Strategic Advisor and Coach Jamey Seely, General Counsel & Secretary of Covetrus, is joined by Patricia Elias, Chief People & Places Officer of CSG, and Kasey Johnson, former General Counsel & Head of Real Estate of Inspirato, to discuss effective strategies for building a diverse team and creating a collaborative and inclusive environment for them. Individuals on diverse teams report feeling less comfortable, yet they and their teams achieve higher levels of performance. Our distinguished legal experts provide you with tools and tactics to promote cohesion, longevity, and satisfaction within your teams as they become more diverse.
Below are highlights from the webinar. To learn more, the video recording and podcast are available on this page.
The key to creating a diverse legal department begins with the hiring process. Thereafter, it is essential to not only nurture and develop diverse members, but to retain them. Best practices indicate that non-diverse team members also require training with regard to diversity and inclusion in order to foster open communication and cohesion among all team members.
Get the ball rolling with the NFL’s Rooney Rule.
The Rooney Rule is an NFL policy that was instituted in 2003 and states that every team with an open head coaching position must interview at least one diverse candidate. Over the past few years, there have been expanded iterations of the Rooney Rule to include operations positions and to require interviews with minorities and/or female applicants, and many of today’s leading companies have their own versions of the rule.
“I think of job descriptions as the threshold or, in some circumstances, particularly for diverse talent, the barrier to entry. If a job description is written in a way that is in and of itself prioritizing a certain education, or a certain background that diverse candidates might not have, they’re not as likely to apply and subsequently get the role. We took a really hard look over the last year — and a scapular approach to our job descriptions — to focus on what we really need.”
— Kasey Johnson
What do you do with diverse candidates once they join your team?
How do you make them feel welcome? How do you make them feel like the topic of inclusion and diversity is not just relevant in the recruiting process, but integral to the company’s culture? It is important to integrate inclusion and make it part of your company’s core values, not just words on a page. Make a new hire feel included – and valued – by ensuring that your managers are leading inclusive teams.
Consider making inclusion a part of the managerial evaluation:
- Change the thought process from diversity and inclusion (D&I) to inclusion and diversity (I&D).
- Develop an inclusiveness score for leaders.
- Include the score in their reviews, performance conversations, and personal development plans.
“Measurement of inclusivity is so imperfect. I cannot tell you if we’ve gotten it right, but we’re trying to get it right. We have a question set that relates to psychological safety, freedom to speak up, and having friends at work. Based on a mix of several questions, we establish an inclusiveness score and that’s how we assess our manager teams. The score is not grounds for termination, but it is grounds for a robust development plan if somebody’s inclusiveness scores are low.”
— Patricia Elias
Mentoring is the key to addressing inclusion and retaining a diverse team.
Host a “matching” day. Get a list of mentees and people willing to serve as mentors, then making a game of aligning people. This will also help to keep mentors engaged.
It is important to make sure that team members, particularly those who are new employees, junior employees, or diverse with few people like them, have a “go-to” person. Even if the “go-to” person isn’t of a similar background, the team member has someone to direct their questions to – or even just have coffee with. Knowing that there is one person who will always say yes to helping or hearing the diverse team member out is critical to creating an inclusive culture and to maintaining and developing diverse talent.
“Sponsorship is a new trend that I like because it requires a little more involvement on the part of the mentor. It requires me to really get to know the person, so that I can truly become their advocate within the company. I think it is a better concept for long term success than just serving as a pure mentor because you will be the voice for that person going forward.”
— Jamey Seely
Jamey Seely and our team of professionals are happy to help accelerate the initiatives that you’re already pursuing or to supplement your current strategic thinking to help you realize your vision. Please reach out if you or your organization may benefit from our recruiting, leadership development and coaching, or legal and compliance department consulting services.
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