Session 9: Leadership’s Role and

Buy-in related to D & I

 Introduction

10 minutes to think

• Think of some leaders ( not necessarily from the

business world who have shown inclusive
qualities, they can be from any walk of life)

• Try to think of a mix of leaders – men/women,

old/young , different nationalities / languages
Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent
• Kent holds himself and other senior leaders at Coca-
Cola personally responsible for expanding diversity
and inclusion. He created and leads his
company’s 2013 Catalyst Award-winning Global
Women’s Initiative, which enjoys strong senior
leadership support across the organization and
around the world.
• Women make over 70% of consumer purchasing
decisions related to Coca-Cola products worldwide.
According to Kent, they are “the most dynamic and
the fastest-growing economic force in the world
today”—which is precisely why he holds top
executives responsible for making sure they are
adequately represented at Coca-Cola.

Simran Oberoi
GM CEO Mary Barra says “I find saying ‘I screwed
up’ to be hugely empowering,” Mary Barra, the
current head of General Motors, “No one does
everything right.” Barra’s humility is what has been
seen as a unique quality

Kevin Johnson (Starbucks) talked about refusing to fill

a leadership position until they had a diverse set of
candidates to select from.

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Bernard J. Tyson (Kaiser Permanente) focused on evolving
from equality to equity. Equality says everybody gets
equal. Equity says no, everybody gets what they need.
Part of building an inclusive environment is not how
you’re going to change the person. It’s how you’re going to
change yourself and the environment in which the person
is going to have to succeed.
Kaiser Permanente has domestic partner benefits to
support the needs of its LGBTQ community and has taken
great strides in increasing accessibility for individuals with
disabilities.

Simran Oberoi
• Barclays India CEO went to the opening night of the
first LGBT film festival in India and even sent an
internal communication thereafter to all the
employees . Because Barclays is focusing on LGBTQ
Inclusion at workplace.
 Framework for discussion

• What is the role of Leadership in D & I?

• Why is it important?

• How can a Leader demonstrate his/her commitment

• Process - Getting Leadership Buy-In

• Factors that make a difference

• Group Activity
 What is the role of Leadership in D & I ?
1. To believe –
• In the role of D & I towards business
• In his/her role and its power to influence
2. To communicate
• The values that drive the organization (fairness,
respect, diverse thought)
• The importance of the D & I measures
3. To drive
• The strategy and implementation
• The change in mindset and inherent biases
4. To sustain
• The efforts over long term
• The investment over long term
 Why is it important?

• Leaders bring out the best in people and so by

driving inclusion they make every employee feel
accepted and respected .
• Leaders are big influencers and when they speak,
employees listen.
• Leaders form the connect between the business
results and the people. They are in the best
situation to see the impact of inclusion on the
financial parameters.
• Leaders drive culture through their own
behaviors.
 For the HR / D&I Practitioner –
Why is the Buy-In Important?

To Counter To Create Bias

To Drive the Culture
Resistance from acceptance
• Individual • Of encouraging • By leading
Employees managers to have through their own
• Managers difficult but example
• Business Heads important • By communicating
conversations its business
• Clients
• Of listening more importance to all
• Vendors
and more stakeholders
• Of using inclusive • By encouraging
actions and mixed teams as
language much as possible
consciously
 How can a Leader show
commitment
• Clearly demonstrate fair behavior, over and over
again.
• Take a strong stand against discrimination
• Look at diversity from all dimensions not just a
singular one
• Be honest about his/her own biases and work on
them or ask for help
• Speak about the criticality of inclusion on external
and internal forums
 Process - Getting
Leadership Buy-In
Gather data – internal and external

Collect relevant best practices and

case studies

Design strategy, project plan and

measures of effectiveness

Incorporate all the above and present

it to the Board or Leadership team
 Data you need to gather
• Inclusion plans
• Turnover.
• Grievances.
• Litigation costs
• Customer complaints.
• Employee equal employment opportunity
information.
• Employee language capabilities.
• Demographic, religious and ethnic diversity.
 Factors that make a difference

Solid Business Case – To convince

Clearly defined Action steps and Focus

areas

Proper identification of stakeholders

and communication to them

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Steps – Build a Solid Business Case

Link to
business goals

Positive Estimates of
intangible the time
factors needed

Metrics that
will be tracked Costs Involved
for ROI
Clearly defined Action steps and Focus areas

Detailed
• Which ones are Process • Trainings
covered • Mentoring
• Timelines
• Why those • Resource Groups
• Milestones
• Market Best • Bias Awareness
Practices • Accountabilities

Types of
Dimensions
Interventions
Stakeholder Communication

Identify the stakeholders

Identify the right channels

Identity and design the

content
Roadblocks to Leadership Buy-In

Lack of well-
defined
Fear of
process or
Negative
business
Data
plan from
D&I Team

Lack of
Unwillingne
belief in its
ss to admit
business
to biases
results
 In Class Submission Activity
Write down 2 points under each on how you want to communicate
the importance of the initiative to your Leadership team. Email to
me at simran.oberoi31@gmail.com

30 minutes
1 – LGBT Hiring Drive despite it being a traditional organization

2 - Investment in Tech upskilling program for older employees who

are nearing retirement

3 – Building infrastructure for differently abled employees, even

though you have none at the moment.

4 – Hiring more women on the shopfloor despite the perceived

“hardships” of the roles