Why Surveys without Strategy Strain Executive Trust in HR

Surveying without a strategy leaves workforce risks unresolved and weakens HR’s credibility with the C-suite. When culture or performance warning signals are missed in survey results, they quickly become costly business problems.

How Missed Talent Signals Can Escalate into Business Disruptions:

• Knowledge gaps stall succession and workforce planning
• Early signs of burnout go unaddressed, spiking disengagement
• Culture breakdowns lead to compliance failures or legal exposure
• Poor reputation makes it harder to attract top talent
• High attrition slows team performance and growth

The goal of employee listening is to inform business-critical decisions. C-suite leaders need HR to explain what current workforce signals mean, so together they can forecast future business performance. That’s why survey results must be tied to stakeholder-supported priorities. Otherwise, HR gets sidelined when their input could prevent future disruption.  

Here are two of the most common survey pitfalls HR leaders should avoid:

Pitfall 1: Too Many Surveys, Too Little Action

Many organizations launch survey after survey (e.g., quarterly pulses, culture snapshots, or well-being spot checks) to appear responsive to employee needs. They end up with dashboards full of overlapping data points that lack clear direction. If organizational or team leaders don’t make any meaningful changes based on survey results, it signals to employees that their voice doesn’t matter. That perception leads to:

• Employees viewing surveys as busywork
• Managers losing patience and disengaging
• Future participation and candor declining

Once survey participation drops, HR leaders are left making decisions with incomplete insight. Frequent surveys can create more noise for HR teams to decipher, not the depth of insight needed to make the effort and resources worthwhile—especially if feedback goes nowhere. Regardless of how many times you ask, employees focus on whether their last round of feedback led to change. The better approach is fewer, well-timed surveys designed to surface actionable insights and show employees how their feedback is implemented.

Pitfall 2: Great Data, No Direction

Even carefully designed surveys lose impact if no one can explain what the results mean. When HR shares a dashboard without a clear narrative, executives cherry-pick numbers that reinforce their instincts while underlying risks are overlooked.

Ideally, surveys should reveal what’s influencing employees’ beliefs and behaviors, not just how they feel on a given day. That’s what allows HR leaders to get ahead of sentiment shifts before they affect performance or retention.

To get there, survey design, framing, and analysis must all serve one purpose: help HR leaders see where to act and why it matters. Without that clarity, organizations risk investing in the wrong initiatives while bigger risks escalate. Presenting survey findings as a compelling story helps busy executives quickly understand the business impact of your recommendations. That’s how surveys become a strategic tool instead of an expensive reporting exercise.

How You Gather Employee Feedback Matters

• What to ask: Design questions that go beyond the surface to uncover drivers of performance and retention
• When to ask: Deploy surveys at pivotal moments in the employee journey (onboarding, promotions, reorganizations) to shape key experiences and outcomes
• How to ask: Choose formats that maximize psychological safety; anonymity is essential for candid input
• Who will ask: Use independent facilitators to increase candor and build trust, especially when employees doubt the privacy of internal channels

Making Employee Voice Actionable

It’s especially challenging to turn survey data into meaningful action without dedicated design, analysis, and change management resources. HR teams are already stretched thin, juggling compliance, culture, and development needs. Adding more surveys without the right support only compounds the problem.

That’s where a comprehensive partnership helps. Seramount’s Employee Voice Platform, Assess360, combines expert-led survey design, anonymous voice sessions, robust analysis, and change management support in one solution. Our experts help HR leaders interpret findings and identify what matters most. This keeps critical stakeholders aligned and ensures that employee insights drive visible, meaningful change.

Assess360’s framework for employee listening:

• Listen: custom surveys and anonymous voice sessions that capture broad feedback and uncover root causes of sentiment
• Diagnose: quantitative and qualitative findings translated into prioritized risks and opportunities
• Transform: expert-guided action plans that align stakeholders and move the right initiatives forward

Surveys become a true risk radar that helps leaders avoid costly surprises when findings are translated into clear action. Assess360 gives HR leaders decision-ready insights and the credibility to protect their organizations from preventable setbacks.

Want a deeper dive into why surveys stall, and how to fix them? Download The Survey Trap for practical ways to turn employee feedback into action your executives trust.

The post 2 Survey Pitfalls that Undermine HR Credibility appeared first on Seramount.

Subtle Shifts that Predict Bigger Problems

Burnout, disengagement, and misalignment rarely appear overnight. The earliest signs of trouble are usually subtle and build slowly. When overlooked, they lead to bigger performance and retention problems. For example, a new trend, called “quiet cracking,” describes high-performing employees whose resilience fades when they begin quietly struggling. Leaders often dismiss these moments as temporary team dynamics, workload shifts, or other evolving challenges. But together, they can signal deeper challenges, such as declining mental health, communication gaps, and broken trust.

Watch for additional clues that a bigger issue could be on the horizon:

• Missed deadlines from previously reliable teams
• Declining participation in collaborative settings
• A drop in proactive problem-solving or innovation

In hybrid workplaces, these signals are even easier to overlook. Distributed teams often rely on asynchronous check-ins and siloed communication, making it even easier for burnout or misalignment to go unnoticed until it affects delivery or morale. While these changes may seem minor in isolation, they often signal that employees feel disconnected, overlooked, or overextended. Missing these early cues can turn manageable friction into costly setbacks.

