Why small business owners don’t need big budgets to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion
Small business owners don’t need a big budget to increase diversity, equity and inclusion at their workplaces.
According to a recent Ontario Chamber of Commerce webinar, businesses of any size can take steps towards increased diversity by setting goals, acting with intention, and relying on existing networks and resources to help guide their efforts.
The webinar, Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter, explained why diversity, equity, and inclusion are so important in the workplace, and offered strategies to effectively embed good practices.
Panelist Krystal Abotossaway, Senior Manager of the HR Leadership Development Program at TD Bank, said employers can get free assistance from numerous existing organizations that work to assist different equity-seeking groups, including women, Indigenous people, or newcomers.
“There are a lot of not-for-profits and wraparound services available to support those communities,” Abotossaway said. “You don’t have to recreate the wheel. There are so many services and so many people doing good work who are really strong allies, and are influential, and are leaders.”
Establishing working relationships with such organizations, Abotossaway said, can help business owners find relevant information through no-cost consultations or informal coffee chats. What’s important, however, is having a clearly-defined plan or a goal in mind, and acting with intention to achieve it.
“That intentionality piece is so important,” Abotossaway explained. “It doesn’t have to be a cost. It’s just setting goals and then finding the right people who can help support your goals.”
Panelist Nadine Spencer, CEO and President of the Black Business Professional Association, agreed that budgetary concerns shouldn’t prevent small businesses from learning the basics about diversity, equity, and inclusion by working in tandem with established organizations.
“They’re already doing it,” Spencer said. “They have the best practices and they have the tools. With collaboration, we’re able to leverage those resources. That’s one of the things small businesses need to look at, how do we leverage the resources of our partners with knowledge transfer?”
Once businesses begin learning how to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into their workplaces, it’s important that leaders demonstrate the appropriate way to act, the panelists agreed.
“As with all things, we need to lead through example,” Spencer said. “We have to show what it is. It isn’t enough to say that we value diversity and inclusion in our companies. We need to show our employees and our customers that we do this through daily actions.”
Abotossaway also spoke about the need for leaders to act as role models, setting the example they want others in their organization to follow.
“It’s not just talking the talk, but walking the walk,” she said. “When leaders take it upon themselves to be part of the mission of goal-setting and what we’re trying to accomplish in inclusion, that really starts to have a ripple effect on all of the organization.”
Panelist Hazim Ismail, from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, said ongoing education efforts are another important aspect of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at organizations of all sizes.
“We need to start today with that education and contextualize why people are facing injustices,” Ismail said, “so people aren’t parroting best practices just to fit in or not say the wrong thing. It’s because they fully understand and empathize with the historical injustices that have been going on.”
Education can take the form of discussions and workshops, even informal sessions over the lunch break, Ismail explained.
“These kinds of things are really important to build a culture of understanding and empathy,” he said.