More than a buzzword: how to actually build a diverse teamFeatured

becs23·Jul 25, 2019

Posted in:Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Management and Leadership Spotlights

I’m at that turning point in my career where I’m spending more of my time building and managing teams than I am as an individual contributor. I’ve been lucky to learn from and observe a variety of different companies and their hiring practices. It’s no surprise that those who are doing it best have one thing in common: they prioritize diversity. I care deeply about this topic, so as a hiring manager, I wanted to pass along some practical tips to help other teams consider more thoughtfully how they grow.

Diversity in experience

My career has been in User Experience (UX) Research, partnering with product and design teams to deeply understand people and their relationship to what we’re building. I like to describe it as the “why?” behind the data. When I first started out, I was told numerous times that if I ever wanted to be taken seriously as a researcher, I needed a PhD. That I’d never get hired at the Facebooks or Microsofts of the world without it. Thankfully, they were wrong on both counts, but it’s an idea that still permeates the industry. “You must fit into this mold in order to be successful.” Because of this, many companies won’t consider candidates unless they have an advanced degree, or a specific type of experience. Don’t get me wrong, skills and experience will always be important, but how a candidate acquired them is not. For example, two of the best product designers I’ve ever worked with came straight out of high school. In my current role, the colleagues who consistently challenge us to think differently don’t come from a financial services background. Don’t miss out on great candidates because they don’t fit into a cookie cutter job description. You might be thinking, this all sounds great, but how do I put this into practice?Rethink your baseline. If you’re hiring a product designer, the baseline might be a certain level of interaction or visual design skills, experience collaborating with a variety of disciplines, and ability to communicate design decisions to senior stakeholders. Do you need an advanced degree for any of this? Is it crucial to be an expert in Sketch? Is it a high priority for them to have a fancy design school certificate? No. So stop prioritizing it. Have a brainstorm with your team and cut down the role to its core function. Agree on what is non-negotiable in a new hire, and that includes soft skills such as openness to feedback and communication.Partner with the team that’s sourcing and recruiting. They’re usually just looking for a simple checklist to weed out candidates, but a true partnership changes that. Set up a meeting before sourcing begins and give examples of what your non-negotiables look like as well as some unique attributes of a great candidate. Invite them to observe your meetings and your process, and interview people on your team about their backgrounds and desires for their future colleague. Check in often to tweak as you go and give feedback on the resumes you’re seeing. That way, it’s no longer about the checklist and it gives the recruiter the freedom to get creative about sourcing candidates.
Diversify your networks
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “there are no women in tech!” or, “we need to prioritize finding the right person for the job. We don’t have time to ensure diversity!” or, “someone of that age might not fit in with our culture.” All of those are excuses. If you’re a person with the power to give someone a job, you have a huge responsibility. There are numerous groups on Slack, Meetup, and social media for minority groups in various industries. Ask to be invited. Make connections. Reach out to friends who are women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and ask for their ideas and support. Explain your intentions and ask for specific feedback on your job description or interview questions, or for an introduction to one person they know who works in a field similar to yours. Reach out to like-minded people on Twitter or LinkedIn and share ideas.It’s going to take some effort to break out of the typical tech/finance/business/etc hiring mold, but it’s been proven that diverse teams are more successful (read: $$$) teams. Take the time to do it right. Your team will be better for it.
Don’t sleep on it
Building a diverse team doesn’t happen the minute you get headcount approval or when the job description goes live. It’s an ongoing effort. Always consider how you’re building a network of diverse candidates, even when you aren’t immediately hiring. Use some of the tips I mentioned above to get out there and connect, even if it’s just setting a goal of one coffee meeting per month. Some other ideas: - Host industry related events at your office, such as panels or workshops. It’s great for building your team’s brand and a wonderful opportunity to connect with others in the industry. - Create opportunities for networking while doing things you already have planned, like meeting friends for drinks or dinner. - Ask them to each bring along a friend that you haven’t met who works in your industry as a way to more effortlessly grow your network.Then, when it does come time to hire, you already have a list of candidates to consider from your personal network, rather than rushing to build a pipeline just to get a job filled. And there you have it! Those are some of my top tips to consider when hiring, but I’d love to hear some of yours! If you want to continue the conversation, my inbox is always open.--Becca has almost a decade of experience leading strategic research at some of the world’s top companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Morgan Stanley, as well as startups like Sunrise and Foursquare. Her expertise lies in building research teams at scale and partnering with design and product teams to solve real human problems. Now, she is the first researcher at The Wing in NYC.