Why Great Leaders Need Better Signals

To spot talent risks earlier and understand the underlying causes, HR leaders need listening methods that capture context, not just ratings. That’s the difference between learning that trust is low and understanding which teams feel shut out of decisions, or how an unclear strategy is fueling disengagement. Traditional listening tools tend to confirm what leaders already suspect is happening, but they rarely explain how to solve the challenge.

Engagement and pulse surveys don’t provide the clarity needed to meet employees’ needs. Most surveys don’t ask about emotional drift, hesitancy, or suppressed feedback. They aren’t built to detect the top two predictors of disengagement, team friction, and stalled performance: belonging breaking down or psychological safety eroding. That’s why leaders need an approach that catches issues early, reveals what’s behind them, and shows how to respond.

Smarter Listening Uncovers What’s Driving Risk

At Seramount, we don’t believe the solution to rising talent risk is listening more frequently—it’s listening differently. Our Listen–Diagnose–Transform framework identifies the root causes of workforce risks and provides expert guidance to solve them before they escalate:

• Listen: Capture the underlying issues impacting employees’ lived experiences and recurring challenges that often go undetected in survey data alone.
• Diagnose: Identify the root causes of troubling trends, such as workload strain, poor communication, or leadership misalignment.
• Transform: Translate insights into strategic priorities—strengthening systems, skills, and leadership habits that prevent risks from recurring.

Our approach closes the gap between what leaders perceive and what employees actually experience, preventing hidden issues from becoming costly talent disruptions. Once employees see their input reflected in meaningful changes, they’ll put more trust in your transformation efforts. Early action helps HR leaders protect team performance and maintain business continuity even during change.

Here’s the bottom line: employee voice is more than an engagement metric. It’s your organization’s early warning system, a way to detect talent risks before they become attrition, mistrust, or stalled performance. When HR leaders shape their strategies around employee voice, they don’t just improve workplace culture—they reduce risk, accelerate performance, and reinforce trust across the business. This intelligence gives leaders the edge to steer their organizations through change with more confidence. See how Assess360 can help you prevent costly talent disruptions before they spread.

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To build inclusive workplaces and demonstrate lasting impact, inclusive leaders need a more adaptive, evidence-based approach.

A Timely Approach: Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

One skillset is proving especially powerful in this moment: emotional intelligence (EI). Backed by decades of psychological research, emotional intelligence enables leaders to navigate complex relationships, manage stress, and lead with self-awareness, empathy, and cultural agility.

These capabilities aren’t just vital to inclusion, they’re core to effective leadership now. Emotionally intelligent leaders foster trust, build resilient teams, and create environments where people feel seen and supported. In today’s climate, emotional intelligence offers a shared, human-centered foundation, one that transcends political, cultural, and generational divides.

Why Emotional Intelligence Meets This Moment

Emotional intelligence doesn’t dilute inclusion, it makes it more sustainable. This skillset translates abstract values into practical, repeatable skills inclusive leaders can apply in real time, particularly during moments of heightened tension or uncertainty.

At Seramount, our research shows that inclusive leadership is a business-critical capability. High-performing teams need more than vision, they need leaders who can manage conflict constructively, support psychological safety, and collaborate across lines of difference.

These outcomes don’t happen by accident. They require intentional development and support. That’s where emotional intelligence becomes not just relevant, but essential to business success.

The Path Forward: How Seramount is Responding

Over the past year, we’ve engaged in deep dialogue with our global partners. While the external landscape has changed, one thing remains constant: leading companies remain deeply committed to creating cultures where people can thrive. What’s evolving is the how.

We’re meeting this moment with intentionality:

• We’ve adapted our frameworks and language to reduce fatigue, increase engagement, and foster connection.
• We’ve doubled down on best practice research and real-world insight to equip leaders with the skills that matter most now.
• We remained committed to the belief that the future of inclusion isn’t about stepping back, it’s about moving forward.

The Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Series

If you’re looking to empower managers with the tools to lead with empathy, resilience, and cultural intelligence, Seramount’s Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Series offers a practical, research-backed learning experience designed to address today’s key challenges.

Session topics include:

1. Leading with Emotional Intelligence
2. Self-Awareness Strategies
3. Emotional Regulation Strategies
4. Wellbeing in the Workplace
5. Intercultural Competence

If these topics align with your organization’s priorities, we’d love to explore how this series can support your leadership development goals.

Let’s talk.

The post The One Skillset Inclusive Leaders Can’t Afford to Ignore Right Now appeared first on Seramount.

Mental health surfaced as a top concern in Seramount’s recent conversations with CHROs about the future of work. Senior HR leaders consistently pointed to well-being as both a workforce necessity and a business imperative. That’s why we made mental health at work the central theme of our most recent Employee Voice Session (EVS).

Well-Being Is Top of Mind in the C-Suite

Employee Voice Sessions (EVSs) are virtual, anonymous focus groups that allow HR and Talent leaders to uncover real-time sentiment across the organization. Unlike traditional surveys or one-off town halls, EVSs use live facilitators to guide text-based conversations that create a psychologically safe space to surface honest insights and perspectives.

