Here’s where you should start your DE&I journey

There’s no time like the present for companies to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) — but how do you know you’re taking the right approach?

This is a critical question, and unfortunately, uncertainty over the answer often leads to business leaders simply taking no action. This is understandable — DE&I is a big, complex topic, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

The article below does a nice job of laying out a few common mistakes to avoid, which can make the DE&I journey a bit more manageable. The first mistake the author identifies? “Focusing on hiring before working internally.”

That’s not to say that hiring diverse candidates isn’t important. It is. But it is essential that you have the right policies and procedures in place — both companywide and within mobility — to support DE&I. Focusing inward first can help you develop diverse leaders within your organization, and then when it’s time to look outward for new hires, you’ll have a solid foundation in place to find the right people.

I recently did a Relo Tip Tuesday video on how mobility leaders can start to better focus on DE&I. Here are the three main steps I identified:

• Have difficult conversations with your team
• Open your program up for a DE&I audit
• Start to think about a mobility approach that has fewer labels and more choices

I encourage you to check out the video for more on each of these steps, but once again, the overall focus is more internal than external. Hiring diverse job candidates to meet DE&I goals is great, but it really only scratches the surface. Instead, spend time trying to build a diverse and inclusive mobility program from the ground up — it’s worth it in the long run.