Some employers seem to think that just because they decide to create a more inclusive culture, employee behavior will change overnight. When there is no great immediate change, they complain that their inclusion/culture change initiative is a waste of time and money. So they hire someone who is either Black, Latino, Asian, Female, LGBT or a mixture of those categories and think that’s all they have to do.

But! Nothing changes. No improved performance, people don’t communicate any better, and everyone stays in their silo.

Some of you may know this but it may be news to others. Hiring a few people who are visibly different from the majority of senior leaders, does not constitute culture change.

The first step for senior leaders is to create a vision and strategy that includes everyone. Analyze your workforce to determine how you will market your diversity and inclusion/culture change initiative, so that employees will understand what is in it for them, how they will benefit, and develop a communication process to get the information to every level.