Introduction

Building a diverse and inclusive structure is a long-term commitment and requires time, energy and in some cases, funding. It is important to ensure that the whole team is supportive in building these before you embark on particular initiatives. Technology companies are constantly having to make rapid decisions about where to allocate resources. It is important to ensure that the board members of the company, any investors, management and day-to-day teams are bought into the need for a cohesive and comprehensive Diversity & Inclusion strategy.

A key step to ensuring company-wide support is to highlight the fundamental need for a D&I strategy. Ultimately, this means building awareness of the complex and nuanced nature of social justice, inclusion and bias. Where does bias come from? Generally speaking, bias stems from

  • Excessive reliance on intuition and/or
  • Flawed reasoning.1

Bias is a term that is often misunderstood or misused. This guide is concerned with bias in reference to businesses. For the purpose of this guide, bias refers to preferences, associations and assumptions that align with the historical, social, economic and political disadvantage of specific communities. Later in this chapter, we outline different approaches to, and opportunities for, bias training.

In order to get buy-in to a D&I strategy amongst stakeholders, it is worth preparing a short document, setting out reasons why management and employees alike should support the initiative, and the concrete benefits it will deliver.

Who owns this document, where will it live, and will it be featured in a staff handbook? If you are a founder, those responsibilities need to be discussed with your fellow founder(s), and/or the leadership team. If you are a HR manager, set up a meeting to discuss these responsibilities with the leadership team.

The consensus document on D&I will:

  • State the reason for beginning (or revising) a D&I strategy
  • Define opportunity for your D&I strategy
  • Secure senior level backing (i.e. budget, and commitment)
  • Secure internal support necessary to deliver on the project
    • Understand and evaluate the company’s culture, (relate to sources of data to justify the business need)
    • Acknowledge bias, and provide initial training
  • Set out general objectives
  • Conclude with a D&I statement which summarises this work

Crafting this document will also guide you in the process of planning and implementing your strategy. It will help you select the appropriate solutions to meet your firm’s needs, ultimately creating a strategy or policy that will deliver tangible results for your team.

THE DOCUMENT ON D&I WILL:
  • State the reason for beginning (or revising) a D&I strategy
  • Define opportunity for your D&I strategy
  • Secure senior level backing (i.e. budget, and commitment)
  • Secure internal support necessary to deliver on the project
    • Understand and evaluate the company’s culture, (relate to sources of data to justify the business need)
    • Acknowledge bias, and provide initial training
  • Set out general objectives
  • Conclude with a D&I statement which summarises this work

Crafting this document will also guide you in the process of planning and implementing your strategy. It will help you select the appropriate solutions to meet your firm’s needs, ultimately creating a strategy or policy that will deliver tangible results for your team.

  1. Soll, J et al. Outsmart your own biases, Harvard Business Review (May 2015), accessed on October 01, 2018.