TrailBlazers: How Top Business Leaders are Accelerating Results through Inclusion and Diversity

Chapter 4. Communicating the Vision

Trailblazers know that effective communications are a cornerstone of any strategic business implementation—particularly inclusion and diversity. Without a clearly defined and communicated strategy, these initiatives can mean different things to different people—thereby yielding unfocused results. Trailblazers are masters at influencing and working with the natural process owners—the people whose job it is to deliver and be accountable for specific outcomes. In this case, the role for communications often falls within the Internal Communications and Public Relations departments. Through the co-development of a robust internal communications campaign, Trailblazers are able to influence the expression of key messages that focus and align the organization on the objectives and outcomes associated with an effective inclusion and diversity strategy.

It's critical to provide a consistent and clear message regarding the benefits of inclusion and diversity. Organizations are frequently communicating competing messages at any one time—be it new product offerings, the challenges associated with being green, the ongoing need to reinforce safety regulations, and so forth. There are always other equally critical messages that people need to hear, understand, and act upon. Inclusion and diversity especially require regular reinforcement of the benefits. One Trailblazer went so far as to say that, if his organization was not hearing something about these topics ...