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A PROGRAM OF THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION
 

IOM Blog

June 13, 2018

Diversity and Inclusion in Your Organization

Over the past several years many organizations have begun to address the composition of their memberships. Every CEO who oversees a public institution should be closely reviewing their structure. So too, should the organization’s board of directors. In fact, any meaningful effort to be introspective should begin at the very top of the organization: it’s board composition. Who makes up your membership? Are they your audience? How do you define diversity in your community and the members you represent and serve?

Each organization is unique as are the communities they serve. There is no single, effective approach that will work for all, but there are some basics that I recommend for all.

  1. The CEO or Chief Administrative Staff Member should be the person who begins the conversation with his/her board leadership. If you don’t have board buy in, you are burning a lot of energy with little chance of a successful process.
  2. Provide your leadership with some basic statistical facts that relate to your organization. Examples: what are the demographics for your region? How do they compare to the demographics for your own organization? If they are closely aligned, you are already ahead of the game. More than likely, they are not. It is up to the CEO to demonstrate the importance of improving the diversity of the organization if the leadership wants to remain relevant to its membership and the greater community at large.
  3. The good news is that some great work has already been done in this arena. Reach out to your industry colleagues, associations and affiliations to seek out best practices. The US Chamber is a great resource as is the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). The ACCE has an operating division, Diversity and Inclusion, which was launched through its Chamber 2020 Initiative.

Chambers of Commerce in particular, should not only be mindful of the importance of this critical societal shift, in my opinion, they must be the agents for change in their communities. In most urban areas, the Chambers of Commerce are the “go to” organization for sound, responsible public policy, education initiatives, economic development and a host of other focus areas essential to economic vitality of their regions.

If you are a Chamber professional, you already know that every function your Chamber performs affects all other operations and none more so than membership. People join Chambers of Commerce for a host of reasons that we will discuss in a future blog. Near the top of the list is a sense of belonging to something important. If the professional and social environment in your organization does not provide a genuine atmosphere that is welcoming to all or is not accepting of diverse viewpoints, recruiting new members and retaining your base becomes a major challenge. If these aren’t reasons enough to motivate your leadership to lead the way, here is one more thing to consider.

SOMEONE ELSE WILL!

Richard Dayoub
Richard Dayoub, IOM, CCE
Founder and Principal
Thunderbird Management Consulting, LLC

Richard E. Dayoub is the founder and principal of Thunderbird Management Consulting, LLC. He began his career in the chamber world in 2003 as the Chief Operating Officer.In 2004, he assumed the position of president and was selected to be the Chamber’s President and CEO in 2007. Dayoub is a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management completing his coursework at the University of Arizona in 2009. He served as the Chairman of the Texas Metro Chambers of Commerce, serving in that capacity for two years, in 2010 and 2011. In 2007 and 2008, Richard participated as a Ford Foundation Fellow, a project focused on regionalism and sustainable development in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. Richard served on the ACCE Board of Directors, as Vice Chair, and was an active member of the Metro Cities Council. Richard is an ACCE Fellow for Education Attainment. He received his Certified Chamber Executive Designation in April of 2014.

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