In our most recent EVS, HR and Talent leaders across industries discussed how mental health is shaping everything from absenteeism and burnout to retention, productivity, and workplace culture. While only one-third of participants said their well-being strategies were “very or extremely successful,” nearly all agreed: More must be done.

How Employers Are Meeting the Moment

EVS participants reported a significant increase in mental health requests over the past year. Seventy percent of people leaders observed increased requests for well-being support, 55% saw more accommodation requests, and 40% reported a surge in mental health leave requests (excluding short-term disability). They also shared that current efforts to encourage a healthy lifestyle, build awareness, and offer safe spaces for support seem to be working. More employees are using on-site wellness facilities, participating in financial wellness workshops, and taking advantage of mental health apps promoted by their teams.

What HR Leaders Are Seeing

Hover over the image below to see more EVS results about the future of mental health at work.

Leaders at hybrid and remote organizations emphasized how much scheduling and location flexibility reduces stress, with the caveat that intentional in-person connections help reduce isolation. One participant stated, “Burnout and psychological safety are increasingly front and center as we support our teams.” Other participants provide training to help managers create a positive team environment.

Some of the most commonly offered resources include:

• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Health and wellness programs
• Volunteering initiatives
• Flexible scheduling
• Fitness resources
• Employee resource groups (ERGs)
• Financial wellness programs
• Pulse surveys
• Meditation (apps) and resources

Measuring What Matters

Companies making the biggest strides in workplace well-being aren’t just expanding their offerings—they’re tracking their impact. These companies know the “right” mix of programs will evolve with their changing talent needs. Most EVS participants agreed that the top KPIs, or key performance indicators, to measure employee well-being are employee turnover (80%), engagement scores (80%), EAP utilization (70%), absenteeism (50%), and program participation (40%). Other signals that your mental health programs are making progress can be found in:

• Pulse survey results
• Benefits utilization rates
• Program participation
• Employee feedback
• Health care costs
• ERG engagement
• Manager effectiveness

The best way to measure how well you’re meeting employees’ needs is to ask directly—and make it safe to answer honestly. When employees know their input will lead to action, they’re more likely to share, giving HR the insights needed to course-correct or scale what’s working.

Mental health is one of the most urgent talent priorities of 2025. Forward-thinking HR leaders are embedding wellness practices into day-to-day operations, not just annual benefits reviews. It might be challenging, but it’s a vital step to create a resilient, high-performing organization in a time of rising burnout and complexity.

Want to know what’s working (and what’s missing) in your mental health strategy? Seramount’s Employee Voice Sessions go beyond surveys to help teams:

• Uncover hidden stressors and burnout risks
• Measure well-being program effectiveness
• Diagnose root causes of disengagement
• Co-create solutions that resonate across the organization

Join our next EVS for CHROs and Talent executives to share challenges, exchange ideas, and explore how other companies are tackling pressing workplace issues to help employees succeed.

The post Buzzword or Bottom-Line Issue? Lessons from HR Leaders on Mental Health appeared first on Seramount.

Despite the ostensible return to “normal,” many corporate leaders now face greater emotional exhaustion, disillusionment, and disengagement than they did at the pandemic’s peak. Nowhere is this crisis more acute now than in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) leadership. With mounting political pressures, shrinking budgets, and external scrutiny, DEI executives are being stretched to their limits.

To address this growing crisis, Seramount is hosting a virtual keynote:
Beyond Burnout: Practical Strategies for Leaders to Foster Well-Being and Drive Organizational Change.

This session, with Dr. Romie Mushtaq (Chief Wellness Officer, Great Wolf Resorts)—one of the world’s leading experts on burnout—will explore why burnout is no longer just a personal challenge but a critical leadership and business risk. You’ll take away best practices for building more sustainable, people-centered workplaces—and learn why prioritizing well-being is a strategic imperative for talent retention and organizational performance.

Burnout Is Not About Workload—It’s About Workplaces

The traditional view of burnout once centered on individual resilience—placing the onus on employees to develop better coping skills. But the science is clear: Burnout is largely driven by imperfect organizational structures, not personal weaknesses.

Existing research defines burnout as more than just stress—it’s the result of prolonged effort without visible results, leaving individuals feeling depleted, cynical, and disengaged.

According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), key drivers of burnout include:

1. Unclear expectations and lack of support
2. Insufficient autonomy and decision-making power
3. Emotionally draining roles without adequate resources
4. Misalignment between organizational values and day-to-day operations

5 Factors That Drive Burnout

Gallup’s long-standing research similarly identifies five key contributors to burnout:

1. Unfair treatment at work
2. Unmanageable workload
3. Lack of role clarity
4. Limited communication and support from managers
5. Unreasonable time pressure

For Chief Diversity Officers and other DEI leaders, these conditions are amplified. Despite their mission to foster belonging, they often work in silos, lack cross-functional support, and carry the emotional weight of driving change in organizations slow to evolve.

Now more than ever they also face resistance to DEI efforts, executive silence on critical issues, and relentless time pressure from ever-evolving crises, executive orders, legal changes, and media scrutiny.

