Inclusion Champion

ADVOCATES OF DIVERSITY

Another essential disruptor to help support DEI goals and further improvement in a performance management platform is an inclusion champion. An Inclusion Champion or Champions is a dedicated group of employees that are trained on how to be inclusion stewards. These employees:

  • drive fairness and equity in the process by identifying and challenging unconscious and explicit biases during performance management process - lead to a more inclusive outcome

  • function as a neutral third-party to bring awareness to bias

  • ask the hard questions and productively challenge team members during calibration sessions (performance & promotions)

  • become a “bias interrupter”

To get an Inclusion Champion set-up within a workplace environment takes about 46-60 days & requires:

  • an employee to step into the role of Inclusion Champion

  • resources (internal or external) to train stakeholders

    • this includes program guardrails and resource tools

  • an actively engaged leader

    • at the starting point (as soon as a senior leader in on board, preferably CEO) - it is important to aid them with a guide on what they need

      • think about the philosophy that underpins performance management/culture

POTENTIAL CHALLENGES & BARRIERS TO SUCCESS

Because any type of change can be hard, we have anticipated potential barriers you might face when implementing this disruptor.

  • BUY-IN

    • in order to make impactful change in an organization, it takes buy-in from employees at the very top to new employees

      • leadership buy-in is essential

      • employees must be committed to spend time

  • PROPER EDUCATION & TRAINING

    • it’s important that everyone is equipped with the knowledge, support and understanding they need in order to do well within their DEI role in the organization. Essential training and education includes:

      • training for the Inclusion Champion Role

      • educate teams prior to performance calibration

      • information sessions with inclusion champions and leaders of the groups to orient all toward the role of Inclusion Champion

COMPANY PILOT :: APPLIED EXAMPLE

Blueprint Medicines participated in piloting a DE&I Inclusion Champion. They started by selecting 2 departments that were more active with DE&I work. The Inclusion Champion was self-selected and their appointment was supported as they were already very active in DE&I committee.

In order to support the rollout of an Inclusion Champion, Blueprint engaged an outside consultant that was solely dedicated to DE&I. This outside consultant aided in equipping Blueprint employees with the skills needed to look for bias, how to frame questions, active listening, how to respectively stop a conversation and what kind of questions to ask.

Blueprint Medicines found great success with the piloting of 2 departments. They found that an Inclusion Champion aided in challenging bias and cultivating difficult progressive conversations. The takeaways of the implementation of an Inclusion Champion can be found below.

  • Learn about how open continuous feedback can help create an inclusive environment.

    Feedback

  • Learn about how we are helping to facilitate change within the biotech industry.

    Our Approach

  • Learn about more about our other products by going back to the Working Product Home page.

    Our Products

  • Learn about how DEI&B can support your company’s core values and goals.

    DEIB Core Values

  • Learn about how leaders can be champions of a diverse and inclusive culture.

    Leaders as Allies

  • Download our full Performance Management Toolkit to learn more about the disruptors, company pilots and get our face2face feedback templates.

    Download Now