Here’s a thought question for you to open this up: Why do you think a concept like “inclusion” would be owned by HR, when HR is also the department that polices you and is in the room when you get terminated? Doesn’t it seem like “inclusion” and “office cop” run counter to each other? And yet, most vendors purporting to have an “inclusion solution” — tech can’t solve that issue, FYI — try to sell to the CHRO. Why is this?
There are a lot of possible answers to this question. The answer you give will depend on your specific worldview and beliefs around work. Here would be my nominee:
It’s because executives do not care, so they house these projects in areas where they will run in circles and not much will happen.
That, to me, is the simplest answer. If you’re a world-builder senior leader concerned with financials and growth strategies, and someone keeps bothering you about inclusion, the play is very simple:
- Send it to HR.
- They will spend forever doing focus groups and researching.
- Then they will spend forever putting together a deck.
- Then it will take forever to get on your calendar to show the deck.
- Then they will show the deck, you will say it’s nice and important, and…
