How to create an inclusive executive search process that promotes diversity in the boardroom

• Diversity in executive and non-executive appointments across is hugely dependent on external pressures and individual efforts.A fundamental reset of the executive search process is needed to address inclusion at every step of hiring senior leaders.Joint efforts by hiring and recruiting teams will be key to see more diversity in the boardroom.

Progress has been made worldwide in terms of promoting diversity in leadership appointments. For example, female representation on corporate boards, according to MSCI (an analyst group that tracks gender diversity of corporate boards) has reported that 38% of companies in its All Country World Index had at least 30% of their board positions filled by women in 2022.However, this progress largely comes from external pressures and individual efforts rather than the system itself. Therefore, it is time to challenge some of the established practices in the selection of senior leaders that have been in place for decades.

Prioritizing inclusivity in leadership appointments

Inclusivity is not only a moral obligation, but a business case linked to driving innovation, improving decision-making, expanding market reach, attracting top talent, and ultimately leading to improved business performance and success. Therefore, it is critical to prioritize inclusivity in the design and execution of hiring processes – up to the top.

A holistic approach is needed to achieve this, with collective and individual action from multiple stakeholders. We need to support, role model, and demand an inclusive recruitment process. Strategic levers for inclusivity in the executive search practice have been identified and published in a recent book called Search 2.0 by Egon Zehnder, driven by the work of consultant Satyajeet Thakur. Each step of a senior leadership appointment must be addressed and redefined. With inclusivity at its core, such a process doesn’t exclude any leader or seek predetermined outcomes and will lead to more diversity in executive and non-executive appointments.

Making leadership appointment processes more inclusive starts with the role of the people involved in the search process.Starting with the organization that wants to appoint a new leader, the composition and diversity of the hiring team matters. Egon Zehnder analysis shows that if more than 40% of the hiring team is female, there is a 40% or more chance of there being a female hire on the project. The sweet spot seems to be a hiring team that is 40-60% female, which roughly equates to 47% female hires.

Knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is just as important. Analysis shows a positive correlation between engagement in DEI knowledge, language, capabilities and participation, and a higher proportion of diverse hires. Consultants who are designated as DEI champions made 20% more female candidate hires than the wider consultant pool, irrespective of their gender.Vetting candidates. Looking at candidates as the third key stakeholder group in executive search, distinctive candidate access goes beyond the ability to reach a candidate. It extends to differentiated non-public insights about candidates that can only come from the credibility, intimacy and trust that has been built up over time by individual consultants within an executive search firm or by in-house recruiters within a big corporation. Research has shown that access to and acceptance into networks that share a certain characteristic (e.g. gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomics, national identity, regional identity, religious identity, etc.) is positively correlated to possessing that characteristic yourself, again pointing out the relevance of diversity within recruiting teams.

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about diversity, equity and inclusion?

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle inequity.The Forum’s work on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Social Justice is driven by the New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity.

The Platform produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit, and drives or supports action initiatives, such as Partnering for Racial Justice in Business, The Valuable 500 – Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap, Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work, Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators, the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality, the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice.