Recruitment: An Opportunity to Embed Equity and Belonging

Your recruitment policy, process and practices send out a signal. They tell candidates, and your current board or team, what you value and who belongs.

In a recent Directors and Boards article, Ana Dutra, a nominations and governance committee member and Chair, noted that the committee role has expanded well beyond director recruitment. Today these committees shape board culture, guide succession, and sit at the centre of how boards govern. Cultivating belonging, I would add, is included there too.

The nomination and governance committee has significant influence over board culture. The decisions they make shape who is invited to the table, who leads and what the culture becomes. I recently supported a nomination and governance committee through a full board recruitment process. Before they jumped to the posting, they paused to explore their policy and practices, and this made a big difference.

The committee conversations that followed were not easy. They were nuanced and sometimes messy, but exactly what was needed. Together, we examined terminology and values more deeply and identified assumptions that had never been named. For example, what do we actually mean by lived experience and how do we use it as a criteria and a guide for assessment? What does a new outreach strategy look like if we want to attract a diversity of candidates? What are we looking for when we talk about identity and representation?

What surprised me was how much the committee learned from each other, and how many different perspectives surfaced. Through our conversations, a common understanding regarding language was built, and priorities became clearer. That shared understanding shaped everything that followed, from a picture of the skills they needed, to the design of the posting, to the interview questions, and to how they collectively assessed candidates.

Equity and inclusion live at every stage of recruitment. From the first conversation to the final decision.

The committee I supported did not hit all of their equity and diversity goals in this cycle, but they named that honestly, and because they did, they have additional questions and new practices to explore for next time. That kind of reflection is possible when committees pause and engage in conversations about what they value and how this is reflected in policies and practices. Investing in your nomination and governance committee is investing in your culture, and your organizational sustainability.

If your recruitment process needs a refresh, or you need support designing an equitable and inclusive outreach and recruitment process, let's connect.