For the purposes of this article, let’s set aside the recent politicization of DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion. The business case for diverse teams still applies, as does the desire within most US companies to diversify their senior ranks.
Many companies initiate executive searches with a goal of meeting diverse candidates. Most further express a desire to hire a member of a specific group — often women or people of color — to improve representation within the organization. Yet for all their stated intentions, they often end up hiring more of the status quo. Why?
My firm recently conducted a post-mortem analysis on a few dozen executive search assignments to gain some insights. In every case we examined, clients explicitly stated a desire to hire diverse talent early on in the search, and they were all presented with qualified diverse leaders throughout.
The analysis revealed four common areas where failed attempts to hire diverse executives went off course. It also revealed actionable best practices to ensure more equitable hiring processes. With these adjustments in place, companies that seek to hire diverse leaders should see improved outcomes that result in hiring the best candidates.
1. Expectations aren't aligned with reality
Many executive searches for diverse candidates are set up to fail before they begin. This is because of a disconnect between expectations and reality when companies define “must-have” versus “nice to have” criteria.
When an objective of an executive search is to hire a diverse candidate from a particular population, that group is typically not just underrepresented in the company but often in that sector of the industry as a whole. This is especially true in industries where there wasn’t a focus on developing diverse talent 20 or 30 years ago, during the starting point of many current executives' careers. Mandating direct experience in these historically non-diverse sectors shrinks the talent pool and the likelihood of hiring diverse executives before the search begins.
Therefore, companies seeking to hire senior leaders from underrepresented groups must broaden their definition of “diversity” beyond demographic characteristics. They must also welcome diversity of experience and be willing to flex on learnable criteria to access a richer pool of qualified talent.
As an example, companies in the historically non-diverse consumer segments of specialty retail, fashion, and outdoor brands could consider talent from CPG or big box retail environments where programs to develop diverse leadership pipelines were more established 20 and 30 years ago, giving rise to a more robust community of diverse executives today.
2. Diversity isn't explicitly tied to business needs
A common omission that works against hiring diverse candidates is the business case for diversity, and why it matters for the role.
If the desire to increase representation of a certain group is driven by business needs, such as a better connection with certain customers or employee populations, that requirement should be explicitly stated as part of the selection criteria for the job. This helps to ensure that future comparisons between candidates are appropriately weighted if a diverse candidate lacks industry experience but brings other relevant experience, such as an innate connection to communities of color, the female consumer, or LGBTQ+ customers.
Further, the job profile itself can deter or attract underrepresented groups. Job profiles should be run through inclusive language tools to ensure they aren’t off-putting to the candidate communities they’re seeking to attract.
3. The deck is stacked in favor of the status quo
There’s a reason why “culture fit” has maintained its status as a top candidate criterion for decades. The quickest and safest way to avoid new employee “organ rejection” is to hire people who mirror the general makeup of the existing team – beliefs, lifestyles, education, and all. Yet research shows how this approach causes companies to miss out on the clarity that new perspectives provides, and it exposes them to the perils of homogenous groupthink.
Companies must embrace the differences that diverse candidates may bring as part of a long-term strategy, appreciating their role in adding to culture rather than fitting neatly within it. Any legitimate search for a diverse candidate needs to be underpinned by a commitment to listen, learn, and grow – and to be aware of biases that work against the desired outcome.
This is especially true during the interview process. Every interviewer brings their own set of risk tolerance and (un)conscious biases to an evaluation. The more people that are involved, the more these biases compound. To stack the deck more equitably, companies should be very intentional about the number of interviews and decision-makers in the search committee. Google famously limits that number to four - their research showed that four interviews were enough to predict if a person is qualified with 86% confidence, and those returns start to diminish at five.
Additionally, anyone who is involved in interviewing candidates should receive ongoing training and dialogue around unconscious bias to minimize its influence over the outcome.
4. Diverse candidates withdraw from the process
So far, this article has focused on the ways companies eliminate qualified diverse candidates from their hiring processes. But that’s not the only reason that attempts to hire diverse executives fail.
Diverse executives are in high demand, and they’re selective about which companies and cultures they want to be a part of. They may withdraw from an interview process for several reasons, such as if they get the sense that their hire is more about optics or public relations than the intrinsic value they bring. They know, often through experience, that diverse executives who are hired for the wrong reasons face multiple barriers to success.
This is especially true in instances where a diverse candidate might be the only member of their demographic group in a senior position. Companies that seek to diversify leadership teams should address the current state of their environments openly through transparent dialogue. Interviewers should be equipped to answer questions honestly and tell candidates about the role they will play in changing the culture as part of the company’s vision for a more inclusive future.
Bottom line:
Hiring diverse talent requires change. Not big change, necessarily, but it does require more than replicating the standard playbook and expecting a different result.
The business case for hiring diverse leadership teams has only grown stronger in recent years. If companies want to increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve profitability, they should not back away from DEI plans. Instead, they should examine their processes and culture to ensure they can attract, promote, and retain diverse talent. The world is changing, and diversification is accelerating. Don’t be left behind.