Organizational Creativity

In This Section

Guide to Sustaining Organizational Change

Section 2.2: Governance

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Talent Processes

Section 2.2: Questions to Ask Yourself to Select the Right Individual

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Guide to Sustaining Organizational Change

2.2 Governance

To put the strategy in place and sustain it in the long-term, governance and oversight is needed.

1.  Consider how governance structures can support the organization in achieving its vision and long-term strategy.

  • Who should be part of the structure? What does the board structure look like? Are there other committees within the organization focused on EDI?
  • Where are the lines of communication? In what ways are they formalized?
  • What does accountability look like? Are different pieces of the strategy owned by members across the organization?
  • Is the EDI strategy embedded within the overall strategy and viewed as a cultural shift/transformation?
  • How do leadership and the board interact? What kind of interactions exist between leadership and the board with employees?

2.  Within the overall governance structure, consider all layers of an organization, and their interactions with the strategy, particularly focusing on the following functions:

  • Organizational Structures: Different functions and teams that make up the organization
  • Decision-Making Processes: Processes and approvals required to make decisions
  • General Roles and Responsibilities: Staff, People Leaders, Executives and Sponsors
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Considerations for Non-Profit Organizations

Talent Processes: Questions to Ask Yourself to Select the Right Individual

2.2 Internally Source Candidates: Questions to Ask Yourself to Select the Right Individual

1.  What qualifies an internal candidate to be a successful leader in this role?

2.  Are the skills and criteria I am looking for achievable by all internal candidates?

3. What process am I engaging in to fill this role internally? Is this process equally available to everyone?

  • Appointment: Are all qualified candidates being considered before a leader is appointed?
  • Nomination: Am I ensuring that all leaders who nominate a candidate have equal say?
  • Selection: Am I considering all qualified candidates instead of just relying on those who apply?

4.  Am I ensuring that the leader will bring in diverse perspectives currently not present on my leadership team?

5.  Am I ensuring to use a uniform and consistent interview guide that assesses all candidates equally?

Priority Group
Priority Group
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Consider this model to embed equity and inclusion into your organizational structure

  • Make sure the leader(s) accountable for this area of focus has the authority to make the change
  • Make sure employees are given equitable development opportunities to advance their career – build that into processes and change processes to ensure this where needed
  • Build incentives and enable managers to drive culture changes through effective policies that enable inclusion and build consistency as well

Research suggests, where possible, to adjust decision-making processes to be collaborative. Ensure decision-making processes consider all priority groups and that everyone feels their voices are heard and valued when decisions are made. Including members from all levels of the organization will enable and empower them, and they will be able to provide input on challenges they may be facing.

Women are often less likely to enter competitions, including those for new roles, than men due to gendered expectations. To mitigate this:

Offer an “opt-out” option for selection for leadership roles, so that all qualified candidates are automatically within the pool of candidates. Candidates can choose to exclude themselves if they like, rather than putting the accountability on employees to raise their hand

Affinity bias often exists in the recruitment process, where decision-makers tend to connect with employees who are similar to themselves. This serves as a barrier for many priority groups.

  • Ensure that selection committees consist of diverse individuals, in terms of professional stature and personal identity
  • Maintain consistent assessment process for all candidates, including those who are referrals, so that each candidate is evaluated equally

Definition

Microaggression

Microaggression is defined as: “A comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group” – Source: Merriam Webster

Definition

Unlearning

Unlearning is defined as: “To make an effort to forget your usual way of doing something so that you can learn a new and sometimes better way” – Source: Cambridge Dictionary

Definition

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as: A framework for understanding how different aspects of a person’s social and political identities (e.g., gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, physical appearance, etc.) combine to create unique modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies advantages and disadvantages that are felt by people due to this combination of factors – Source: Kimberlé Crenshaw, TIME

Definition

Privilege

Privilege is defined as: “The unfair and unearned advantages individuals are granted for having, or being perceived to have, social identities that align with those deemed to be superior according to societal rules and norms. It is often experienced as an absence of barriers related to a particular social identity (e.g., White privilege, straight privilege)” – Source: Egale

Definition

Safe Space

Safe Space is defined as: “A place intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations” – Source: Merriam-Webster

Safe spaces allow individuals to feel comfortable having brave and honest conversations.

Definition

Emotional Tax

Emotional Tax is defined as: “The combination of feeling different from peers at work because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity, being on guard against experiences of bias, and experiencing the associated effects on health, well-being, and ability to thrive at work” – Source: Catalyst

Definition

Tokenism

Tokenism is defined as: “Performative policies that ostensibly promote diversity or equality (placing women or diverse groups in leadership positions), but do not truly have a positive impact on the workplace. Tokenism isn’t progressive, and it especially causes harm to tokenized individuals, causing extra pressure to succeed due to being perceived as representative of a group and often leaving them in an alienating work environment” – Source: Catalyst

Definition

Psychological Safety

Psychological Safety is defined as: “An environment that encourages, recognizes and rewards individuals for their contributions and ideas by making individuals feel safe when taking interpersonal risks. A lack of psychological safety at work can inhibit team learning and lead to in-groups, groupthink and blind spots” – Source: Gartner