[MUSIC PLAYING]
WAYNE SUTTON: I'm Wayne Sutton.
MELINDA EPLER: I'm Melinda Epler.
We're the founders of Change Catalyst.
We empower inclusive and sustainable innovation
globally.
WAYNE SUTTON: Welcome to this series sponsored
by Women Techmakers, Google's program that
provides visibility, community, and resources
for women in technology.
Together, we're helping tech hubs
to develop more inclusive cultural programs in spaces.
MELINDA EPLER: This video focuses on the internal company
culture of a tech hub.
Like a co-working space, learning community,
accelerator, or corporate innovation center,
in order to develop an inclusive culture for your external
community of students and startups,
you need to make sure your staff and teams--
who create that space-- feel included, have the skills,
and feel empowered to create an inclusive environment.
WAYNE SUTTON: Creating an inclusive culture
is the key to long term innovation.
Inclusion should start from within the core values
of your company, and permeate throughout everything you do,
and every decision you make.
MELINDA EPLER: This may mean you need
to revisit your team or organizational values.
Put together a working committee formed
by leadership, your people team, and diversity advocates.
If you don't know who your diversity advocates are,
put a call out to everyone in the organization, and let
them know what you're doing, and you'll probably
find some volunteers.
WAYNE SUTTON: Then find a good facilitator
who can take you through a design thinking process
to adapt your current values so that you can include safety,
inclusion, and belonging.
MELINDA EPLER: Since you're a tech hub,
you may have a member that can facilitate this or know
someone who can.
Once you have your new values, make
sure everyone knows what they are.
Put them on your website, incorporate them
into the decor of your workplace or classrooms,
and make it a part of your brand.
WAYNE SUTTON: As you begin working
to create an inclusive culture at your organization,
it's important to have a dialogue with current staff
to understand how they feel about the organization.
You can do this through a survey, one-to-one interviews,
or round table.
MELINDA EPLER: Make sure you develop
a safe, confidential, and transparent environment where
people understand why you are asking for their feedback,
where their ideas will go, and who they'll be shared with.
WAYNE SUTTON: In these discussions,
let them know you are there to listen to what is working,
or what is not working so that you
can improve the organization, culture together.
This inclusion survey should ask questions like, why did you
choose to work here?
MELINDA EPLER: Will you recommend your friends
to this hub?
And, if not, why not?
WAYNE SUTTON: Do you have suggestions
for developing a safer, more inclusive environment?
MELINDA EPLER: Do you feel there are opportunities
for you to learn and grow here?
WAYNE SUTTON: Additionally, you want
to ask your current diverse community how
they would like to be involved in making
it a more inclusive hub.
The key is not to make under-represented people
responsible for diversity programs, because we all
have a role in play in solving this,
but to invite them to be a part of the change, if they like to.
MELINDA EPLER: Once you have some core recommendations,
develop an action plan to begin addressing
the needs you've heard.
And, at the same time, your organization
has an opportunity to correct the effect of any past biases
in titles and promotions.
Plus, equal pay and benefits for hubs that have paid roles.
So conduct an audit of these across all jobs,
and correct them as soon as possible.
WAYNE SUTTON: We have included some resources in the links
below to learn more.
It is important for tech hubs to map out recruiting process,
to identify potential barriers for under-represented
candidates, whether they be recruitment staff, membership,
or leadership.
MELINDA EPLER: Depending on your hiring and recruitment process,
there may be areas that prohibit qualified candidates
from accepting a hiring offer or even considering to apply.
Things to think about here include,
is the recruiting portion of your website
and other marketing materials presenting
an inclusive environment, from the photos to the language,
and the value stated for your company?
And is your website accessible?
WAYNE SUTTON: Are you sourcing candidates from diverse schools
and backgrounds?
MELINDA EPLER: Does your interview process
help candidates from all backgrounds
feel like they belong at your company?
WAYNE SUTTON: Does your hiring process show candidates
that their needs are valued?
For instance, are you allowing them to schedule interviews
at the beginning or the end of the work day?
Is your hiring process lengthy, or drawn out, or efficient?
MELINDA EPLER: Do you offer benefits at your tech hub?
And, if so, are they supportive of all people?
Of every gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
ability, veteran status, et cetera?
WAYNE SUTTON: Once you establish these opportunities
for improvement, work together with your hiring
team to co-create solutions.
Invest in your people and develop
the pathways to leadership for everyone,
but especially under-represented staff.
The best way to hire leaders is to hire
from within the company.
MELINDA EPLER: In order to make this a possibility,
consider certification programs, executive coaching, invitations
to executive and board meetings, establishing mentorship
programs, and bringing in role models
to speak and host Q&A. A big key to inclusive innovation
is having diverse teams working together to solve problems.
WAYNE SUTTON: Diverse teams lead to greater innovation,
outperform non-diverse teams, and provide
greater financial returns.
MELINDA EPLER: Reinforce your inclusive values across teams,
ensuring each team values all voices and perspectives.
WAYNE SUTTON: Diversify each team,
and hold team leaders accountable to hiring
diverse candidates.
MELINDA EPLER: Provide professional development
training that includes compassion and empathy,
understanding, and filtering personal biases and conflict
resolution skills.
WAYNE SUTTON: We've covered a lot in this short video.
You can't do everything at once.
Now that you have an overview, take time
to prioritize based on what you're hearing
and your inclusion survey.
And just like any tech project, use agile design thinking
methods, and try new ideas--
learn from them and iterate.
MELINDA EPLER: Now that we've walked
through the internal culture, we'll
take a look at external programs and physical spaces
in the next videos.
For more information about Women Techmakers,
Change Catalyst, and additional resources, see the links below.
WAYNE SUTTON: Share this series with your community,
and let's work together to create inclusive tech
hubs around the world.