Presented by
Georgia Coffey
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
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Federal government is one of the most diverse environments in
American society in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender
(REG), yet we still have barriers to equal opportunity. Despite
our diversity, we maintain a largely homogeneous mindset
which maintains barriers and creates cognitive dissonance,
conflict, and flawed decision-making.
Defining diversity solely in terms of REG has a detrimental
effect.* To gain full acceptance, we must define diversity
broadly to include all that makes us unique, including the
diversity of thought. Only then will we realize the
performance advantages that diversity offers.
* Stella M. Nkomo. “Identities and the Complexities of Diversity,” in Susan Jackson and Marian Ruderman (eds.),
Diversity in Work Teams: Research Paradigms for a Changing Workplace, 1999
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By 2042, there will be no single demographic majority
By 2050, 1 in 5 people living in the US will be Hispanic
New entrants to the labor market will dominate the work-scape.
Currently 4 generations in the workplace; soon to be 5.
Disabilities affect 20% of all Americans.
Women earn the majority of college degrees awarded in U.S.
There are an estimated 9 million LGBT individuals in the U.S.
1 in 5 workers have experienced discrimination at work.
< 50% of employees who experience discrimination will stay;
Attrition costs 150% of employees’ salary and lost productivity.
Inclusive organizations have high employee engagement, which yields
higher organizational performance.
References: US Census Bureau; The Gallup Organization. Employee Discrimination in
the Workplace, Public Opinion Poll. December 8, 2005; Sirota Survey; Diversity
Research Network, 2002; Nishii, 2010.
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Diversity and inclusion must be the
cornerstones of our talent management
strategy and our business processes.
Inclusion holds the key to organizational
performance; diversity without inclusion, will
not work.
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Civil Rights to Full Inclusion
Inclusion
Managing Diversity
Diversity
Equal Employment Opportunity
Affirmative Action
Civil Rights Movement
Melting Pot
(Assimilation)
<<<
1960
1965
Salad Bowl
(Multiculturalism)
1970
1975
1980
1985
Inclusion
(Process & Performance)
1990
1995
2000
2005
>>>
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EEO refers to the laws,
regulations, and policies
that guarantee our rights to
equal opportunity in terms,
conditions, and privileges of
employment.
Diversity is “…all the ways
in which we are similar and
all the ways in which we
differ." Outreach-focused
Inclusion is leveraging the
diversity in our workforce to
achieve full participation and
optimum performance; it is
about empowerment and
engagement. In-reach
focused.
-- Dr R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.
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Reprinted with permission from Loden Associates..
Inclusion is the process of leveraging
individuals’ diverse talent, not in spite of
their differences, but because of them.
Inclusion requires a deliberate strategy to
empower all human resources to engage
them in the fabric and mission of the
organization.
What does the research show?
Diversity Research Network
Workforce diversity is positively associated with higher business
performance outcomes.
Racial diversity is positively associated with higher performance in
organizations that integrate and leverage diverse perspectives.
Gender diversity is positively associated with more effective group
processes and performance in organizations with (inclusive) peopleoriented performance cultures.*
Center for Creative Leadership
Diverse teams are more creative and perform better in problem solving than
homogeneous teams.
Diversity in workforce and processes results in better decision-making.
The effects of diversity are highly dependent on the presence of facilitating
or inhibiting conditions in the organization; absent facilitating conditions
(inclusion) the aforementioned outcomes are reversed.
Conclusion: Diversity without Inclusion will not work
* The Effects of Diversity on Business Performance: Report of the Diversity Research Network, October 2002.
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The flip side…
UNC Business School
Workplace conflict results in 22-53% lost productivity.
EEOC
Average EEO complaint costs approximately $60,000
(administrative process) up to $250,000 (including
settlement/damages).
25-40% of workforce attrition rate and 5-20% in lost
productivity can be attributed to poor diversity management;
turnover costs 75-150% of the replaced employee’s salary.
Conclusion: There is a positive ROI for Diversity & Inclusion.
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Flexible
Org.
Structures
Changing an organizational
culture requires re-engineering
business processes and
deconstructing silos.
True inclusion will drive
employee engagement which
increases organizational
performance
Continuous
learning
Transparent
communications
Teambased
business
processes
Work Life
Balance
Inclusive
Environment
Mentoring &
Coaching
Matrix
Management
Recruitment
& Selection
Processes
Perf.
Managemt
Source: “From Diversity to Inclusion.” Katharine Esty, PhD.
Northeast Human Resources Association. April 30, 2007
Leadership
Accountabty
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The Bureaucratic Model
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Hierarchical
Chain of Command
Controlled Communications; need to know basis
Linear business processes
Self-reinforcing maintenance of status-quo
Convergent thinking and decision-making
“Heroic” Leadership and Accountability*
*David Bradford and Allen Cohen, Power Up – Transforming Organizations through Shared Leadership.
Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998.
