Last week, KCADC hosted its third “Real-Time Update,” with an interactive discussion and actionable takeaways around the business case for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Kelly Reed, managing director of talent & culture at Lockton Companies, shared business leaders’ priorities around DE&I and provided key takeaways that organizations should consider when implementing a diversity and inclusion effort. 

“Four weeks ago, it was hiring that was the number one priority for DE&I, now it’s developing the strategy,” said Reed. “It’s not just the right thing to do - it’s a smart business move. Organizations that adopt it are really able to outperform their peers.”

Currently, 70 percent of companies are in the beginning stages of implementing DE&I strategies, and 58 percent expect to have robust efforts in place within the next three years. Reed provided the following  for a successful diversity, equity and inclusion effort:  

• Create a top-level focus and strategy at the C-suite level.

• Assign a top executive to lead and sponsor a DE&I program.

• Create behavioral standards and diversity metrics, and hold leaders accountable for results.

• Use data and continuous listening to understand and improve DE&I.

• Integrate DE&I into all aspects of the talent life cycle.

• Balance immediate statements, commitments and actions with longer-term strategies to address systemic issues.

• Train people at all levels on topics like unconscious bias, similarity bias and structural bias.

• Create an internally and externally visible scorecard to measure progress in all areas — recruitment, promotions, compensation, turnover, participation in ERGs, supplier diversity and more.

To learn more, read the full analytics report from Lockton Companies, here.

For more information on KCADC’s Real-Time Updates, contact Jennifer Lyon, vice president of investor relations.