Address These 5 Challenges to Elevate Women at Your Organization

Scientific evidence supports the wide-ranging benefits of high levels of inclusion and equity for women, yet we still find ourselves emphasizing the need to elevate women in the workplace and beyond.

It’s time to change the systems that hinder progress.

This report analyzes 5 key challenges we must overcome in order to elevate women and support full inclusion and equity:

1. The struggle to get more women into senior roles, despite increased focus and investment on women in leadership
2. The additional obstacles women face on the path to leadership
3. How women’s innate leadership strengths can lead them to burn out at a faster rate
4. Women’s reluctance to ask for the challenging job assignments and increased exposure that propel careers forward
5. The systemic barriers that hold women back

Find out what’s beneath the surface of these challenges and the actionable steps you can take to elevate women at your organization to drive greater innovation and productivity by downloading our research report.

Defining & Creating an Inclusive Work Culture

Inclusion is when everyone feels welcomed, respected, and valued. It’s a common part of organizational mission statements. But it’s also a profoundly personal experience.

We’ve all experienced what inclusion is by sensing more — or less — of it at some point in our lives. From an early age, we can feel included by being part of a loving and accepting family. Or, we can feel inclusion in the workplace, such as when a manager involves us in team decisions.

But if we don’t feel included, we may question whether we’re respected and accepted. That’s why inclusion requires far more than words alone. It requires a commitment to the full participation of, and investment in, every individual in the group.

Whether most people at your organization are logging onto virtual meetings or stepping into physical offices, an inclusive workplace is vital to your collective success. It shapes how people see themselves, others, and the culture around them. And it has a direct impact on your organization’s ability to deliver on its mission and grow the bottom line.

The ABCs of Chief Diversity Officers: Alignment, Burnout & Culture

The role of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) executive is at a critical crossroads. In an ever-changing professional and political environment, these leaders face intense pressure as their mandates and goals — and even the terms used to discuss those things — are shifting.

In the past few years, significant strides have been made at many organizations in terms of building and executing meaningful strategies that advance DEI. Continued progress will require substantive, sustained investments that support the work of DEI executives in order to overcome organizational DEI challenges.

Find out what we learned from our research with Chief Diversity Officers and other DEI executives from across the U.S. In this report, we offer insights from senior leaders, grouping the most common DEI challenges into themes of where they told us they struggle most: getting organizational alignment, preventing personal burnout, and building committed cultures.

From their stories, experiences, and aspirations, we can learn how to overcome DEI challenges to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces.

Though some organizations had a diversity and inclusion statement in place long before 2020, the collective citizen witnessing of George Floyd’s murder in the U.S. spurred companies across the globe to issue statements that year denouncing racism and pledging to make progress on building more equitable cultures.

Today, the pledges and promises in these statements continue to be urgently important, and there must be organizational accountability for following through with actions that align with their words.

In this article, we’ll discuss what a corporate equity, diversity, inclusion statement is; share findings from our research study on statements issued by Fortune 100 and CEO Action Network companies; and provide advice for organizations on crafting truly meaningful equity, diversity, and inclusion statements and aligning them with measurable action steps to ensure progress.

And to help you get started with actions that lead to sustainable impact, be sure to download our Action Guide for Crafting a Meaningful EDI Corporate Statement & Approach below.

Also, as you may have noticed, at the Center for Creative Leadership, we refer to equity, diversity, and inclusion, or EDI, rather than DEI, with an intentional focus on leading with equity first. Our perspective is that an organization’s DEI efforts will be more effective when framed as EDI efforts, emphasizing the importance of pursuing greater diversity and inclusion only after investing in a culture of equity as the foundation.

Knowing that, let’s take a look at what our research found about organizational “diversity & inclusion statements,” DEI statements or, as we prefer to call it, EDI statements and approaches.

About the Webinar

In today’s workplace, 4 or 5 generations are often working together in organizations: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers, and sometimes, too, the oldest members of the workforce — the Silent Generation. While it’s undeniable that people of all ages have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, conventional wisdom about generational differences in leadership is rooted in stereotypes, not reality.

Our research confirms that the “generation gap” is largely a myth perpetuated by miscommunication and misunderstandings. This webinar will reveal research-based insights about how, fundamentally, people from all generations share common values and preferences at work. We will discuss how making assumptions about generational differences in leadership can create barriers to building trust, fostering inclusion, and establishing a culture of psychological safety at work.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• Stereotypes and misconceptions about generational differences in leadership
• Practical tips for managing, leading, retaining, and working with individuals of all ages
• Strategies for building a positive workplace culture for workers of every generation

2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey: Living and working with purpose in a transforming world

The 13th edition of Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey connected with nearly 23,000 respondents across 44 countries to track their experiences and expectations at work and in the world more broadly.