Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging: A Manager’s Guide

Managers across industries learn to embed diversity, inclusion, and belonging into the employee lifecycle with a playbook. Leaders and team members gain insights to foster respect and improve interactions.

Explore a quick overview of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Define key terms, discuss identity dimensions, and review why data shows these concepts matter.

Define diversity, inclusion, and belonging, explore identity dimensions shaping differences, and show that organizations can have diversity without inclusion or belonging without diversity.

Explore how identity dimensions shape group diversity, clarifying that only groups are diverse. See how varied work experiences, education, genders, races, and communication styles improve decisions.

Explore the business case for diversity, inclusion, and belonging, showing how inclusive cultures drive competitive advantage, market growth, and innovation, while supporting leaders to embed these practices daily.

Attract candidates to your team by applying inclusive sourcing practices and simple strategies that build a diverse and welcoming candidate pipeline.

Generate a diverse pipeline by leveraging employee referrals, professional associations, social media, and your personal network to attract candidates across degrees of separation.

Eliminate bias across the employee lifecycle by attracting and sourcing candidates with inclusive practices. Identify affinity, perception, halo, and confirmation biases, and use data and conversation to counteract assumptions.

Promote job openings to broaden reach and attract diverse, underrepresented candidates through company blog posts with strong search engine optimization, targeted diversity job boards, and inclusive conference events.

Discover more than 30 job boards dedicated to connecting underrepresented candidates with opportunities, organized by communities, with free and paid options; download the guide today.

Identify inclusive hiring best practices to promote fair and effective hiring in management. Start applying these practices in your managerial role today.

Learn how blind applicant tracking systems reduce name-based bias by hiding names and personal details, as shown with platforms like fair hire and pinpoint, enabling objective review and inclusive hiring.

Write inclusive job descriptions that use gender-neutral language and transparent salary ranges, highlight your diversity and inclusion stance, and focus on essential responsibilities while avoiding jargon and discriminatory phrases.

Select a diverse candidate slate by combining a mix of identity dimensions and observable factors like industry experience, skills, and educational background to reduce bias in shortlisting for interviews.

Learn to interview and hire inclusively by building a diverse interview panel, removing resume names, and using consistent questions to avoid a token and embed belonging.

Learn strategies for inclusive onboarding that shift the focus from candidates to the employee experience during the onboarding stage.

Host a welcome team meeting to onboard a new member, establish shared understanding of roles, culture, and communication, and foster belonging while aligning priorities, deadlines, and goals.

Learn how to support new hires in first 30 to 60 days through regular check-ins, inclusive communication, and welcome gestures like personalized emails and gifts to ensure a successful transition.

Pair new hires with a tenure buddy to share insider context, broaden connections across teams, and speed their start, while fostering psychological safety, belonging, and inclusive collaboration.

Share diversity and inclusion resources to support new hires, including ERGs, events, annual diversity and inclusion reports, benefits, training, and acronyms, helping them feel like insiders in their first weeks.

Explore inclusive best practices for engaging with the whole team and shaping the full group dynamic through everyday interactions.

Prioritize team belonging to boost engagement, as inclusive leadership links to 56% higher job performance, 50% lower turnover, and 75% fewer sick days.

foster belonging and psychological safety by cultivating a compassionate, fair team culture that listens, supports, and respects everyone, empowering authentic voices to share ideas and take risks.

Foster belonging by curious, compassionate conversations with your team before one-on-ones, use icebreakers, and follow up on personal details to show you care, blending leadership with management for inclusion.

Recognize the difference: a bystander stays silent as dignity is violated, while an upstander speaks up, supports the affected person, and prompts managers to enforce the code of conduct.

Ask for input before a major decision when possible, and explain the thought process if input isn't feasible, to foster inclusion and team belonging.

Ask for feedback regularly in one-on-one or team meetings to learn how to support your team and remove roadblocks.

Engage in fun activities to strengthen team bonds, whether virtual or in-person. Use scavenger hunts or pet-photo slides, and casual events like bowling or arcade games to lighten the mood.

Everyone in the organization shares responsibility for an inclusive culture, and leaders must consistently include, respect, and check in with all teammates, peers, and supervisors.

Apply inclusive best practices to improve employee retention by offering leadership development opportunities, clear career progression, and ongoing learning and skills development.

Unlock the benefits of employee retention, including higher morale, increased productivity, and lower turnover costs. Build a positive employer reputation to attract and retain talent through inclusive practices.

Consider bias when evaluating career progression opportunities for team members. Spread opportunities through visibility projects, stretch assignments, promotions, and leadership programs to develop skills and align with future goals.

Define clear role expectations and responsibilities through one-on-one meetings, setting success criteria and goals to guide performance reviews and development.

Set a personalized feedback cadence by one-on-one conversations with each team member, then provide balanced sessions that cover strengths, growth areas, and transparency to boost retention.

Learn how to conduct fair performance reviews by eliminating bias, using 360-degree feedback, and counting all work contributions while avoiding personality judgments.

Conduct regular one-on-one career growth conversations as an inclusive manager to understand team members' short- and long-term goals and help them gain new skills, introductions, and mentoring opportunities.

Explore inclusive manager best practices for the final stage of the employee lifecycle during off boarding, guiding how to support a team member leaving your team and organization.

Navigate voluntary resignation with empathy, acknowledging accomplishments, hosting a going-away event, and staying connected via LinkedIn or email. Leverage exit surveys to drive inclusive transitions.

As a manager, navigate layoffs with empathy, offer support, acknowledge contributions, provide career connections, and maintain relationships via LinkedIn, while using exit survey insights to improve the organization.

Managers should handle involuntary resignations with respect and cordiality, thank the employee, and take the high road; use exit survey data to gain perspective and promote inclusive off boarding.

Embed diversity, inclusion, and belonging across the six stages of the employee lifecycle to drive manager effectiveness and organizational competitiveness.

Celebrate completing the diversity, inclusion and belonging manager's guide and commit to applying inclusive leadership with your team for their success.

Develop cultural intelligence to connect with colleagues from different backgrounds in a respectful, inclusive way. Apply it to decisions like scheduling deadlines to avoid holiday conflicts and keep everyone included.