Fun Facts:
-
The company was founded when our co-founders realised they were better at marketing for other people than managing their own fashion lines when they first started conducting marketing for their clothing brands.
-
Our pet pictures are the focus of our most well-liked Slack channel.
TL;DR: Column Five collaborated with LifeLabs Learning to teach employees at all levels immediately useful behaviours and enhance hiring and onboarding procedures in order to realise its DEI goal. Clear company-wide norms and a large rise in candidate diversity were the outcomes.
Challenge:
Column Five Media struggled to determine the best course of action as it sought to build a workplace where all workers felt like they belonged. Microaggressions occurred despite everyone’s sincere wish for a more diverse and equitable workplace. Additionally, the DEI training that was previously provided did more harm than good, giving staff increased awareness but no resources to lessen harm.
Solution:
Column Five and LifeLabs Learning worked together to develop a holistic DEI approach, including:
-
Core manager skills, taught through an inclusion lens (e.g., going beyond feedback skills to address how bias may play a role in the feedback that managers give).
-
Behaviors of inclusion taught to all current employees and all new employees as part of onboarding (e.g., how to achieve equal turn-taking in meetings, how to intervene well when a microaggression happens).
-
Inclusive interviewing skills taught to all employees involved in hiring (e.g., how to standardize interview questions and candidate assessments to mitigate bias).
-
Inclusive systems, equipping their executives and DEI taskforce with skills to design more equitable and inclusive hiring, promotion, compensation, and role competencies systems.
Results:
The multifaceted strategy used by Column Five led to an immediate alignment of the entire organisation around its inclusion norms. Now that there is a common vocabulary and set of tools among employees at all levels, a purposefully inclusive culture can be developed. Everyone is empowered to act carefully and to keep getting better rather than to watch in uncomfortable silence.
What’s more, Column Five has seen a significant increase of gender and race diversity in its employee candidate pipeline — most notably a 40% increase in women applying for jobs.
Lessons learned:
-
Go beyond awareness: Simply acknowledging bias does little to change the workplace, especially for individuals with marginalized identities. Show people small and specific behaviors they can take instead.
-
Leverage the power of shared skills: While individual skills and actions matter, for faster org-wide impact, equip all employees with the same skills, tools, and vocabulary. This approach catalyzes a self-reinforcing cycle that keeps the skills sticky.
-
Combine systems + skills: To build a truly inclusive and equitable workplace, don’t just ask everyone to think and act differently. Make sure your systems (e.g., hiring, compensation, promotion, assessment) support the skills.
-
Leverage your leaders: Leaders cause ripple effects throughout an organization. Make sure they send good ripples by engaging them in learning and role modeling DEI skills.
