The Latest Insights from Leading NOW

According to a survey by Glassdoor, more than 50% of people think their companies should be doing more to increase workforce diversity. It all started in 1964, more than 50 years ago, when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The act, of course, applies to employers. Yet after all of the civil unrest we experienced in 2020, how many times did you hear a CEO or spokesperson for an organization say that they are committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture? Probably too many to count.

It’s been an exciting time at Leading NOW. In September we announced the latest research from the Center for Diversity & Inclusion on Cultural Dynamics in the Workplace™. In case you missed it, the research shares the 5 key factors that drive successful DEI initiatives. I’m excited to share with you that we recently delivered our first 3-hour Master Class on this game-changing research at the NEHRA (Northeast Human Resources Association) Annual Conference in Newport, Rhode Island. The session for this presentation was titled Cultural Dynamics & DEI: Achieving Measurable Success That Drives Business Outcomes, and I’m happy to say, the feedback from participants was fantastic.

This blog was written by Michelle Redfern, Strategic Partner and Senior Consultant based in Melbourne, Australia, and was originally published on her blog. --- Who is an ally to Women of Colour at work? Me. You. What is an ally to Women of Colour in the workplace? Put simply, it is someone who actively supports and promotes a culture of including people, such as Women of Colour, First Nations women, culturally and linguistically diverse and migrant women, who are more often than not under-represented in leadership in organisations. An ally uses their political and social capital to advocate for those women so both the woman and the organisation can reach their full potential.

BOSTON - Oct. 13, 2021 - Leading NOW, the leadership expert and global advisor to organizations seeking to change mindsets, behaviors, and cultures to be inclusive for all, announces that Julia Lazzara has joined the organization as President. In her new role, Julia will oversee the growth of Leading NOW's portfolio of brands and the expansion of the organization's impact globally.

With the launch of our groundbreaking research on Cultural Dynamics, now is a great time to take a look back at our Gender + Diversity Playbook series. Understanding the barriers to building an inclusive culture, and the steps you need to take along the way, are all outlined in our 7-part series, summarized below.

Understanding the 5 Key Factors that Drive Successful DEI Initiatives If you’ve ever wondered why some organizations struggle with achieving successful Business Outcomes through DEI initiatives and others do not, the latest research from the Center for Diversity & Inclusion (CDI) has identified the 3 Barriers and 5 Key Factors of Cultural Dynamics that hold the key to DEI success.

BOSTON, MA – September 14, 2021 – Leading NOW, the leadership expert and global advisor to organizations seeking to change mindsets, behaviors, and cultures to be inclusive for all, today announces new research from its Think Tank, the Center for Diversity & Inclusion (CDI), on Cultural Dynamics in the Workplace™. This research is the first of its kind to apply the psychology of Cultural Dynamics to “Business”. It identifies the interconnected dynamics made up by the interplay of the Culture of an Organization together with Inclusive Leadership, that when combined, become the catalyst to successful DEI Initiatives producing measurable Business Outcomes.

When Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies (Raytheon has 181,000 employees and 61,000 engineers), recognized their organization’s culture was not inclusive for women in leadership roles, they reached out to Leading Women for our expertise and advice.

The Inclusive Culture Assessment (ICA) goes much deeper than an employee engagement survey and the results from this assessment may be utilized as the baseline from which you can measure the impact of the DEI solutions you employ. Identifying how your employees experience the Culture, the Leadership, and Equity can provide the guidance needed to identify the barriers to inclusion at your organization. Leading NOW's proprietary, research-driven, and field-tested Inclusive Culture Assessment (ICA), was created to give companies quantifiable data on their culture, leadership and equity, including a deep understanding of the views of its workforce, and how they experience the organization. This unique assessment tool is designed to provide insights to all sizes of organizations, from small and mid-range, to large global entities. Below you will find some excellent articles that go into more depth about the ICA. Read ON!

In 2020, organizations became acutely aware of the importance of DE&I due to the social unrest and volatility swirling around them. Many are now attempting to figure out how to be supportive of their diverse employee population. What should they put their energy and resources towards that will actually have a positive impact? This is the question that many organizations are struggling to answer, and few are getting right. As the CEO of the global advisor Leading NOW, I speak to CEOs, CHROs and CDOs every day, and the most common thing they say is, "We've been hiring diverse employees for years, but our efforts really haven't changed anything…now what should we do?"