This article was developed to help business leaders close the gap between aspiration and reality in terms of achieving a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

Deloitte presents eight truths that can help to inspire leaders to create inclusive workplaces:

1. Diversity of thinking is the new frontier: Leverage cognitive diversity, which refers to the different ways that people solve problems to improve creativity, innovation, and implementation of decisions.
2. Diversity without inclusion is not enough: Emphasize inclusion in the workplace by treating employees with fairness and respect and ensuring they feel valued and have a sense of belonging.
3. Inclusive leaders cast a long shadow: Boost team performance, improve decision-making quality, and enhance team collaboration with empowering and inclusive leadership.
4. Middle managers matter: Encourage senior leaders to engage and influence middle managers by approaching them as individuals who are supported and valued in the organization.
5. Rewire the system to rewire behaviours: Use D&I data to identify specific issues in the talent cycle, introduce positive behavioural nudges, and evaluate the effectiveness of changes made.
6. Tangible goals make ambitions real: Strengthen communication and accountability from leadership and offer broader acts of recognition or reward to turn goals into action.
7. Match the inside and the outside: Prioritize customer diversity to ensure that the business acknowledges and supports the diversity among its customers.
8. Perform a culture reset, not the tick-the-box program: Shift away from “compliance” and “programmatic” approaches towards “leader-led” and “integrated” approaches, which are more comprehensive, address systemic cultural barriers, and leverage diversity.

To achieve the eight truths, Deloitte proposes the following seven actions for leaders:

1. Recognize that progress will take a culture reset
2. Create shared purpose and meaning by broadening the narrative to diversity of thinking and inclusion
3. Build inclusive leadership capabilities
4. Take middle managers on the journey
5. Nudge behaviour change by rewiring processes and practices
6. Strengthen accountability, recognition, and rewards
7. Pay attention to diverse employees and customers

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