January, the start of a new year, is filled with good intentions to improve both personally and professionally. One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to get healthier or exercise more. So people enroll in a fitness center, a gym, or an exercise class. But enrolling is not by any means the goal, it is merely a tool (a great tool) to help you accomplish the goal. To see results, in addition to enrolling in the gym, people need to commit to go and exercise regularly.

Results won’t be evident immediately. Progress comes little by little, with perseverance, with physical and emotional effort, and with a commitment to go even if you would rather spend that time working, with your family or friends, watching a movie, or just resting. All of these needs are also important. But if you are committed and want to see results, you show up even if you are tired or have other obligations. You practice and exercise, and you feel happy, proud of yourself, and you carry this sentiment for the rest of the day and you want to do it again.

Eventually, you look forward to going to the gym. It becomes part of your routine and your life. Maybe even at some point, you don’t even have to go to the gym or a class to exercise. Your willpower and the habits you have developed motivate you to go for a run or a bicycle ride, and you are conscious of all the good things that exercise brings into your life.

Late January is the time of year when many resolutions are abandoned: people lose motivation or fall into bad habits. One common reason that people fail to follow through on resolutions is that they do not see results as fast as they might like.

The contrasts between successful and unsuccessful resolutions to exercise made me think about diversity and inclusion initiatives — let me explain why. Like people, organizations also have New Year’s resolutions (or goals). Recently, many organizations have put forth goals of improving and developing their culture by being more diverse and inclusive at all levels. This is a laudable goal: research has consistently demonstrated that organizations with a diverse workforce operating in an inclusive environment far outperform homogeneous groups.

Thus it is not surprising that companies might want to embrace diversity and inclusion in their quest for innovation. This is why many companies are enrolling in diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives, creating their D&I teams, and/or hiring consultants (or coaches) to help with their initiatives. This is a great start and kudos to all those companies that are doing so and being proactive.

However, as with exercise, simply enrolling in a gym is not enough. For a company to accomplish its goal of a more diverse and inclusive culture, company leadership also needs the commitment and the willingness to practice frequently, even if it requires effort and at the beginning may feel uncomfortable. And, as with the gym, you won’t see results immediately. It will take time and effort from everyone, especially at the leadership level, to start seeing changes. But with every practice, with little changes here and there (policies, procedures, practices), the employees, teams, the organization will feel better, more motivated, and every day will come closer to its resolution of a healthy, diverse, and inclusive culture.

Employers, don’t get demotivated or discouraged if your first (or second, or Nth) D&I initiative or effort doesn’t work out as you wish. Think of this as the first step in a transformation that will take lots of practice and commitment to achieve. If the first attempt didn’t bring the results you wanted, sign up again. As to exercise more, there is always another opportunity. You enrolled one time and didn’t follow through, but you enroll again later, right? With D&I and culture initiatives, you sign up again and again, because the practice is what makes it routine and then part of your organizational life.

Employees, don’t get skeptical when your company pursues D&I initiatives. On the contrary, be thankful that they are investing in creating a healthier organization. Even if you do not notice any improvement, merely attempting it demonstrates a willingness to improve. But as you know, enrolling in a gym and not going won’t work, kicking off D&I initiatives and not showing up, not participating, or even being cynical about them won’t bring the results we all want. And don’t be sad if the first, second or Nth time doesn’t show great results. It is working, trust me, and it is far better to make slow progress than to have management with zero initiative or awareness. So next time your company invests in a D&I initiative, take advantage and show up. Participate as much as you can, and commit. I assure you that you will feel better when you exercise.

I want to hear from you. Drop me a message if you want to hear more about how I could help you and your organization in your D&I efforts to foster a healthy and high performing culture!