Lack of role clarity—for some the consequence of positions created reactively in times of crisis—and ever-expanding workloads and role redefinition in the face of shifting levels of commitment pose further challenges.

Executive Burnout: A Hidden Crisis That Trickles Down

There’s a common misconception that executives are immune to burnout. In reality, they’re uniquely vulnerable—and when executives burn out, it has a cascading effect on the entire organization.

According to SHRM, 70% of C-suite leaders say they are considering quitting their jobs for roles that better support their well-being.

What makes executive burnout distinct (adapted from SHRM)?

• Heightened isolation: Unlike employees, executives often lack peers at their level to confide in, intensifying their sense of isolation.
• Trickle-down burnout: Executive burnout impacts employee morale, creating a domino effect throughout the organization.
• Physical and mental health consequences: Burnout takes a physical toll. A 2020 study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that burnout can lead to Atrial fibrillation (AFib), increasing the risk of blood clots, stroke, and heart failure.
• The financial toll is also staggering. Burnout costs US companies an estimated $120 to $190 billion annually in health care spending alone, highlighting the enormous economic consequences of unchecked burnout (HR Dive).

DEI Leader Burnout: When Impactful Work Feels Impossible

The leadership burnout crisis is hitting DEI executives particularly hard—and the data confirms it.

Even before the results of the 2024 US election changed the landscape of DEI as we know it, “preventing DEI leader burnout” emerged as the top concern in our October 2024 poll, with 69% of surveyed CDOs reported experiencing burnout in the past year.

Key factors leading to DEI executive burnout (October 2024 CDO poll):

1. Insufficient resources to effectively execute DEI strategy
2. Overcoming DEI resistance
3. Engaging leadership
4. Communicating DEI’s value

Our most recent post-election survey of the top 3 areas of concern for more than 100 CDOs clearly reflects these pressures:

1. Navigating political and post-election challenges to DEI (82%)
2. Rebranding or redefining DEI (71%)
3. Uncertainty around corporate commitment to DEI (52%) 

Other recent Seramount research records alarmingly low well-being scores among surveyed DEI leaders, with 66% rating their personal well-being as “below average” or “very poor.” Equally concerning, only 18% said they get at least seven hours of sleep per night.

The current climate is worsening already-shortened executive tenures in the space: average tenure for CDOs already sits at 2.9 years, the lowest among all C-suite positions.

The causes and effects are unmistakable, and the results are bad for business:

1. High turnover: With DEI leaders cycling out every two to three years, organizations struggle with continuity and momentum loss.
2. Emotional suppression: According to HBR, DEI leaders frequently engage in “surface acting”—suppressing authentic emotions while managing others’ apathy or resistance.
3. Role marginalization: Many DEI leaders are reduced to symbolic figures, celebrated during heritage months but sidelined in strategic business decisions.
4. Isolation and lack of support: Burnout in DEI roles is exacerbated by isolation. Forbes highlights that leaders without peer support networks experience greater emotional depletion.

Burnout at the leadership level disrupts progress, drains institutional knowledge, disconnects DEI from broader business outcomes, and creates instability that erodes team and organizational confidence—ultimately costing the business in both performance and culture.

The Heavy Toll of Burnout on Underrepresented Leaders

For leaders from historically excluded talent groups, burnout is further compounded by systemic inequities. As Amira Barger, Executive Vice President at Edelman, points out, Black women frequently experience burnout that is indistinguishable from exploitation—shouldering the emotional labor of advancing equity while simultaneously navigating workplace bias and being undervalued.

Meanwhile, burnout is becoming the norm for much of Gen Z, with exhaustion and mental fog setting in earlier and more frequently. Cigna research reveals that 91% of Gen Z employees report feeling stressed, with 98% exhibiting signs of burnout.

The result of the collective force of these combined factors? A growing exodus of underrepresented leaders, just when their expertise is needed most.

Burnout Is a Leadership Problem, Not an Employee Issue

The key takeaway: burnout is not just a DEI or HR issue—it’s a leadership accountability challenge. The research is clear: employee well-being is directly linked to organizational performance.

While organizations often talk about their commitment to inclusion, DEI leaders do not feel that leadership statements translate into action. Seramount’s 2024-2025 listening sessions with over 150 DEI leaders found that CDOs overwhelmingly desire more resources—additional staff, increased budgets, and sabbaticals—to combat the emotional toll of their work:

• One DEI leader put it simply: “More FTEs and budget committed to share the load.”
• When asked if their organizations provide adequate resources to address the emotional toll of DEI work, only 23% of respondents reported sufficient resources were provided.

As Daisy Auger-Domínguez, Chief People Officer at Fractional, puts it, burnout prevention requires systemic solutions, not just individual wellness initiatives. According to Auger-Domínguez, key strategies for mitigating burnout include:

• Emotional check-ins: Regularly creating safe spaces for team members to discuss stress and challenges
• Celebrating small wins: Recognizing incremental progress to sustain morale
• Fostering collective responsibility: DEI is not a solo effort—empowering teams to share the workload prevents burnout

Surveyed DEI leaders report taking proactive steps to safeguard their well-being. Some are unplugging from toxic online spaces (“Deactivating my X account”), while others are leaning into their communities (“Leading a local political action group and engaging with others”).