kuan·Jul 25, 2019
kuan·Jul 25, 2019
Thank you, Becca for writing for us! If you have a story to share, or know something who might, let us know [email protected] or DM me.
IsaCFritz·Jul 25, 2019
IsaCFritz·Jul 25, 2019
I'm really digging your advice for active recruitment when you're not hiring! Those are fantastic ways to build your pool of candidates.
whitneycaneel·Jul 25, 2019
whitneycaneel·Jul 25, 2019
"Don’t get me wrong, skills and experience will always be important, but how a candidate acquired them is not." Could not be more true! There are so many talented individuals with so much practical experience under their belt, but get dismissed because they don't have a paper to back it up. I definitely see this changing, but it's a bit slow. Question: What's it like working at The Wing? I've read so many positive experiences from women that work in their spaces but never for the company itself- very curious! Also, hoping that maybe one day they come to Amsterdam? (fingers crossed). Thanks so much for your time!
janinedavis·Jul 25, 2019
janinedavis·Jul 25, 2019
This is great @beccahare! Do you have this published on Medium or somewhere in a sharable format?
cadran·Jul 25, 2019
cadran·Jul 25, 2019
you can share the Elpha post it's publicly available! Click the "Share" button :)
vincianed·Jul 25, 2019
vincianed·Jul 25, 2019
These are great recommendations! We're super committed to building diverse teams and an inclusive culture and we found that rewriting our job postings to remove any gendered language helped tremendously. Woman and non-binary folx are less likely to apply for jobs when they don't feel like they meet most (or all) of the requirements, so we intentionally reworded our job descriptions to focus on expected responsibilities, not hard requirements. There are also a lot great tools like Textio or Gender Decoder that can help mitigate some of the unconscious bias we tend to imbue in our language. Additionally, we know that what gets measured gets done, so we publicly publish our diversity numbers annually. Complete transparency helps hold us accountable. (If you're curious, can check out our D&I report here https://versett.com/diversity-and-inclusion/2018/)As an unintended (but happy) consequence of sharing our D&I report, many candidates who come through our hiring pipeline cite the report as one of the reasons they were interested in our company. An organization that is committed to diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity is far more attractive to women, POC, gender and sexually diverse individuals, and other underrepresented groups in tech. It's become a very powerful recruitment tool for us, creating a virtuous cycle of attracting talent that has a vested interest in continuing to foster an inclusive environment. Win-win-win. 🙌🏻
QuinnWang·Jul 25, 2019
QuinnWang·Jul 25, 2019
I love this so much! Thank you for sharing —“Don’t miss out on great candidates because they don’t fit into a cookie cutter job description.” Amen to that!
JessicaDurkin·Jul 27, 2019
JessicaDurkin·Jul 27, 2019
Fantastic, Becca! Thanks for sharing this. The Wing's lucky to have you at the helm!
jgrayson·Aug 01, 2019
jgrayson·Aug 01, 2019
LOVE THIS: "Rethink your baseline. If you’re hiring a product designer, the baseline might be a certain level of interaction or visual design skills, experience collaborating with a variety of disciplines, and ability to communicate design decisions to senior stakeholders. Do you need an advanced degree for any of this? Is it crucial to be an expert in Sketch? Is it a high priority for them to have a fancy design school certificate? No. So stop prioritizing it. Have a brainstorm with your team and cut down the role to its core function. Agree on what is non-negotiable in a new hire, and that includes soft skills such as openness to feedback and communication."That is fabulous advice for anyone. I hate when I see "degree from top-tier university" in a job requirement.
bonnieli·Aug 10, 2019
bonnieli·Aug 10, 2019
This is amazing read and a great reminder that diversity needs to be introduced early, and to continue valuing diversity while growing the team. The best teams I've been apart of is because of how diverse it was. A diverse team also makes it very attractive for candidates!