Accenture’s Adam C. Jones On How To Create More Inclusive Workplaces

Creating inclusive workplaces is crucial for any organization that wants to get the most out of its talent. This means creating an environment where everyone feels like they belong, has equal opportunities, is empowered to do their best work, and feels comfortable making requests and contributing ideas. In this series, we asked prominent HR and business leaders about the steps they take to create more inclusive workplaces. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Adam C. Jones.

Adam C. Jones is the Human Capital Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Practice Lead at Accenture Federal Services. Jones Co-Leads a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) Bootcamp which helps prepare individuals serving in the federal diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility space to become successful CDO’s.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we drive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I was born and raised on Long Island, New York and grew up in a household with my mother who is originally from Brooklyn and a grandmother from Barbados. My parents were married and divorced when I was very young, but we lived in a neighborhood where the community was very much an extension of your home. I grew up in a town called Lakeview which was one of the Blackest towns on Long Island, and I went to public school in the Malverne school district which was primarily White. Growing up in an all-Black suburb and attending a school that was 50/50 Black/White offered a unique perspective for me growing up. Because of the dynamics of our district and how teachers looked at (and graded) people that they considered to be “immigrant” Blacks I really didn’t explore my ancestry until I got into college. I hopped from North Carolina Central University to Nassau Community College, and eventually landed at the University of Rhode Island (URI). It was there that I really started to explore my cultural heritage and Caribbean roots. Rhode Island as a state at the time had 36 different dialects and many of those were represented at the university. Additionally, many students were first generation college students, so you started to see the disparities between those who had and those who needed assistance. During my undergraduate years, I continued to explore my heritage and found myself being more aware of the climate at the time both on and off campus. Upon returning to get my master’s degree in labor relations at URI, I worked in the office of affirmative action and decided to focus my thesis on race-based affirmative action in higher education. This was at a time when universities were questioning whether race should be a factor in admissions. It was fascinating because no other factor for admission was or has received scrutiny to date. That foundation led me to want to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of humanity and diversity, and how it has evolved in the workplace and society at large.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My wife convinced me to write at least one original quote a week, so when I came back into consulting the one that made the most sense was, “When drinking from a fire hose, always use a cup”. Starting anything new can feel overwhelming, but you can only do what is in front of you… you can only drink what’s in your cup. Too many people try to do too many things at once and end up not accomplishing anything. As a consultant, husband, and father I’ve learned that having a broad, ambitious agenda is fine, but it’s important to focus mainly on one or two things at a time and do those very well.

Thinking back on your own career, what would you tell your younger self?

I would tell my younger self to be more patient and trust that things will usually work out, to constantly be open to new opportunities, and to save more money for the future. I definitely didn’t trust in the process and tried to get rich as quickly as I could. That meant not staying the course related to work or life. I just jumped from thing to thing hoping that I was going to make it. Now that I am here, I look back and realize that I had tons of fun and could have helped more people if I just stayed the course. Saving money would mean bigger investments in things that I care about at 50 instead of insignificant investments in things that didn’t matter at 25.

Let’s now move to the central part of our interview. What systems do you have to ensure your workplace is as inclusive as possible?

As our company’s Human Capital DEIA Offerings Lead there are several ways of ensuring workplace inclusivity:

1. We have monthly meetings with employees from multiple units across the company and functions to explore best practices and DEIA industry trends. We discuss how to improve our efforts and develop as DEI practitioners. Participants take the lessons learned and infuse them throughout the organization, across accounts and with our clients. Being on the cutting edge in this space is important, but it is more important that we are sharing information so that everyone is informed and able to speak intelligently and with something more than passion.
2. Recently, we established an inclusive leadership series internally that is offered once a quarter. What makes it significant is the amount of leadership buy-in. Our leadership agreed that DEIA is as important as Cloud, AI, and Blockchain and is treating it with a similar level of priority. Our program includes online learning activities, a commitment to action by attendees, and accountability metrics.
3. Daily, I look at my team and interactions throughout the day and ask several questions: “Am I creating at team that looks, feels and sounds diverse?” “Does everyone have a seat at the table and are they being heard?” “Is there sufficient gender, racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation diversity?” “Are there versions of diversity that I’m missing that are being represented?” “How are my introverts doing with all these Teams meetings?”. “Is there someone that I’ve offended that will never tell me, but will forever remember this interaction?” I think the most important thing is to be curious, empathetic, sincere and humble.

Based on your experience and success, what are your top five tips for creating more inclusive workplaces?

1. Transparency. Be brutally honest and transparent about your current DEIA state and whether you plan to actually do anything about it. Organizations that clearly articulate their current state and desire to change have healthier cultures and higher employee morale than those unable or unwilling to be transparent. In the federal space, our successful clients build road maps for the future and identify DEIA investments for each fiscal year.

2. Manage the Middle. The value of DEIA must be championed by leaders who are managers in the middle — those in the difficult position of juggling multiple responsibilities such as meeting revenue targets, while also pursuing personal goals such as promotions. Today, creating an inclusive culture is not finding its way into the “business imperative” conversation at the level where it means the most — the middle. Until creating a culture of inclusion and people development are weighted equally with business results, nothing will change. Just imagine if organizations provided revenue numbers and people investment outcomes on a quarterly basis. For example, “Congratulations Adam for investing in X numbers of team members who in turn drove $Y billion in revenue.” Change is in the behavior, not just the philosophy.

