Industry: Publishing

Challenge:

A global publishing firm, faced stiff competition for talent and market-share. The company faced difficulties in recruiting, retaining and promoting diverse talent and the top of the organization was not representative of the multinational nature of their business nor of the changing demographics of their talent pool. The firm’s failure to represent the rapidly changing demographics of its clients and prospects had also resulted in sales going to competitors. Although the firm had a diversity initiative in place it was perceived internally and externally as “lip service.”

Overview:

The Executive Communicator was engaged to help the firm reinvigorate its diversity efforts and get buy-in from senior leaders, managers and employees. Our consultant started by conducting a series of confidential interviews with the firm’s managers who represented diversity in terms of race, gender, age and ethnicity. The interviews demonstrated that there was a perception that the company was not inclusive and that promotion opportunities were limited for diverse employees. Several of the interviewees commented that this negative reputation was not only internal, but “out on the street.”  When these results were shared with the Board of Directors, they found our findings compelling and vowed to seek out board members who reflected the changing demographics of the markets they did business in and to allocate resources to assure that the diversity message was carried throughout the organization. Our President Susan Farwell, was then engaged to design and facilitate a diversity summit for the company’s 100 human resource professionals. The goal of this summit was to promote open discussion about diversity, investigate barriers to diversity efforts that the HR professionals confronted in the various businesses and responsibilities under their jurisdiction and to agree upon and clearly articulate the steps that the HR managers would take in influencing leaders and implementing the diversity strategy going forward. The Executive Communicator was also engaged to facilitate leadership summits and executive meetings, consult on diversity talking points and intercultural effectiveness, train internal facilitators and provide “lunch and learn” speakers on diversity issues relevant to the company.

Outcome:

The firm’s willingness to look seriously at the issue of diversity and to invest time and resources into having open dialogue about the issues they faced led to a deeper understanding of the current state of diversity in their organization and the impact a lack of diversity was having on their bottom-line. Taking the opportunity to explore the facts, develop and gain consensus on an approach and discover ways to strategically convey a consistent diversity message internally and externally invigorated their efforts and increased their commitment to diversity. Today the firm has a robust diversity strategy that includes a Diversity and Inclusion division, active Employee Resource Groups and a mentorship and recognition program that has helped them retain and promote diverse talent at all levels.

Focus Areas:

Communications Coaching, Communications Consulting, Executive Coaching, Change Messaging, Global Diversity, Facilitation