Do Companies Truly Value Their Diversity Directors?

Do Companies Truly Value Their Diversity Directors?
Vadim Liberman is associate editor of The Conference Board Review.
Who Should Be the CDO?
In scouting diversity candidates, many companies look first to the HR department, which seems a natural. But doing so may be selling the position short. "Probably around 50 percent of HR professionals don't have the business-based background to really understand the language of business," charges Herndon, Va., HR consultant Cornelia Gamlem, who insists that diversity executives have an understanding of marketing and economics. Adds Clayton Osborne of Bausch & Lomb: "There are a lot of diversity directors who did not come to their work having the right knowledge base."
Cheltenham, Md.-based diversity consultant Mary-Frances Winters warns against hiring an attorney for the position. "I don't have anything against lawyers, but when you put someone with a legal background in this job, they're going to come at it from the perspective of keeping the company out of legal trouble." As such, attorneys often err on the side of caution, which can hinder moving forward with open and honest dialogue. On the other hand, CSX Corp. diversity chief Susan Hamilton sees no problem with having an attorney in the position — hardly a surprise since she is one herself. — V.L.
We all know that corporate America has committed itself to diversity, to make the workplace a better place for all. At least we think we all know this. At least we say we all know this. But what if what we say we think we know boils down to some bitter truths that we're simply reluctant to admit: that many companies' commitment to diversity — at least as evidenced by the stature of their diversity directors — is not very deep?
No one would ever admit this, of course, and diversity involves so many variables — geographic, economic, etc. — that it's difficult to categorically determine, rhetoric aside, whether a particular company is taking the issue seriously. Which is why the position of the diversity director is a leading indicator of how diversity itself may be regarded within a company. Is the diversity director respected to the full?
To many observers, the answer is clearly no, despite diversity's entrenchment as a settled issue that no longer draws much grumbling or controversy. For the most part, critics charge, companies still aren't giving their diversity executives the authority they deserve.
And yet we've all heard high-minded CEOs and other senior executives sermonize about diversity as if it had the strength to cure any corporate cancer, and as if that view were both universally held and a top corporate priority. If they are all beginning to sound like broken records, maybe it's because something really is broken.
To be sure, there are a good number of Fortune 500 companies that aggressively practice diversity management. Their diversity executives say they feel valued. But they nonetheless concede that many other companies still fail to appreciate their top diversity executive. Only about 10 percent of diversity chiefs get the recognition they deserve, estimates Susan Hamilton, assistant VP of diversity at CSX Corp.
"I've worked with diversity managers who say they aren't listened to," says consultant Mauricio Velásquez of Herndon, Va.-based Diversity Training Group. "They tell me about their efforts, and I tell senior management, who think that what I've just told them is brilliant! I then tell management that their diversity people have already been telling them the same thing and that they just haven't been listening."
Why aren't diversity heads getting more respect? What are organizations — and even diversity officers themselves — doing wrong? The answers may surprise you, because when it comes to diversity, nothing is black or white.
How Do You Say "Diversity Director"?
In a number of ways, it turns out. Here are the most common titles
to describe a company's top diversity post, according to a 2004 survey of 170 Fortune 500 companies by consultancy Diversity Best Practices. (Some executives have overlapping titles — such as vice president, director of diversity — which is why the total exceeds 100 percent.)
64.7% Vice President23.5% Chief Diversity Officer17.1% Director8.8% Senior Vice President4.7% Manager2.4% Executive Vice President
What Does a CDO Do, Anyway?
It's a little gray, at least when it comes to companies defining the role of the diversity chief. Though many businesses know that they want someone in charge of diversity efforts, they're not necessarily sure what they want her to actually do. Job descriptions often list overly general duties. One diversity executive quoted in The Diversity Executive: Tasks, Competencies, and Strategies for Effective Leadership, a 2001 Conference Board report written by Miami Beach-based HR consultant Michael Wheeler, defines her job as "creating and implementing workplace policies and management practices to maximize talent and productivity for overall organizational effectiveness." Isn't that what most managers do?
Because such job descriptions are so broad, it's also no surprise that companies expect a lot from diversity directors. A lot of what? It's hard to tell. Though the Conference Board report goes on to name ninety-six possible corporate-diversity activities, many businesses find themselves at sea when trying to decide which they expect a chief of diversity to do, much less how they expect her to do them. For instance, the report mentions duties such as evaluating managers' performance and participation in multicultural events. Even after an evaluation is successfully completed, most companies don't know what to do with the resulting information, Wheeler explains.
Without a clear job profile, many companies become disillusioned with those they hire to manage diversity. Granted, companies are often disappointed by people they hire for any department. But when a marketing head fails to live up to expectations, the organization blames only the individual; when it's a diversity director, a company frequently becomes disenchanted not only with the executive but with diversity itself. It becomes difficult to respect someone when she's doing something you don't understand — all of which causes you to question the utility of the position in the first place.
Things were simpler back in the 1980s and early '90s when organizations were hiring diversity directors (though they went by titles such as "compliance officer" or "EEO manager" back then) primarily to handle EEOC, affirmative-action, and compliance issues. Today, diversity is, well, more diverse. Diversity executives must review ads so that they properly target various groups; educate employees about policies such as domestic-partner benefits; meet with community leaders to help decide which nonprofits to fund; scrutinize speeches, surveys, and evaluation forms to ensure that diversity is included; conduct research to guarantee that the company is using suppliers and vendors that are also diverse; help develop budgets that allocate money for diversity-related endeavors; create systems by which to measure diversity's impact on the bottom line; and work on matters related to recruitment, training, and other HR issues.
Yet while the definition of diversity may have evolved, some companies have not. "It's a big mistake when organizations continue to make the diversity manager also in charge of EEO compliance," Mauricio Velásquez argues. Not separating these two jobs implies that the diversity role exists to satisfy legal requirements rather than to serve its real purpose: to manage and exploit the company's diverse talent. Clayton Osborne, Bausch & Lomb's VP of human resources, estimates that almost one-third of companies still view the position primarily in terms of compliance and affirmative action.
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