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How to Build a Diverse Leadership Team for Long-Term Business Growth
26 Feb, 20256 minutes
In our recent thought leadership article, we discussed diversity in leadership and the many benefits of having inclusive leadership teams, such as innovation, talent attraction, and employee morale.
However, recent global trends highlight setbacks in diversity initiatives. For example, new U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to roll back diversity programs, leading to debates on the future of inclusion efforts in business. Despite this, companies that prioritise diversity continue to see measurable success, with McKinsey & Company reporting that businesses with diverse leadership teams are 36% more likely to outperform their competitors. 
In this guide, we delve deeper into the practical strategies you can use to make sure diversity remains a focus in your business, including setting measurable targets, implementing training programs, and making your hiring process more inclusive.
Why It’s Important to Make Diversity a Priority
A diverse leadership team sets a positive example for the entire organisation. When senior executives genuinely commit to diversity, this demonstrates that inclusion is a business goal, rather than a branding exercise. This then descends through the organisation, creating a culture where every employee feels valued. Despite this, a recent study by Harvard Business Review revealed that 78% of employees believe their organisation lacks diversity in leadership positions.
Making diversity a priority not only boosts employee morale but also enhances your company’s brand reputation, making it more attractive to skilled talent seeking a workplace that values diversity in:
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Sexual orientation
- Age
- Religion
This commitment to inclusivity attracts top talent from a wider pool of candidates, giving the company a competitive edge in hiring and retaining skilled professionals.
Increasing Diversity Using ‘SMART’ Objectives
It’s important for leaders to establish clear, measurable diversity and inclusion targets. A good way to approach target setting is by following the ‘SMART’ framework.
An example of a SMART target could be: ‘to increase the representation of women in leadership positions from 25% to 40% within the next three years by implementing unconscious bias training for hiring managers.’ 
According to a study by the American Psychological Association, SMART goals are 90% more likely to be achieved than non-specific goals. By making sure your goals meet these five principles, you can effectively track progress and celebrate achievements, as well as creating a more diverse and inclusive environment.
How to Make Your Hiring Process Inclusive
Transforming your hiring process is one of the most impactful ways to improve diversity in leadership. According to McKinsey and Company, inclusive teams are 35% more productive and make better decisions 87% of the time.
Even making small changes can lead to significant improvements in attracting and retaining diverse talent and thriving as a business. Here are some key strategies to improve diversity in leadership:
Implement Diverse Hiring Panels
It’s important to assemble diverse hiring panels that represent a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Despite this, alarming statistics from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s annual survey found that 61.7% of employers do not use diverse interview panels, which is actually an 6% increase on 2023.
Ensuring your interview panel represents a variety of different cultures and backgrounds helps to reduce biases and ensures the interview process reflects your commitment to inclusion. It also enhances the candidate experience by showing that diversity in leadership matters at every level, which will help your business attract top talent.
Read our article on the candidate experience for more information on how to improve your hiring process and talent attraction.
Write Inclusive Job Adverts
The language you use in your job adverts plays a key role in attracting diverse talent. You should make sure to use inclusive language that avoids gendered terms and stereotypes, especially considering that, according to a report by Hewlett-Packard, men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications, while women apply only if they meet 100% of them. For example, avoid asking for a set number of years’ experience for a role, instead focusing on both the hard and soft skills a candidate has. A job advert that speaks to a diverse audience shows that your company values diversity in leadership from the very first interaction.
Ensure Accessibility and Reasonable Adjustments
Ensuring accessibility and offering reasonable adjustments in your hiring process is crucial for building a diverse and inclusive workforce. Removing barriers that could prevent skilled talent from applying gives you access to a wider talent pool, which is essential for creating a representative workforce. 
This includes individuals with disabilities, those from diverse cultural backgrounds with different needs, and anyone whose circumstances make traditional hiring practices challenging for them. Creating equal opportunities for everyone to demonstrate their skills and potential not only benefits candidates but also encourages diverse perspectives, ultimately leading to a more innovative workplace.
Ask the Right Questions in Interviews
To truly assess how a candidate fits with your diversity values, you should structure your interview questions to explore cultural characteristics. Asking about candidates’ experience working in diverse teams or how they have contributed to creating inclusive environments will help you identify leaders who value diversity and encourage candidates to reflect on how they can drive positive change in your company.
