By Patrick Connole
Kacheyta McClellan has spent more than 15 years in higher education focused on diversity and inclusion as well as career development, after graduating with undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Southern Indiana. In his current role as director of diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) for the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NCAE), McClellan seeks to advance the association and profession through a DEIB lens.
In addition to evaluating internal practices and analyzing all aspects of the association, he also works with professionals throughout the nation to identify, investigate, and promote actions that move individuals and employers to be more inclusive.
How senior living communities can benefit from DEIB, and what the movement can mean to employers, employees, and the general good are part of a discussion Senior Living Executive (SLE) has recently with McClellan.
NACE and What it Does
When asked what NACE does, he said the organization is the professional association for those who work with and recruit college-educated students. “We have between 15,000 and 16,000 members. Most of our members work on college campuses with career services responsibilities or in industry with talent recruitment responsibilities. We also have members who provide a service or product that both employers and colleges can benefit from,” McClellan said.
NACE provides tools, education, and programming to help those in the professions carry out their day-to-day charges where they work.
“We also provide opportunities for our members to network and connect with others in the profession,” he explains. NACE hosts an annual conference that is the premier career services event of the year, and its research may be among the top reasons NACE members remain engaged.
“Our research team publishes an annual salary survey, student survey, and more. I’m also thrilled that our research team has recently published a number of Research Briefs that tackle the DEIB concepts income inequity, caregivers, recruiting for equity at HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] and beyond, and others,” McClellan said.
As for the immediate future, he said there is no shift coming that would take NACE away from its core values, vision, mission, or commitments to the Black community and anti-racism, which are all listed on our website (www.naceweb.org) and Annual DEIB Report.
Why DEIB Is Important
McClellan said the role of DEIB is crucial when it comes to employers recruiting and before that how they approach recruiting to begin with.
NACE, for instance, just hosted a Minority Service Institutions (MSI) Showcase in April because including MSIs in the workforce recruiting approach “is one way to accomplish what you are talking about in senior living,” he said.
“Including HBCUs, Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) in the workforce recruiting strategy is wise because these schools have been identified by the U.S. Dept. of Education as schools with significant volumes of students that identify as the classifications suggests,” McClellan said.
“In most cases, engaging with MSI’s means partnering with schools that celebrate their students’ identities and culture. That puts the goal of connecting with diverse students within reach.”
The second part of the solution, he said, is to be transparent on your intent and clear on who the best college contacts are to help you achieve your goals.
“This will vary across institutions. In all cases, begin with the career center if the school has one. It’s important to remember that diverse students go to Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) too, just like I did. Being transparent on your intent with your contacts at PWIs can also net good results,” he said.
Granted, an employer may encounter a contact that’s uncomfortable helping you connect with a diverse population. But it’s highly likely that the school has great diverse students.
“Your contact may not be comfortable helping you because they might not know how to. If this happens, I encourage you to be patient with your contact but not to pivot to an approach that doesn’t make sense for your goals. Perhaps that person will need to ask someone who’s been at the school a longer how to deliver on your request,” McClellan noted.
Every industry, he added, has a set of universal metrics to determine how companies in that industry are performing. “The data tells us companies with diverse workforces outperform companies without them. The data also suggests that many industries remain homogenous, and more companies have executives with the same profile demographics in the C-suite, than don’t,” McClellan said.
“These facts may be the cornerstone for the rationale companies use to justify their DEIB efforts such as diversity recruitment. The suggestions I’ve made including intentionality in your approach, transparency with your contacts, and clarity on the best contacts from where you recruit are a few ways any recruiter in any industry can yield success in the diversity engagement process. This includes all aspects of the senior living industry.”
Nothing Is Easy
To effect change is not easy and has to include pushing people to think differently, act differently, learn something new, and do something counter to everything they’ve done before that change.
DEIB work demands all of these elements, which can be challenging work.
McClellan quotes Dr. Steven Covey, who wrote, “When the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of changing, then you will change.”
“Leaders who maintain tradition at the cost of innovation are not ready to change. While this may be true in the senior living industry, I think it’s more complex than that. I think there is a lack of education among prospective talent about leadership opportunities within the industries,” McClellan said.
The starting point could be establishing great connections with schools through some of the items he has shared above. The next step could be building relationships with student cohorts. Planting the seed of senior living leadership through mentorship programs, career planning activities, earning potential across a career within the industry, and navigating one’s career within the industry would help raise awareness among a broader audience.
Changes Have Taken Place
When asked about the changes DEIB has had to this point, McClellan said there has been positive movement, but the reward will be for a future generation.
“DEIB champions, practitioners, and allies from all backgrounds, genders, which look different, worship different, believe different, or love different have moved the needle in the direction of progress. Yet, the struggle continues,” he said.
“Many people with power are comfortable with the way things have always been. As we know, comfort is the enemy of progress; therefore, many people with power are not willing to share it with those without it. Progress made must be accompanied by metrics that ensure progress is maintained. I’m convinced efforts to bring about progress will continue to be met with resistance until we have more people occupying positions of power that are demonstrators of diversity, educators of equity, influencers of inclusion, and builders of belonging.”
One equation McClellan likes to use when it comes to measurement is Plan+Metrics=Outcomes.
“A few tools that make sense for the segment of DEIB work we are discussing are a combination of strategic diversity recruitment plans that include leadership succession [plan] and developing metrics that matter [metrics]. The specifics of these items may vary between employers. However, the outcomes [outcomes] should always produce equity. If the outcomes are inequitable, one of the equation’s inputs needs to be altered.”
