How to design a Roadmap to Diversity and Inclusion

How to design a Roadmap to Diversity and Inclusion Open Staff Week 2019

Sandro Costa sandro.costa@ipleiria.pt https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandro-emanuel-sousa-costa-76a10222/

What does Diversity mean in today’s world?

Diversity The condition of having or being composed of differing elements; The inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization. Merriam Webster

Diversity “Diversity here refers to individual or group-social differences among persons such as gender and gender identity, age, sexual orientation and identity, ethnic origin, cultural, political or religious affiliation, physical or mental condition and health, socio-economic and prior educational background.“ European University Association (https://eua.eu/)

“More diverse companies, we believe, are better able to win top talent and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making, and all that leads to a virtuous cycle of increasing returns.” McKinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters

“In education, studying in an international environment means regular exposure to cultures, practices and ideas. Mingling with a diverse range of people will prepare you to be part of a global society, whether it be within your business or personal life – not to mention the possibility of learning new languages.” EU Business School https://www.euruni.edu/blog/why-is-diversity-so-important/

And what does Inclusion imply?

Inclusion The act or practice of including students with disabilities with the general student population; The act or practice of including and accommodating people who have historically been excluded (as because of their race, gender, sexuality, or ability). Merriam Webster

Inclusion “Inclusion is involvement and empowerment, where the inherent worth and dignity of all people are recognized. An inclusive university promotes and sustains a sense of belonging; it values and practices respect for the talents, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of living of its members.” Ferris State University (https://www.ferris.edu/)

Diversity = Inclusion? Contrary to what some may assume, diversity doesn’t necessarily imply inclusion. (…) “Part of the problem is that ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ are so often lumped together that they’re assumed to be the same thing. But that’s just not the case.” (…) “Diversity speaks to who is on the team, but inclusion focuses on who is really in the game.” Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2019/09/15/the-dangers-of-mistaking-diversity-for-inclusion-in-the-workplace/#5 8bf15794d86

The Diversity / Inclusion checklist fallacy Women or people of color on the board Recruit a diverse staff Apply a D&I badge at the office wall

An accessible inclusiveness

Accessibility, a definition Capable of being used or seen; Easily used or accessed by people with disabilities : adapted for use by people with disabilities. Merriam Webster

An accessible diversity

Digital Accessibility Physical

Physical accessibility LISBON (Reuters) - Fed up with the obstacle course of Lisbon’s narrow footways and stairs in doorways, wheelchair user Ricardo Teixeira has taken matters into his own hands, giving disabled people the chance to fight back and instantly report violations via a phone app. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-portugal-rights-accessibility/portugal-app-empowers-dis abled-to-win-better-access-to-buildings-idUSKBN1JC0I9

Digital accessibility Understanding the Four Principles of Accessibility Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable. Understandable - Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable. Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/intro.html#introduction-fourprincs-head

To sum it all up Musically

We live in a Mad World

OECD describes it as a VUCA World VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. http://www.oecd.org/education/2030/Preparing-humanity-for-change-and-artificial-intelligence.pdf

Amazon Created a Hiring Tool Using A.I. It Immediately Started Discriminating Against Women. Thanks to Amazon, the world has a nifty new cautionary tale about the perils of teaching computers to make human decisions. https://slate.com/business/2018/10/amazon-artificial-intelligence-hiring-discrimination-women.html

Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?

‘Cause if you like it, then you shoulda put a ramp on it

Not all stairs are made equal

A Roadmap To Diversity and Inclusion

Some examples

5 Steps To start designing yours

Step 1: What does D&I mean for your organization ● ● ● ● ● Gather data. Know your numbers; Use quantitative data to characterize who succeeds and who doesn’t. Try to understand why; Decide early on how success is measured; Identify critical pain points; Agree, as an organization, which demographics you wish to target.

Step 2: Act to raise awareness and increase visibility ● ● ● ● Create one or multiple task forces to tackle the identified issues. These task forces should be as diverse as possible; Create support platforms or networks for minority groups; Highlight role models and relevant figures within these communities; Support mentoring programs.

Step 3: Build it from the ground up to be sustainable ● ● ● ● Communicate your D&I set goals as clear as possible. The message should be clear and heavily supported; Evaluate how you attract, recruit, retain and promote talent in your organization; Identify where bias exists; Introduce unconscious bias training courses to help people.

Step 4: It’s all about target consistency ● ● ● ● ● Create methods to measure success. You’ll only be able to know what succeeded or failed based on a unit of measure; Set Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to help you with the quantitative and qualitative analysis; Promote competence and lifelong training; Incorporate D&I in your organizations’ objectives; Make all management processes inclusive.

Step 5: A strong inclusive culture will prevail ● ● ● ● ● Promote a diverse and inclusive culture; Audit all activities within your organization, for inclusiveness, diversity, bias or other related issues; Create an organizational culture that is bias-conscious and able to raise questions in a constructive way; Lead by example; Measure your success. Make it public.

Universal Design Keep it in mind

Universal Design ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Goal 1: Body Fit (Accommodate a wide range of body sizes and abilities); Goal 2: Comfort (Keep demands within desirable limits of body function); Goal 3: Awareness (Ensure that critical information is easily perceived using different senses); Goal 4: Understanding (Make methods of operation and use intuitive, clear and unambiguous); Goal 5: Wellness (Contribute to health promotion, avoidance of disease and prevention of injury); Goal 6: Social Integration (Treat all groups with dignity and respect); Goal 7: Personalization (Incorporate opportunities for choice and the expression of individual preferences); Goal 8: Cultural Appropriateness (Respect and reinforce cultural values, and the social and environmental context of any project).

What you should leave with

Define clear objectives

Respect difference

Understand the value

Work within your limits

Do you wanna know more? Preparing humanity for change and artificial intelligence: Learning to learn as a safeguard against volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (OECD 2018) http://www.oecd.org/education/2030/Preparing-humanity-for-change-and-artificial-intelligence.pdf The role of AI in mitigating bias to enhance diversity and inclusion (IBM Talent Management Solutions) https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/2DZELQ4O

Do you wanna know more? The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles (European Commission) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeper-and-fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillar-social-rights/europe an-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en 5 steps to building a Diversity and Inclusion Road Map http://3plusinternational.com/2017/10/building-a-diversity-and-inclusion-roadmap/

Thank you! sandro.costa@ipleiria.pt