Training Programs for Inclusive Leadership
Unconscious Bias Training
Even with an inclusive hiring process, unconscious bias can still influence decision-making. A study by Harvard University found that 70% of people subconsciously associate men with careers and women with family, highlighting a gender bias that can impact hiring decisions. Similarly, research from the U.S Bureau of Economic Research revealed that applications with traditionally white-sounding names receive 50% more callbacks for interviews than those with African American-sounding names, which demonstrates the presence of racial biases in recruitment. 
Unconscious bias training is important for all employees, especially those in leadership positions, as it can help them recognise and address their own biases. As a business, you should implement training programs that offer strategies to help leaders make inclusive and fair decisions.
Cultural Workshops
Cultural workshops educate employees about diverse cultural norms, communication styles, and work expectations, helping employees become more understanding of one another. IBM, for example, has made significant investments in creating a culturally intelligent workforce through training programs. As a result, the company has seen a 20% increase in employee engagement and a 30% improvement in cross-cultural team performance.
These sessions help leaders and teams understand how different cultures approach leadership, teamwork, and feedback, which reduces misunderstandings in multicultural workplaces. Cultural workshops encourage open communication and respect for different views and perspectives, allowing teams to collaborate effectively with professionals from other cultures and build international business relationships with confidence.
Mentorship Opportunities
Mentorship plays a key role in developing diverse leadership and creating future leaders. When senior professionals mentor employees from under-represented groups, they help develop talent equipped with the skills and confidence required to succeed in leadership roles. Mentors can serve as role models of diversity and inclusion by creating an environment where all employees feel supported. By pairing diverse talent with experienced leaders, you can ensure that future leaders receive valuable career guidance and key leadership insights.
You should also implement further learning opportunities such as group workshops and training sessions. These programs should focus on key skills like strategic thinking, communication, and problem-solving to prepare your employees for leadership responsibilities. You should track and measure the success of your mentorship efforts by setting clear goals and measuring employee retention, with a LinkedIn Learning report finding that 94% of employees said they would stay at a company longer if they were offered opportunities to learn and grow. 
If you’re looking to implement unconscious bias training, cultural workshops, or mentorship, there are several ways to find these programs:
Explore Online Training Platforms – Platforms such as LinkedIn Learning offer unconscious bias and inclusive leadership courses that can be taken individually or as a company.
Partner with HR Experts – Organisations such as SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) offer diversity and inclusion training resources and can connect your business with experienced trainers.
Leverage Internal HR Teams – If your company has a HR team, they can provide internal diversity and inclusion training tailored to your specific business.
Attend Workshops and Conferences – Many industry conferences feature sessions on diversity training, offering your leaders the chance to learn from the experts.
How To Celebrate Diversity
Celebrating diversity is crucial as it helps create a sense of belonging among employees and shows that you value diverse perspectives in the workplace. Hosting cultural celebrations, such as events for religious holidays and heritage months, allows employees to share their traditions and learn from one another.
You can also recognise leaders and teams who embrace diversity by giving awards or internal spotlights, which could help employees identify the best colleagues to learn and seek guidance from. Ultimately, celebrating diversity makes employees feel valued, which could help your business attract and retain skilled talent and leaders from various backgrounds.
Partner with CSG Talent to Improve Diversity in Leadership
Partnering with a specialist recruiter is a great way of improving diversity in leadership within your business. Experienced recruiters have access to a wide talent pool, enabling them to identify candidates from diverse backgrounds who may not be found through traditional hiring methods.
They also have expertise in inclusive hiring strategies, helping you eliminate bias in the recruitment process and ensure that your leadership team reflects a wide range of perspectives. By working with a recruiter who understands the importance of inclusion, you can attract top talent and build diverse teams that drive innovation and success.
At CSG Talent, we understand the challenges and opportunities that come with building a diverse leadership team. Our executive search services are designed to help you identify and attract leaders from all backgrounds capable of driving innovation and growth.
By partnering with CSG Talent, you’ll gain access to a diverse network of skilled talent and recruitment specialists who are dedicated to helping you achieve your goals.
If you are keen to learn more on how you can build a diverse leadership team, or have specific hiring goals in place across your business, get in touch with our expert team.
For more diversity and inclusion insights, listen to our podcast: Conversations with CSG.
Also, download our free resource: How to Create a Diverse Hiring Strategy.
