Diversity and inclusion drive corporate innovation and profitability, as cited by multiple studies. While companies have largely addressed a desire for inclusive leadership, more progress is needed. McKinsey reports that 7% of managerial roles are held by Black employees, even less for executive roles. Last year Women Business Collaborative reported that 8.8% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, 1% of whom are women of color.

Panelists discussed the obstacles and potential solutions to increase leadership diversity in a discussion entitled, “Developing Future Leaders Inclusively,” held at From Day One Silicon Valley conference, “Rediscovering Community Amidst Changing Corporate Values.” The panel was moderated by David Thigpen, director of the undergraduate journalism program at the University of California, Berkeley.

In a tightened economy with continuous reports of massive layoffs, companies are redirecting their funding into new areas for the future, which presents opportunities for inclusivity. Christa St. Cyr, senior vice president and director of workforce experience at Citizens Financial Group, noted the mismatch between what the workforce has and what businesses want.

“Digital disruption is requiring large-scale transformation that requires new capabilities,” said St. Cyr. “It requires new ways of leading and creates a whole host of new opportunities for the workforce. So we're leaning into things like upskilling and reskilling to expand our pipelines for the future.”

“Systems and structures are also people,” said Swen Ervin, executive director of HR operations for San Francisco Unified School District. “We not only have to change the makeup of leadership, but we also have to change how we do business in a way that's more inclusive and more diversity driven.”

Retention is still an issue, particularly for early-career talent. Anna Robinson, CEO and founder of Ceresa, an inclusive leadership platform, said that companies previously had focused on solving the diversity gap at the top or attracting talent while neglecting everyone else in the middle.

“How do we keep those people engaged?” asked Robinson. “How do we help them build their careers over time? There’s so much data that underrepresented talent, particularly women, lower their aspirations toward senior leadership roles within five years of being in the workforce. If we're not able to support people when they’re new in the workforce—that track to first-time manager—we're never going to solve the issue.”

Training and support are essential for setting a culture of inclusivity, especially for leadership. At PG&E, Adams and her team employ “listening guides” as a resource to help folks facilitate difficult or uncomfortable conversations.

“It's training leadership in an intimate space where they can be vulnerable and share that they don't understand what this means or how to ask questions,” said Adams. “It starts with the leadership, but you have to give tools and resources when people aren't in the rooms, so they can walk it out on their own and grow that muscle.”

“We want to create the ability to have the conversations in a productive way so that we can get to, ‘what's the solution?’” said St. Cyr. “Because we're all here, working together, so how do we address what might be getting in the way and move past it?”

Abhishek Budhraja moved to the US from India four years ago. He is now the senior HR business partner, and global engineering and program manager at Uber. Budhraja acknowledged there was a learning curve when it came to understanding racism in this country. He appreciated VR-based training as a way to facilitate empathy. He also praised a workplace initiative to identify and minimize bias.

“There’s a certain degree of sensitization that needs to happen across the board,” said Budhraja. “It needs to happen every year, and the company needs to have a good rhythm to it. And then [asking], what are other systems you can create to minimize the impact of these things in the workplace?”

“We have to make sure that we’re holding people accountable to the standards we set,” said Robinson. “I totally agree that a lot of the culture is set top down, but the day-to-day experience of employees is primarily impacted by their supervisor. They're the people who are largely hiring them, onboarding them, managing their workflows, translating corporate values, strategic initiatives, changes required, doing their performance reviews.”

In addition to training and accountability, awareness and access are vital to developing leaders inclusively.

“We are focusing on attracting more talent,” said Dionne Adams, director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at Pacific Gas and Electric. “What I see is that there's a lack of awareness of available roles, of how to obtain education, how to pay for education. People don't have support within their family, can't afford it, or don't understand how to.”

Lack of knowledge about scholarships and training programs is a big barrier, as is an absence of social capital. “Access to a network can support you as you're wanting to join a company, tell you about jobs and be with you along the way,” said Adams. “That's why the gap exists. You don't have diversity in colleges and trade schools, and that translates to the workforce because they don't have the educational qualification to get there.”

“You see an exact parallel when people are already in the workforce getting into middle management where there's no skill gap, there's no capability gap,” said Robinson. “But so much of it is just their lack of access to the network. Not understanding what it takes to get to that next level, that most people who make it there had a sponsor, a mentor, they had people helping them—that it's not just a question of ‘if I put my head down and do a good job I'll get there.’”

Other panelists agreed that inequitable access is persistent across industries.

“People are not equally given the opportunities to have access to opportunities for professional development, [to] resources outside of the school or classroom,” said Ervin. “So when it comes time for a promotive opportunity, you may get to that first-line manager position, then there's that drop-off.”

It's critical to not only make sure that employees are gaining the skills they need but also have mentorship and a community that will support them to progress as far as they want to go in their careers.

Samantha Campos is a freelance journalist who’s written for regional publications in Hawaii and California, with forays into medical cannabis and food justice nonprofits. She currently resides in Oakland, California.