific goals related to diversity, inclusion and equity; in fact, Tech organisations can be broken down into 4 different categories regarding their performance: the struggling Tech organisation, the maintenance-driven Tech organisation, the solid Tech organisation and the excellence-driven Tech organisation. Different indicators are used to assess where each Tech organisations sits, including workforce composition, diversity standards and policies, diverse workforce in leadership roles, leadership professional development for a diverse workforce, internal leadership support, diverse supplier indicator, financial results, leadership accountability on diversity and disproportionality index analysis;
Here are the 9 characteristics of an excellence-driven Tech organisation:
Excellence-driven Tech organisations have visible diversity at different levels or the organisation
Excellence-driven Tech organisations use organisational population index for hiring and promoting
All diversity efforts are based on the organisational strategic plan and its competencies of success
Professional development of inclusion management is known and practiced by all
The organisation goes beyond hiring a person to lead the diversity effort and allocates a line item in the budget to pay and sustain this position; the diversity person hired is part of the upper management team (VP or above) and has great power and influence within the organisation
Upper management is now expected to mentor several diverse employees at a time; support from upper management is visible and expected
Leadership is unified on diversity efforts
Supplier diversity goals are put in place and centralised purchasing is practiced; a person is hired to coordinate procurement efforts; this person is an expert in minority business and women-owned enterprises, small business outreach and development; yearly salary is determined according to vendor outreach and internal vendor match success; first tier vendors are required to have a diverse vendor portfolio; the organisation is strong and above the bottomline
Performance appraisals look at diversity standards that include recruitment and retention for all the employees
There are simple and effective steps that any Technology company can follow in order to move towards excellence; it takes commitment from the CEO and from the top leadership of those Tech organisations to implement and execute these steps; as we move into a new economy, many Technology organisations are revisiting how they operate and are transitioning to a new model where diversity and inclusion becomes a top business imperative.