Leadership Strategies to Prevent CDO Burnout

While there’s no silver bullet to drive the systemic, leadership-driven change that researchers and thought leaders identify as truly preventing burnout, it’s business critical to make a start.

Our latest research outlines 5 key strategies for executives to better support DEI leaders and reduce burnout.

1. Countering Isolation: Foster Peer Support and Community

Burnout thrives in isolation. According to Forbes, DEI leaders with strong peer networks experience significantly lower burnout rates. Yet, many CDOs operate as teams of one, lacking the resources and cross-functional support needed to drive sustainable impact.

What leaders can do:

• Establish internal and external peer groups where DEI leaders can share challenges, seek advice, and exchange best practices.
• Proactively facilitate community-building and knowledge sharing both within and beyond the organization.
• Encourage cross-functional collaboration so CDOs aren’t working in a vacuum and remain highly visible and plugged in to broader business outcomes.

2. Combating Trickle-Down Burnout: Set Realistic Boundaries and Expectations

Executives often unintentionally fuel burnout by over-relying on DEI leaders without setting clear, achievable expectations. According to SHRM, leaders who fail to set boundaries experience greater physical and emotional depletion.

What leaders can do:

• Set measurable, realistic goals for DEI work, ensuring priorities align with broader business objectives.
• Remove roadblocks preventing DEI leaders from executing their strategies effectively.
• Model the importance of balance by protecting time for restorative breaks and promoting sustainable workloads.

3. Preventing Role Marginalization: Demonstrate Support and Integration

When executives fail to engage meaningfully with DEI leaders, the work is often perceived as compliance-driven or an afterthought, rather than a strategic business imperative. Research consistently demonstrates that lack of trust, autonomy, and visible executive support can accelerate burnout and attrition.

What leaders can do:

• Show up. Participate in DEI discussions, strategy sessions, and initiatives.
• Position DEI as an integrated business solution, not a checkbox exercise.
• Avoid micromanaging or sidelining DEI leaders; instead, provide resources and strategic alignment to ensure success.
• Integrate DEI into global business strategy while ensuring adequate regional support.

4. Clarifying the Role: Define Purpose, Scope, and Outcomes

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, many organizations created DEI roles without clearly defining responsibilities, leading to role ambiguity and frustration. McKinsey, for example, has studied the widespread confusion about the authority and expectations of CDOs.

Despite their commitment to creating inclusive workplaces, our data shows that DEI leaders feel isolated and unsupported in their roles:

• Seramount surveys of over 150 DEI executives (conducted November 2024 to March 2025) find that fewer than one in three CDOs feel “very supported” by their organization’s leadership.
• Only 3% of surveyed DEI leaders always felt supported by executive leadership.
• 57% of surveyed executives felt their efforts were appreciated only sometimes or rarely.
• Surveyed CDOs consistently reported that simple recognition and acknowledgment from leadership would go a long way in reducing burnout.

One surveyed DEI leader noted, “I feel supported by my direct leader and peers, but not beyond this group. I am very disappointed.” Another added, “Acknowledgment of the issues that people are facing is always good, even if we can’t change the situation.”

What leaders can do:

• Clearly define the DEI leader’s scope, authority, and objectives.
• Ensure direct access to executive leadership—and avoid burying the role in organizational hierarchy.
• Align the DEI strategy with business priorities, ensuring leaders have a mandate to drive meaningful impact.

5. Addressing the Emotional Toll: Recognize and Validate the Work

DEI leaders often navigate emotionally charged, high-stakes conversations and pushback from within the organization. The psychological weight of this work can be overwhelming, yet it is rarely acknowledged as a significant contributor to burnout.

What leaders can do:

• Acknowledge the emotional labor involved in DEI work and offer resources tailored to these unique challenges.
• Provide executive sponsorship and advocacy to safeguard DEI leaders from unnecessary friction and politicization.
• Celebrate wins and progress, reinforcing the long-term value of DEI efforts.

By implementing these five strategies, executives can create an environment where DEI leaders thrive, reducing turnover and ensuring long-term success. When leadership provides clarity, resources, and visible support, CDOs can focus on building enduring programs that drive business success, engaging historically excluded talent and expanding to new markets.

The message from DEI leaders is clear: they need more than rhetoric—they need real investment. Whether it’s budget, additional team members, or leadership support, organizations must step up to prevent burnout before they lose their most passionate advocates.

Key Takeaway: Addressing Burnout Is a Critical Business Priority

According to Gallup, burned out leaders are 63% more likely to take sick days and 2.6 times more likely leave their current employer. They also feel less confident, psychologically safe, and engaged with management.

The stakes have never been higher. Today, burnout is a DEI and broader business imperative. Join us for our upcoming virtual keynote, Beyond Burnout, to explore practical solutions forcreating sustainable, people-centered workplaces that prioritize both impact and well-being.

The post Burnout Is a Leadership Crisis: Why Well-Being Is the Next Business Imperative appeared first on Seramount.

