I Got Involved With D&I as a Volunteer and Now I Lead it at My Company Heres How

I Got Involved With D&I as a Volunteer and Now I Lead it at My Company Heres How On October 1, Nichelle Grant became Head of Diversity Inclusion (DI) at Below she shares insight into her experience at Siemens and her vision for DI moving forward.What motivates you to come into work daily?I like my job Whatever job or role Im in, I like being a parte of the Siemens company. Each day I think about how I can make an impact, not only through my day-to-day responsibilities, but on the people I interact with and the community we live in.You originally got involved in advancing diversity at Siemens on a volunteer basis through employee resurce groups and diversity councils. What motivated you to take that on in addition to yur daily work?I got involved because I was passionate about it. Siemens is a big part of my life. I not only want to do the job Im doing or asked to do really well I want to contribute to improving ur culture and working environment. Diversity and inclusion plays a key role in that.How do you ensure that DI is core to ur overall strategy?We do it by building a DI strategy that aligns with our overall business goals and how we leverage and build our workforce so that we are near our customer base, our suppliers, our partners and society. We will answer questions such as, How do we tap into your ideas, knowledge, perspective and approaches so that we can maximize our business success? How do we make you more engaged and involved? My goal is to be more transparent on what were doing, how were doing it, and communicate more with the organization, so that people can get onboard with this wonderful journey.Tell us about your priorities as you begin this new role?One important focus area is continuing to provide an exceptional customer experience. Part of that is the diversity of our suppliers.Our supplier diversity program tells our customers and our community that we value diverse, innovative suppliers that will provide them with the latest and greate st technologies.Why do you think its especially important for technology providers like Siemens to focus on DI right?Weve heard our CEO Barbara Humpton say that having a workforce drawn from all segments of society isnt only the right thing to do, but that its a core part of our business strategy. Its linked to our productivity and ability to innovate. I agree with that perspective, and I would add that this also matters to our customers. More and more customers are now inquiring about what we do as an organization around diversity and inclusion prior to them making a buying decision. We want to add value to our customers business, therefore we must evolve and provide our customers with what they need to meet their business goals.People are becoming increasingly familiar with diversity as an initiative and business goal. How does the topic of inclusion fit in?Diversity is about being invited to the dance, but inclusion is about being asked to dance once youre there. When you invite a diverse group of talented people to join your company workforce, we want to make sure we include them in our efforts to reach our business goals. We want to hire qualified individuals and keep moving the company forward by leveraging their talents to make a difference on how we make decisions, how we go to market and ultimately how we serve our customers.--This article was originally publishedon Siemens. Fairygodboss is proud to partner with Siemens.