The benefits of change are clear and so are the penalties for a lack of change.
Corporate America has pledged millions to social justice organizations and DEI program efforts since the killing of George Floyd. The commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is at center stage. Companies are spending millions of dollars on expensive consultants and sexy programs every year with great fanfare, but what concrete changes are communities seeing come to fruition.
Most experts will tell you the ugly truth; these efforts rarely produce meaningful, sustainable changes. When it comes to changing culture and behavior, there is little correlation between money and real change. History has proven that large misconduct payouts are no more than a guilty-tax and rarely results in material change.
[Research shows many cities have spent more than $3 billion to settle police misconduct lawsuits over the past 10 years with very little substantive change.]
Changing an organization's culture is one of the most difficult challenges leaders will face. That is because an organization's culture comprises interlocking roles, processes, values, and goals. Brand culture grows from assumptions, attitudes, and communications practices. Actually changing perceptions and thinking is a large-scale undertaking, and requires all the organizational resources to be in play.
Don't forget that corporate or brand culture is like an iceberg with most of its content below the surface. Cultural shifts are comparable to changing the direction of a huge cruise liner—takes time to work and push against the tides and winds of change. A company's corporate brand, values, and behaviors are driven by unseen influences. Many times, it’s the executive leadership's resistance to change that holds an organization back, it could be a misaligned mission, business strategy, or even a toxic culture.
DaMar Staffing approaches diversity and inclusion holistically—we help companies do the right thing, not simply doing things right. Your staff is the greatest business asset you have. Invest in developing a reliable and loyal talent pool by providing growth opportunities to all individuals, especially to those who are underrepresented at your organization. DaMar develops a process and the narrative to help management get a clear understanding of the cultural differences and behavior within the workforce teams.
By taking, a deep dive to identify the hidden elements and the interactions between managers, employees you will recognize how well overall chemistry is working. Workforce intelligence is the only way leadership and management teams can honestly address a DEI strategy. You put a lot of time and money into planning goals and business strategies; make sure you have the right people and the right environment in place. Otherwise, it all falls flat.
DaMar Staffing can help you better understand how to recruit, hire, engage, and retain the best talent. The ReThink Internal Talent Audit (RITA) program can help you uncover problems you may not beware of and help you understand the full scope of your current workforce culture. When you build a brand culture that embraces holistic diversity and inclusiveness it leads to transformational innovation.
You may enjoy these two articles on the importance of brand culture.
DaMar Staffing Solutions of Indianapolis is a full service, contingency-based recruitment firm, focused on administrative and professional staffing for all industries. There are many staffing agencies, but you want a staffing agency that will work for you. With over 20 years of experience, DaMar Staffing Solutions has built a reputation for providing quality service, top-notch professionals and flexible recruiting solutions for Indiana companies.