As the discussion around DEI continues to shift, companies can stay rooted in their own definitions of what DEI looks like. From Resistance to Results: The Executive Playbook for Leading Through DEI Backlash contains 15 frequently asked questions about DEI and offers advice on how to cut through the confusion and noise surrounding inclusion at work.

Previously we looked at how a DEI rebrand can help companies move their inclusion efforts beyond rhetoric to action. Here, we’re answering three key questions on how to turn the tide on DEI backlash by leading with action.

How can DEI leaders balance long-term systemic transformation and short-term tangible wins to sustain momentum?

Ultimately, the success of any culture of inclusion hinges on cultivating powerful, committed change agents with the courage to act. Instead of solely catering to advocates or battling resistance, we can shift gears for impact, dissecting the movable middle: What motivates them? What barriers can we address? How can we tailor our approach to resonate with their values and concerns?

Initial success might require reframing the language, for example, replacing terminology such as “allyship” with language such as “supporting colleagues” or “championing fairness.” It’s not about watering down the message but about finding common ground to build consensus on.

How to keep DEI moving forward by engaging with the movable middle:

• Articulate ideas with information and data: Understanding the scope of the issue, its impact, and relevant statistics empowers allies to articulate concerns effectively.
• Create psychological safety: Even when armed with the right insights, voicing concerns can be daunting. Providing support, training, and safe spaces where allies can practice and gain confidence is crucial.
• Lead with action: Encouraging connection, advocacy, and championing others across lines of difference, regardless of the labels we use, requires a focus on action not semantics.

Simply advocating for a sense of fairness is not enough. The first step in creating true equity champions is to equip them with the knowledge and conviction to act.

How can we create space for genuine questions about DEI while distinguishing from malicious attacks?

A recent New York Post op-ed said the quiet part out loud by referring to United States Vice President Kamala Harris as potentially “the country’s first DEI president.” It’s not the first time we’ve seen DEI used as a pointed term in the media. Following Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in April 2024, social media users began referring to Mayor Brandon Scott as a “DEI mayor.” Using the acronym to attack people, things, or ideas is derailing the overall DEI discussion.

In a world where DEI opponents are purposefully using the term incorrectly, speaking candidly about DEI challenges and opportunities can help move the needle toward good faith conversations. DEI and talent leaders can spearhead these efforts by actively exploring alternative points of view. This collaborative, open-minded approach ultimately results in more effective and inclusive solutions for all.

How to create space for good-faith questions about DEI:

• Foster a safe and respectful environment: Facilitating open communication starts with emphasizing respect, encouraging genuine inquiries, and withholding unnecessary judgment.
• Practice active listening: Demonstrating a genuine willingness to listen and understand without interrupting or dismissing can help bridge the divide.
• Seek clarification: Working to clarify the intent behind questions can differentiate genuine inquiry from malicious intent.
• Provide resources: Sharing resources and educational materials can empower individuals to learn more and to grow independently.

By engaging constructively in difficult conversations, DEI practitioners can educate and address misconceptions. Establishing good faith in DEI discussions can effectively combat misunderstandings and negative perceptions of DEI initiatives.

What does keeping DEI strong look like today?

Data paints a clear picture: the Brookings Institution predicts the United States will become “minority-white” by 2045. This truth necessitates a shift toward inclusive practices, not a retreat.

DEI is not a sprint to a finish line. Instead, it’s marathon training. Long-distance runners don’t quit after a few setbacks; they persevere through them because they know the reward is ahead.

How to build a truly inclusive workplace:

• Set standards for respectful behavior. Establish clear guidelines that foster acceptance and inclusion.
• Share constructive feedback. Address unacceptable behavior with specific guidance on how to improve instead of only offering criticism.
• Encourage proactive solutions. Empower employees to present potential solutions alongside problems to promote collaboration and growth.
• Emphasize trust and respect. Create healthy work relationships even during disagreements by ensuring concerns are valid and solutions are the priority.
• Cultivate empathy. Encourage employees to understand one another’s perspectives. This will encourage compassion and potentially reduce workplace conflict.

Seramount’s research study Keeping DEI Strong in Volatile Timesoffers methods to navigate volatility and make DEI integral to your organization. The best way to keep DEI strong—especially through tough times—is to bond DEI to your organization’s core strategic goals and priorities. Commit to DEI and be clear about what all parts of the acronym look like in practice throughout your company’s actions. DEI has a trickle-down effect; intentional leadership accompanied by action from executives is the best way to get a clear message across.

Challenges can open the door for new ideas and creative solutions

The conversation around DEI may be louder than ever. Amid the noise, there’s opportunity. Leaders can turn the tide against DEI backlash by acknowledging anxieties and focusing on informed solutions with empathy. Start by proactively shaping the narrative to promote the value of DEI initiatives and to develop action-oriented solutions.

Get more insights in thriving during DEI backlash in From Resistance to Results: The Executive Playbook for Leading Through DEI Backlash, and learn from Seramount’s inclusion experts to progress your company’s DEI efforts.

If you’d like to learn more about Seramount’s work and how we can support your organization’s DEI and Talent strategy, contact us.

The post Three Ways to Turn the Tide on DEI Backlash appeared first on Seramount.

