P2P

9 I L T A N E T . O R G I t's a simple fact: Businesses that recognize inclusion as a strategy can elevate their organizations to new levels of performance. Scientific studies back this up, demonstrating that including diverse viewpoints and experience in groups tends to result in greater success. Case in point: Ethnically and culturally diverse organizations have a of outperforming their peers on EBIT margin. Meanwhile, inclusive organizations report a 54% increase in creativity, innovation, and openness. Additionally, highly inclusive organizations generate 19% higher revenue, 2.3x more cash flow per employee, and are 120% more capable of meeting financial targets. The business case is clear. But how can legal organizations reach a point where they're hearing from all voices and institutionalizing collective wisdom so that they can start generating those superior outcomes? It all starts with ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) drivers are being baked into organizational processes, technology, and cultures. Defining terms and getting started Before any DEI efforts get underway, it's helpful to define terms. The phrase "diversity, equity, and inclusion" is often viewed as a single "thing", but it's valuable to understand what each item is actually focusing on. Diversity is perhaps the most intuitive concept to understand. It's simply the presence of difference within a given setting. That means having people with a diverse range of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences of identity (which can include race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, information processing style, and so on) rather than a group of people who are all largely the same. Equity is a slightly trickier concept to immediately grasp. It involves providing different types of support to ensure that everyone has a fair chance of being successful – i.e., being deliberate about access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. Inclusion, meanwhile, is about creating an environment in which individuals feel welcomed, respected, heard, valued, and encouraged to be their authentic selves. It encompasses aspects of involvement and empowerment; it's about an employee truly feeling like they belong. All of these different elements – and it bears repeating that each of these elements is different from the other – need to be addressed within an organization. Building on a foundation of inclusion and equity Inclusion – rather than diversity – is actually the foundational element to start with, because it's difficult to "Ethnically and culturally diverse organizations have a of outperforming their peers on EBIT margin."

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