7th Installment of RESET by Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. – The Power of the People You Overlook

The Power of the People You Overlook: The Hidden Value of Tapping Nontraditional Talent Pools

DO GOOD AND DO GOOD When you discuss recruiting with HR professionals, 48 percent of them will tell you their biggest problem is finding a deep enough pool of talent to make good choices about hiring. When you ask managers what is their biggest frustration with HR? They can’t source talent as effectively as they would like. So there’s complete convergence.

It’s about growing that talent pool to include untapped resources, increasing the pipeline, and closing the skills gap. We have to unlock the talent and tap the potential by valuing workers who have been overlooked, marginalized, and discarded. Morally, it’s a move in line with diversity and inclusion (D&I). Morally, we can all have a warm feeling about it. But business-wise, it’s a cold, hard necessity.

INCLUSION ISN'T A TWITTER POST There is a resistance out there from the evangelists of the status quo. Why disrupt the norms? Why go outside comfort zones? Why fix what works at least well enough? They don’t see the business benefit of opening doors to others. I was once challenged in my career on this.

A friend of mine who works for a manufacturer in the agricultural business space told me the following: “Johnny, I get your argument. But it’s a specious one when I’m hiring from a sales department standpoint. Do you know who buys tractors? It’s not some Black guy. It’s not even some Latino guy. It’s a white, midwestern farmer. If I rely on just market dynamics, it’s hard to argue for a sales force that shifts representativeness of the consumer base.”

The problem with being closed-minded like that is what you’re hanging your hat on. It’s a narrow case to make. But when you look at the most successful companies on the planet—like Apple, for one—they don’t have any Black products, right? Apple doesn’t build an iPhone for Black people.

The guy wasn’t suggesting there were Black tractors; he was making the case that the decision maker was not likely Black and therefore he was hiring the person who would relate more to the buyer, not unlike making the case for Avon hiring a predominately female workforce. THE TABLE STAKES OF PERFORMANCE Why give a bonus for a normal part of the job? There are leaders who fall into the trap of incentivizing what should be table stakes performance. As it is, executives get paid to do the basics, to do the work. Incentives should be reserved for extraordinary performance, the extra.

If you really believe that hiring marginalized groups and nontraditional workers makes your company better— and this is what you should be doing— you don’t incentivize a regular day at the office.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS To win the future of work, you must look past traditional talent pools—truly inclusive organizations leverage differences for both growth and innovation. The problem is that finding a model for great inclusion is almost impossible. People ask me all the time, “Who is getting diversity and inclusion right?” I am confident that no one is getting it right. There are those who get it relatively right. That means some are simply trying harder than others, with programs ranging from truly inclusive leadership development to social efforts for seeding relevant fields. Others engaging in relative rightness include those investing in their communities or innovation programs for diverse populations. As leaders, the lesson is clear, and not in relative terms, either. We should do three things: invent, invest, and implement those programs best suited to our culture and communities. If the imperative is inclusion for females in STEM, then focus on those programs and do not feel negligent or guilty for honing in on one area. LEADERSHIP LESSONS More importantly, in its current form, intersectionality is the state of the art but falls woefully short of achieving prioritized identity factors. Focus on stackable diversity, where the core is true identity, and distal factors are relevant but not as important as core factors. “Stackable diversity” is an alternate view of intersectionality, where a person’s identity is defined by stacking identity characteristics from least important to most important. (The most important play a vital role in defining the individual’s view of themselves.) This represents a cleaner view of how humans manage (cognitively speaking) their identity and perceptions of inclusion.

Here are some key questions you should consider making part of your Reset repertoire:

• What does “inclusive” really mean for me and my organization?

• Should I fear people becoming hawkish about our values? Will they make the culture exclusive rather than inclusive?

• Can we live with trying as opposed to always succeeding?

• What are my organization’s imperatives for achieving inclusion?

• Do we have a metric like SHRM’s Empathy Index to assess inclusiveness?

Adapted from Chapter 6 of Reset: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval (PublicAffairs), by Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., President and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

SHRM’s Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. Introduces His New Book RESET Available Now

THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE YOU OVERLOOK

Reset is also a clarion call for leaders to finally acknowledge long-undisputed facts such as how having 50 percent or more women on your team increases innovation, or how hiring disabled workers increases both morale and retention rates, or how not all workers want to be permanent employees. The contemporary mindset isn’t just about being ready for change; it’s also about being fed up with the lack of change and having the determination to do something about it. It’s about growing that talent pool to include untapped resources, increasing the pipeline, and closing the skills gap. We have to unlock the talent and tap the potential by valuing workers who have been overlooked, marginalized, and discarded. Morally, it’s a move in line with diversity and inclusion (D&I). Morally, we can all have a warm feeling about it. But business-wise, it’s a cold, hard necessity. I like to say, Do good and do good. Because the upside is enormous: society gains, businesses thrive. We’ve talked a lot about valuing Black and Brown workers, about the obstacles to equal pay that women face as they rise in the ranks, about racial and gender diversity. Now, let’s also think about a few nontraditional, increasingly diverse groups that can help bridge our skills gap. • Older Workers (The Silver Tsunami): We all get older and many of us recognize how the biggest workplace bias that exists is discrimination against individuals because of their age. Ageism never gets old. • Workers with Disabilities (Able and Willing): While there will be an unemployment reckoning for everyone in our post-pandemic workplace, ultimately you’ll face the shrinking talent pool and you’ll need to find highly skilled, motivated workers who will be an asset to your business. We have to embrace that fact and search out workers with disabilities to help grow our bottom lines. • Veterans (Warriors around the World) We know that employers who successfully attract and hire veterans in their workplaces find that those with military backgrounds often not only outperform other employees, but also stay with the organization longer than the median length of employment. • Formerly Incarcerated (Second-Chance Payoff): There is nothing to fear in providing second chances to skilled workers who have paid their dues and earned a position that pays. This isn’t charity. It’s good business.

The hidden value of tapping nontraditional talent pools can put your business over the top.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers every day. As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Mr. Taylor is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. He is frequently asked to testify before Congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR." Mr. Taylor's career spans over 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit space. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/Interactive Corp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm, and Compass Group USA. Most recently, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. He was appointed chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and served as a member of the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during the Trump Administration. He is a Trustee of the University of Miami, Governor of the American Red Cross, and member of the corporate boards of Guild Education and iCIMS. He is licensed to practice law in Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C.

A ABOUT SHRM

SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, creates better workplaces where employers and employees thrive together. As the voice of all things work, workers and the workplace, SHRM is the foremost expert, convener and thought leader on issues impacting today's evolving workplaces. With 300,000+ HR and business executive members in 165 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 115 million workers and families globally. Learn more at SHRM.org and on Twitter @SHRM.