As with any election, people are starkly divided on various societal and political issues, not to mention which candidate they are supporting. Many don’t seek a balanced reporting of the news and opt to focus on one news outlet, depending on their political leanings. We all certainly prefer our own echo chambers. But when someone can open a person’s mind to view both sides of the spectrum, it allows that individual to form a more informed opinion. At Seramount, it is our hope that we can help you effectively navigate these polarizing times while building an inclusive workplace culture where every voice is valued, differences are celebrated, and conversations are respectful, regardless of political affiliation. How can we create a work environment where one person’s opinion is expressed without making another person feel unwelcome or unsafe? 

Here are three things we recommend:

Create a psychologically safe space for your employees

The 24-hour news cycle can be hard to ignore, and presidential elections can be a major disruptor to the workplace. According to a survey by Zippia, 79 percent of workers were distracted from work by the 2020 election, and hiding personal beliefs can be a challenge. With 47 percent of employees discussing politics in the workplace, it’s important for employers to provide a safe space to share political views without fear of retribution. In fact, more than one in three employees believes they would experience negative repercussions if their employer knew their political beliefs. It’s important for employees to have a space to process the buildup and the results, given how polarizing the environment can be. They also need guidance on how to disagree without becoming disagreeable and, as a result, impact their own and others’ ability to be effective in their workplaces. 

Seramount’s Employee Voice Sessions (EVS) allow organizations to listen directly to their employees in an anonymous setting. As employees speak openly, without fear of identification, managers can learn about what their teams are experiencing, from anxiety to bias, due to their beliefs, and then use that information to set a plan to build an inclusive workplace where all voices are heard and recognized.

Some employees might take to their personal social media accounts to voice their opinion on various topics. Make sure your company or employee handbook is up to date with very clear social media guidelines and that it outlines the company’s values. It should be made clear that employees who utilize the company’s social media or represent the organization on their personal accounts could expose themselves (and the organization) to risk if posting personal views.

Upskill your managers in fostering essential conversations

Leading difficult (but essential) conversations is an important skill for any manager, especially in today’s turbulent environment. Upskilling managers to facilitate and navigate conversations on difficult topics such as politics, racism, social injustices, global events, and more is a critical piece of this puzzle. Many don’t know where to start. Managers should enable a dialogue to increase openness, build awareness, and promote understanding. Their own personal beliefs might be challenged, but learning how to remain neutral and nonjudgmental while creating space for candor is vital to these conversations’ success. Authenticity and vulnerability will strengthen communication and levels of trust, and this will pave the way for future constructive conversations. This needs to happen while learning to keep an eye on the company’s business objectives: its mission, vision, goals, and priorities. This will help the manager/leader bring the focus back to building a high-functioning and collaborative team.

Communicate thoughtfully and prioritize mental health

We still live in largely segregated societies. So much of our exposure to others who are not from our own communities comes in schools, colleges, and workplaces. With more political and societal conversations taking place in the workplace, it’s only natural that employees expect to hear from their leaders during times of crisis and disruption. According to JobSage, more than four in five Gen Z adults want companies to take a stand. But it’s not always easy to identify when action should be taken. One of the most frequent partner requests we receive is about communication best practices, especially when it comes to “how” to respond to societal injustices and global events, whether it be internally or externally. Our DEI experts think through each issue and then give our partners the tools needed to make an informed decision on their part. While we don’t explicitly tell an organization whether to respond or not, it’s critical that they analyze each outcome and align their messaging with the organization’s values and priorities. Organizations should also encourage their employees to get to the polls and vote, while giving them the time and space to do so on Election Day.

Communication can also help bolster the mental health of your workforce. It’s important for leaders to recognize that each of us carries the weight of the world on our shoulders differently, and external factors can distract from day-to-day work, especially as we head into what will likely be a tumultuous election year. The good news is that companies are making mental health a top priority. In fact, 94 percent of Seramount’s 100 Best Companies have policies supporting mental health in the workplace. It’s important for organizations to communicate what offerings are available. Whether it’s the ability to join an Employee Resource Group, participating in listening circles or employee assistance programs, or becoming informed about access to counseling support, the information should be clearly outlined and easily accessible. Within bounds of reason, employees should be allowed some grace to do what is right for their own well-being and mental health.

Organizations should continue to think about what can unite them as a company or team. By proactively addressing polarization and promoting a culture of respect and inclusion, DEI and talent leaders can help create a more harmonious and productive work environment during election years and beyond. It’s important to strike a balance between diversity of thought and maintaining a respectful and inclusive workplace.

Think of your mission and how you bring it to life. You must have clarity around which individual behaviors are acceptable and which are not. There must be boundaries set that are rational and reasonable, compassionate and balanced. You will never please everyone all the time. But with clear communication that is delivered in a transparent and thoughtful way, most of your employees will understand and accept your decisions. Why is this so?  Because we humans want to be heard, acknowledged, and respected. We don’t count on every decision going our way, but we surely need validation and compassion. That builds trust, and trust in turn builds loyalty and understanding, and isn’t that what all leaders and companies should strive to do?

To learn more about how Seramount’s Diversity Best Practices Membership can help your organization through turbulent times, please contact us here.

To learn more about how Seramount’s Learning Solutions can help create lasting behavior change in your organization, please contact us here.