3. Everyone’s Responsibility. DEIA efforts must be everyone’s responsibility. Successful organizations have added it to their core competencies at all levels, and leading organizations measure it as part of the performance review process. It is ok to start with basic metrics like belonging to an ERG, but if it stays there, it becomes performative. The same way revenue generation is not measured equally, we shouldn’t measure all DEIA engagement equally. When we apply DEIA maturity models as a measure of progress, organizations can identify gaps and opportunities to course correct. This can feel daunting, leading to organizational paralysis. But we must push through that fear, just as we do with adopting new technologies. Having an inclusive workplace is as valuable as leveraging the Cloud or Metaverse.

4. Emphasize the “Human” in HR. Human Resources needs to be more human and less business

partner. Being a “business first” partner renders the need to understand working conditions as less important. If there is one group that should be well-versed in the creation and support of an inclusive environment, it is HR. Yet, the challenges of equality, visibility, transparency, fairness and inclusion are often undermined in HR. Creating and understanding culture is just as important as recruiting and compensation. Imagine if a female HR executive knew that there were salary disparities based on gender, but instead of supporting this inequity by letting the woman negotiating her salary remain in the dark, she addressed the inequity.

5. Common sense. Always ask yourself: Am I getting feedback from diverse perspectives, or am I asking like-minded people to support my perspective? Did everyone get a chance to speak at the meeting? Did I allow individuals to talk over one another? Did I support someone’s idea when it was originally suggested by someone else? Simply put, you have to provide a seat at the table, a utensil that a person can use, a meal they are able to eat, and a conversation that makes them feel like they are welcome. I always tell the story of when I used to travel to Texas for work, and how I always stopped to get brisket. I used to hold meetings at my favorite brisket café, until it occurred to me that perhaps the person I was meeting with might be a vegetarian or had religious or dietary restrictions. Perhaps I offended them. I realized that leaders must consider the desires of others above their own. More is required in the creation of an inclusive culture the further along you go in an organization. Simply put, treat others how you would want to be treated, not how you think they should be treated.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen businesses make while trying to become more inclusive? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

1. By focusing so heavily on collecting and analyzing data to inform DEI decisions, actionable insights are developed too slowly. Avoid analysis paralysis by creating and adhering to a road map and timetable. It is important to leverage a version of the 80/20 rule to move things forward and leverage data to inform decisions, and not data for data’s sake.
2. Organizations tend to move the goal posts — frequently changing their focus when pursuing inclusion goals. Instead of taking on an overly ambitious set of initiatives, follow a roadmap and commit to sustained efforts that include high, medium, and low targets.
3. By trying to be everything to all people, organizations end up being nothing to everybody. Jumping from one issue to the next — chasing the “flavor of the month” — leads to failure to address populations that have been disenfranchised the longest which, in turn, breeds discontent. Build the fortitude to stay the course. We have to address today’s problems while addressing historic inequities.
4. DEIA initiatives often fail because HR practitioners are not DEIA practitioners. Along with traditional areas of expertise such as compensation and benefits, deep knowledge of diversity and inclusion trends and best practices should be core competencies of HR. HR practitioners should have a DEIA lens built into all they do.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your DEI efforts?

A7: It’s important to go beyond employee satisfaction surveys. We need to measure DEI efforts across the employee life cycle. For example, do we have recruiting and hiring programs that support DEI efforts? Are we casting a wide enough recruiting net so that we are pulling all the experiences we desire? Measuring time at level and time to promotion are critical. Are we providing employees with equal opportunities to be successful or are we still functioning like a good old boy network in which an inner circle promotes each other? Of course, the key to measuring effectiveness across the employee lifecycle is by benchmarking and tracking the numbers. Additionally, we need to look at process inequities as another measure of DEI effectiveness within our organization. Are we looking at compensation and bonus rates with an intersectional lens? To achieve DEI effectiveness we have to be willing to deconstruct the systems that keep us from being effective.

Are there other organizations you admire for their approach to DEI? Can you please explain why?

A8: I admire organizations that diligently work on DEIA initiatives and freely share best practices with others to encourage better workplaces. With that in mind, Accenture Federal Services, in collaboration with the Partnership for Public Service, launched the Chief Diversity Office Bootcamp earlier this year. During the Bootcamp, which is a leadership training program for federal agency diversity officers, participants were able to share best-practices organically which helped to make everyone better. It would truly be admirable if private sector companies that compete for market share worked across lines to foster more inclusive environments, regardless of brand.

What do you do to address Proximity Bias? How do you ensure remote workers are treated the same as onsite workers and have equal access to opportunities?

A9: The growth of remote workers and the explosion of virtual meetings during the pandemic led to what I call the “introvert / extrovert” bias. The challenge for leaders is how to treat introverts — those not on camera, or who are on camera but not talking during virtual calls — and extroverts equally. Leaders can address this divide by rotating who leads the meeting and who takes notes. Don’t reinforce bad behavior by permitting extroverts to dominate the conversation. And, regardless of whether someone works remotely or in office, invest more time with employees who don’t always show up on camera, but show up in the work.

We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.

A10: I originally thought Gordon Parks, George Clooney, Clarence Avant, Keanu Reeves, Ryan Reynolds, or Shaquille O’Neil for a multitude of reasons. I even asked one of my sons who said Deion Sanders because he is going into his sophomore year playing the same position that Deion played in college. I decided on Lebron James for a totally different reason. He is an iconic figure across sports and entertainment, but I also like his desire to be courageous in social and political circles for the benefit of disenfranchised voices and people. He is building schools to address inequities and leveraging his influence in many positive ways. I’d love to sit down with him to talk about what is next on his agenda and how I could assist.

How can our readers further follow your work?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcjones25/

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!