When people found out Heartbeat is 45% diverse—much higher than industry averages—and that we’d won a 2020 D&I Champion award, I began to receive inquiries and meeting invites from people I’d never met, all asking me to share our secrets, which I’m happy to do.
But when I talk to them, many overlook the most important piece of Heartbeat’s story. Instead, they want to hear about rote tasks and programs, such as our recruitment tactics and our D&I trainings.
So I gave the people what they wanted. I pulled together some presentation decks outlining some of the great things we do to support our D&I strategy, like our Brave Space forums, our internal networking groups (including “Meet all the Black People” and “QueerBeat”), and our workshops on unconscious bias and race-related trauma.
The people I talk to hang on to every word, jot down their notes, and then go back to their companies and try to implement some of the same programs.
However, not many people truly hear me when I divulge the most important part of the secret, and what we know is the key to our strategy: we treat our people well, and we embrace and celebrate our differences.
This foundational belief led to our inclusive culture of empathy, kindness and respect, which then led to our diverse workforce. Our D&I-specific programs and trainings exist on top of—and because of—this strong foundation.
I guarantee you this: only those who truly understand that you can’t simply implement D&I programs without first building a foundation of integrity.
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