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SELF-ACTUALIZATION,
LEADERSHIP
BELONGINGNESS,
ESTEEM, ACHIEVEMENT
PHYSIOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC SAFETY
POWER AND INFUENCE
EMPOWERMENT
FRONT LINE SUP/
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
EMPLOYEES
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The Inclusive Model
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Flattened organizations
Empowered contributors
Continual, transparent communications; knowledge is
empowering
Matrix Management
Innovation and creativity rewarded; constructive conflict
Divergent Thinking; open-ended decision process
Shared Leadership and Accountability*
*David Bradford and Allen Cohen, Power Up – Transforming Organizations through Shared Leadership.
Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998
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SELF-ACTUALIZATION,
EMPLOYEES
BELONGINGNESS,
ESTEEM, ACHIEVEMENT
PHYSIOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC SAFETY
POWER AND INFUENCE
EMPOWERMENT
FRONT LINE SUP/
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP
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Inclusion
Engagement
Performance
 Self-examination
& Education
 Process Reengineering
 Metrics
 Communication & Reinforcement
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Leadership:
 Recognize your unconscious bias (Harvard Implicit Analysis
Test)
 Challenge assumptions; reduce “confirmation bias”
 Open mind to new, untested notions; consider alternative
 Power and accountability must flow down; “flip the pyramid”
 Sharing power does not= abdicating responsibility
 Understand true motivators: autonomy, mastery, purpose*
Employees:
 Invest, own, and lead
 Connect
 Take risks
*Dan Pink, RSA Animate-Drive, The Surprising Truth About what Motivates Us, April 2010
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POSITIVE
Cultural Proficiency
implements change to respond to
cultural needs, do research and teach
Cultural Competence
recognize individual and cultural differences, seeks
advice from diverse groups, hires unbiased staff
Cultural Pre-competence
explores cultural issues, are committed, assess
needs of organization and individuals
Cultural Blindness
differences ignored, treats everyone the same,
only responds to needs of dominant group
Cultural Incapacity:
NEGATIVE
racism, maintains stereotypes, unfair
hiring practices
Cultural Destructiveness
forced assimilation, subjugation, rights and
privileges for dominant groups only
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Knock down walls:
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Review current processes; identify barriers to input
Design processes to yield more than one solution
Use interdisciplinary teams; encourage divergent
thought
De-construct silos; employ matrix management
Practice 360 Communication & cont. learning
Don’t fear creative tension; constructive conflict
Align rewards systems accordingly; ensure fairness
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The VA Diversity & Inclusion Indices
Standardized metrics for –
 Workforce diversity
 Workplace inclusion
 Organizational performance
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Diversity Index
A measure of workforce diversity based on the
convergence of the representation of each demographic
group in the organization (by race, ethnicity, gender) with
the relevant/civilian labor
force (R/CLF).
=
The Diversity Index is derived by the ratio of the workforce
distribution to its corresponding R/CLF, up to a value of
100%.
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Ratio of VA workforce representation to
corresponding RCLF
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
-
Two or…
Two or…
Two or…
American…
Aemrican…
Native…
Native…
Asian…
Asian Men
Black Women
Black men
White…
Hispanic Men
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
-
White men
Representation Indices capped at 100%
(Blowup of previous chart with the ratio cap)
Hispanic…
Two or…
American…
Aemrican…
Native…
Native…
Asian Women
Asian Men
Black Women
Black men
White Women
White men
Hispanic…
Hispanic Men
Capped at 1.0 or 100%
Current (FY 2012, Dec) VA Diversity Index based on CLF = 87.44%
Current (FY 2012, Dec) VA Diversity Index
based on RCLF= 96.75%
91%
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VA Diversity Index
FY 2003 to FY 2012 (Dec) based on CLF
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Dec.
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
VA
74.78%
74.85%
75.01%
75.07%
76.23%
77.23%
78.07%
81.12%
83.19%
85.49%
86.54%
VHA
74.58%
74.66%
74.82%
74.80%
76.10%
76.94%
77.70%
79.99%
81.60%
84.67%
85.91%
VBA
69.91%
69.71%
69.92%
70.38%
71.68%
73.68%
75.33%
80.15%
84.65%
85.38%
85.61%
NCA
68.35%
65.45%
66.51%
65.70%
65.78%
69.18%
70.86%
68.93%
70.68%
74.23%
74.05%
Prior to 2009 the Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders
population were combined into a single category.
2012
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Inclusion Index
The Inclusion Index is a single measure of organizational
inclusion based on employee responses to select Federal
Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) items.
20 FEVS items were linked to six empirically validated
dimensions of inclusion, based on multiple factor
analyses and literature research.
Favorable responses (i.e. agree, strongly agree) on
survey items were averaged to yield Inclusion Index.
Can
•
•
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be computed at
Agency level
Sub-agency level
Occupational grouping
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Approach
• In partnership with Office of Personnel Management, VA
performed factor analysis of FEVS survey items which
yielded clusters of homogeneous items.
• SMEs conducted review of research literature in the area
of organizational inclusion to identify six empirically
validated dimensions of inclusion (Shore 2011, Nishii
2010, April & Blass 2010).
• Performed 2nd factor analysis to validate proposed
dimensions of inclusion and identify the highest
correlated/most appropriate items for each dimension.
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DIMENSIONS OF INCLUSION
• Fairness of Employment Practices (Rules and Procedures)
• Fairness of Employment Practices (Performance
Evaluations)
• Inclusion/Participation in Decision-Making
• Inclusive Management and Leadership
• Information Access/Open Communication
• Integration of Differences
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FEVS Items Mapped to Dimensions of Inclusion
Fairness of Employment Practices (Rules and Procedures)
• Arbitrary action, personal favoritism and coersion for partisan political purposes
are not tolerated. (#37)
• Prohibited Personnel Practices are not tolerated. (#38)
Fairness of Employee Practices (Performance Evaluation)
• In my work unit, steps are taken to deal with a poor performer who cannot or
will not improve. (#23)
• In my work unit, differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful
way. (#24)
• Awards in my work unit depend on how well employees perform their jobs.
(#25)
Inclusion/Participation in Decision Making
• I have enough information to do my job well. (#2)
• I feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things. (#3)
• My talents are used well in the workplace. (#1)
• Employees have a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to work
processes. (#30)
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FEVS Items Mapped to Dimensions of Inclusion, cont.
Inclusive Management and Leadership
• My supervisor supports my need to balance work and other life issues. (#42)
• My supervisor/team leader provides me with constructive suggestions to improve
my job performance. (#46)
• My supervisor/team leader listens to what I have to say. (#48)
• My supervisor/team leader treats me with respect. (#49)
• In the last six months, my supervisor/team leader has talked with me about my
performance. (#50)
Information Access and Communication
• Managers promote communication among different work units. (#58)
• Managers support collaboration across work units to accomplish work objectives.
(#59)
Integration of Differences
• Creativity and innovation are rewarded. (#32)
• Policies and programs promote diversity in the workplace. (#34)
• My supervisor/team leader is committed to a workforce representative of all
segments of society. (#45)
• Managers/supervisors/team leaders work well with employees of different
backgrounds. (#55)
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VA INCLUSION INDEX
(Notional data)
Inclusion Dimension
Fairness of Employment Practices (Rules
and Procedures)
Fairness of Employment Practices
(Performance Evaluation)
Inclusion/Participation in Decision making
Inclusive Management and Leadership
Information Access and Communication
Integration of Differences
INCLUSION INDEX
Favorable Unfavorable
No
Responses Responses Responses
3089
1850
135
3617
3963
31
6177
3886
85
9257
3082
346
2841
2030
203
5852
4030
266
30,833
18,841
1,066
Score
62.54%
47.72%
61.38%
75.02%
58.32%
59.22%
62.07%
◦ Robust, transparent communications (recurring in-person
meetings, electronic, print, broadcast video)
◦ Continuous learning, career mapping
◦ Mentoring/Coaching/Rotational Assignments
◦ D&I infused Leadership Development Programs (in outreach
and curriculum)
◦ Cultural Competency/Unconscious Bias Training
◦ Conflict Management Training
◦ Targeted outreach/Diversity Focused internships
◦ Barrier analysis (in recruitment, development, work processes)
◦ Process Reengineering; Matrix Management
◦ Mandatory Leadership Accountability Measures
◦ METRICS: VA Diversity & Inclusion Indices
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LESSONS LEARNED
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY: Obstacles leading to 9/11 intelligence failures
•
•
•
•
included:
Hardened attitudes against change
Insular organizations
Resistance to external recommendations
Insistence on preserving the status quo
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY: Causes that contributed to the Columbia shuttle
•
•
•
•
accident included:
An organizational culture that squelched dissent and stifled differences
Resistance to external criticism and doubt
Imposition of the “party line vision…(which) led to flawed decision-making,
self-deception, introversion, and diminished curiosity”
Organizational barriers that prevented open, effective communication
ECONOMIC COMMUNITY: Issues leading to Lehman Bros. bankruptcy and
•
•
•
•
economic meltdown
Insular organization
Narrow decision-making; failure to gain broad input/perspective
Outmoded, embedded cultural habits; rigid, inflexible culture
Misuse of talent
“A culture that is too strong can also end up too rigid and can shut out diversity,
especially diversity of perspective.” Hope Greenfield. “Culture Crash”, The
Conference Board Review, Fall 2009.
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What does this mean for Federal govt?
Diversity & Inclusion yield higher organizational performance; they
business imperatives.
Diversity should be broadly defined, including but not limited to legally
protected groups; diversity of thought is rooted in our race, gender,
and ethnicity.
Intolerance to diversity breeds disastrous and costly results; agencies
must first guarantee equity in the workplace before diversity and
inclusion can thrive.
Diversity & Inclusion strategies should be infused in business goals
and processes.
Inclusion drives employee engagement which drives performance.
Flip the pyramid!
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SYNERGY FOR A
HIGH-PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
High Performance
Equity
Workforce
Diversity
Organizational
Inclusion
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Presented by:
Georgia Coffey
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity and
Inclusion
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Georgia.coffey@VA.Gov
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