Join us on November 16^th for a deeper dive into this topic at our upcoming webinar: From Polarization to Inclusion: Keep Your Workforce United in an Election Year. Register here.

The post Navigating the Election Year in the Workplace appeared first on Seramount.

For HR and DEI leaders aiming to create an inclusive and thriving workplace, applying the concept of psychological safety is crucial. We delved into this significant topic in our recent webinar, “Breaking Silos, Building Trust: Nurturing Psychological Safety Within Teams.” The session brought together HR and DEI professionals who frame what constitutes psychological safety, what doesn’t, the path to achieving it, and how our partner organizations are effectively deploying these strategies.

Maintaining Balance on the Path to Psychological Safety in Teams

Psychological safety is foundational for creating environments where employees are heard and valued. It stands for empowerment in expression, embracing vulnerability, and building trust and support. However, it doesn’t mean avoiding accountability, endorsing excessive risk-taking, or promoting unquestioning acceptance.

For HR and DEI professionals, incorporating this balanced approach is essential. It not only unlocks diverse perspectives and stimulates innovation but also accelerates organizational success. The goal is to cultivate a culture where every voice matters, expression is empowered, and vulnerability is respected, while maintaining accountability and mitigating undue risks in every corner of the organization.

Journeying Through the 4 Stages of Psychological Safety in the Work Environment

In the realm of organizational development, Clark’s 4 stages of psychological safety serve as a pivotal framework for HR professionals aiming to cultivate inclusive and thriving workplace environments. This model guides us through the sequential stages in achieving psychologically safe workplaces:

Step 1: Inclusion Safety

Building trust and openness within teams by ensuring every member feels valued and respected.

Step 2: Learner Safety

Encouraging a culture of continuous learning and risk-taking, where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth.

Step 3: Contributor Safety

Fostering an environment where team members feel empowered to express ideas and concerns without fear of backlash.

Step 4: Challenger Safety

Going beyond psychological safety to embrace constructive challenges and diversity of thought, promoting innovation and progress.

Each stage represents a progressive step toward fostering a culture where individuals feel included, valued, and empowered to innovate. For HR practitioners, understanding and implementing these stages is essential, as they lay the foundation for building trust, promoting learning, encouraging contribution, and facilitating constructive challenge within the team dynamics.

Five Actionable Strategies for Building Psychological Safety

For organizations striving to create an inclusive and harmonious environment, it’s important to foster open dialogue and ensure every team member feels valued and heard. Below, we present five actionable tips aimed at HR and DEI leaders to enhance psychological safety within their teams, thereby promoting both individual well-being and a collective sense of empowerment and innovation. *

Strategies to Build Psychological Safety:

1. Approach Conflict With Intent to Problem Solve

Avoid triggering a fight-or-flight reaction by taking a collaborative approach, which prioritizes working toward a mutually desirable outcome.

2. Replace Blame With Curiosity

Blame and criticism reliably escalate conflict, leading to defensiveness and—eventually—to disengagement. The alternative to blame is curiosity. Adopt a learning mindset, knowing you don’t have all the facts.

3. Speak Human to Human

Underlying every team’s “who-did-what” confrontation are universal needs (competence, autonomy, respect, etc.). Recognizing these deeper needs naturally promotes positive language and behaviors.

4. Ask for Feedback on Delivery

Asking for feedback on how you delivered your message illuminates blind spots in communication skills and models fallibility, which increases trust in leaders.

5. Measure Psychological Safety

Ask team members what could enhance their feeling of safety. In addition, routinely take surveys on psychological safety and other team dynamics.

*For a more in-depth exploration of these strategies, please consider scheduling a facilitated learning session with one of our experts.

A Marathon, Not a Sprint

Cultivating psychological safety within an organization is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires sustained effort, consistent nurturing, and a commitment to improvement. There’s always room for progress, and once achieved within a team, the next stride may be to expand foundational safety across the entire organization, ensuring every individual feels heard, valued, and secure in expressing their thoughts and ideas.

If you’re looking to deepen your understanding and implementation of these principles, our Fostering Psychological Safety Guide serves as a valuable resource, offering insightful strategies and practical steps to further enhance the atmosphere of trust and openness within your workplace. Additionally, our Breaking Silos, Building Trust: Nurturing Psychological Safety within Teams webinar presenters left our audience with these words of wisdom, signifying how you as an individual can help progress psychological safety:

Crossing the Finish Line Together: Building Inclusive Workspaces in Today’s Dynamic World

Amid navigating the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the call for racial justice amplified by movements such as Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate, and responding to increasing global demands for gender equality, the importance of fostering inclusive and psychologically safe workplaces is more pressing than ever.

Now is the pivotal moment to advance toward creating spaces where every individual is valued, respected, and feels safe to express themselves, regardless of the ongoing challenges our societies face. With our comprehensive guidance, training tools, and your proactive engagement, we can build organizations where inclusivity and innovation are the norms.

Contact us or subscribe to our newsletter to explore how our services and expertise can further your journey toward a more psychologically safe and inclusive workplace.

The post The Marathon of Fostering Psychological Safety in the Workplace appeared first on Seramount.