In an industry looking to disrupt, transform and elevate the way things are made, the people who develop, market, sell and use the technology are as important as the processes.
A variety of studies will tell business leaders that to have the best chance of success, they ought to have a diverse workforce. And a chorus of progressive voices inside the space will amplify its importance.
But knowing that you should work towards creating a diverse team and knowing how to do it are two different things.
At Formnext and during the weeks that followed, we asked several additive manufacturing business leaders what they believed to be the most important action for organisations to take when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).
Cindy Deekitwong, Global Head of Customer Experience, Incubator Business-Henkel Adhesive Technologies
“It is all about 'walking the talk.'
“As our ecosystem partners, teams, and communities are diverse in their needs and backgrounds, the only way to foster an inclusive environment is to welcome diverse thinking styles, generations, and cultures to have a voice in the group.
“Foster an inclusive climate, facilitate a psychologically safe environment for employees and teammates.
“Just like the additive manufacturing industry, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion should also be layered into business practices to catalyse innovation. This can only be done by building an environment that embraces differences, a safe place for employees to speak up, and empowers them to be more engaged.
“Diversity in the workplace allows people to be people, and us to be us. We are valued because we can voice our thoughts and bring our best selves to work.”
Stacey DelVecchio, Industry Consultant
“Unfortunately, it’s not just one thing. It’s a million little things. But where to start? Find a way for your employees, all employees, to give candid confidential feedback on your corporate culture, specifically your DE&I culture. It’s easy for leaders to say they’ve read the research on DE&I but those situations, where people are dismissed or ignored or not included, don’t happen at their company. They want to improve their DE&I efforts, but everything seems ok, so they don’t know what to do.
“If your leaders can gather this kind of honest feedback, it can point them in the right direction to improve their DE&I culture and truly have a positive impact on your employees.”
Andre Wegner, CEO and Founder, Authentise
“I think it starts with measurement.
“We've started an initiative to understand how many people apply? How many are women? How many come from minority backgrounds? What can we do when we realise that we have a problem?
“We have about 50% applicants from diverse backgrounds; 27% from female backgrounds, the female ratio is not high enough. How can we increase that? So, now we have a three-month sprint where we're like, 'okay, we're only sending female speakers to conferences.' You have to start with the data, right? And then you can meet and actually have conversations with people. And that's what we've been doing.”
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Lawrence Ganti, CEO, Fortify
“I had big responsibilities at Merck for diversity, inclusion and talent development. That's across 16,000 employees. What doesn't work well with diversity and inclusion is to go through a checklist and say, 'okay, do we have enough women? Do we have enough African Americans? Do we have enough this? Do we have enough that?' That doesn't work.
“Diversity and inclusion works well when you think of diversity of thought. Are you getting the right thought diversity on the team? Because that is actually what will move the needle. When you do that, the other elements of diversity automatically come into play. So, in our interview process, it's important for us that when we interview we have different elements of people, who are different people in the organisation, who are part of that interview process to make sure that we're getting that diversity of thought. For example, it's not only the hiring manager and his or her team who are interviewing, we're bringing other people who may have nothing to do with that business, or that functional area. I think that's really important.
“When you focus on diversity of thought, the whole DE&I becomes built into the DNA, the look and feel of DE&I will come. I think what people focus on is the look of DE&I, not the actual diversity.”
Kristin Mulherin, Founder/President, AM-Cubed | President, Women in 3D Printing
“The single most important thing for companies to consider with regard to DEI is to ensure they have specific, achievable, and measurable goals in place. Too often we hear of great long-term mission statements, but with no near-term actionable items behind them. If nothing else, pick one simple goal, such as updating your job specification language to be more inclusive, or encouraging more public speaking from under-represented employees, and then build from there.”
Christina Perla, CEO and Co-Founder, Makelab
“I honestly don't think it's this simple. It's not a one-and-done deal. It's culture, it's role modelling, it's the small things you can do that make up the bigger pie. The most important action for companies to take here is to stop thinking of DE&I as a checklist, as a one-step-to-success type of thing. Sorry, that's not how it works. And for those that think that it is, the reality is that minorities and people of colour can see right through it.”
Lisa Block, Chief Revenue Officer, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies
“It may sound cliché but, actually... do something. A lot of people are picking up DE&I because it is a hot-button topic, but the truth is very few companies have actually completed anything. Such behaviour is worse than not beginning at all. My desire would be for companies to decide they want to invest in these initiatives and get their best staff members with a history of project completion to work on them and then report the findings to the public. Don’t make grand announcements about starting, make the announcements and press releases about what you have finished.”
Rich Garrity, Chief Industrial Business Officer and President, Stratasys
“It's a company-wide priority for Stratasys. And we're doing a number of things on that front. So, for example, just recently, we're putting all of our management through hidden bias training to help people make sure they understand, even subconsciously, what they're maybe not recognising.
“We've also put targets in place as well about how we want to see things happen going forward as it relates to interview slates for certain positions in the company, and what that needs to look like to make sure that we're doing the best job we can up front as we bring new people into the company.
“We've also relaunched a very robust internship programme that also is intended to help us bring more diversity into the company as well.”
Sarah Goehrke, Founder, Additive Integrity LLC; Board Director and Head of DEI, Women in 3D Printing
“The single most significant DE&I move a company can make is intentional investment.
“More and more AM companies have visible diversity statements where they lay out their organisational ethos - but the commitment must go far beyond a statement. Intentional is a key word here as companies have to actively create a company culture and work to see it evolve as the team grows over time. This takes a particular focus not just from marketing or HR teams, but from executive leadership and all people leaders. It requires investment in terms of both time and money. That's where the sticking point often is, as budgets are stretched thin and time is the most precious of resources. Just as money goes to R&D or product development, though, training to strengthen teams and increase empathy will have their own ROI in terms of a more committed, involved workforce.
“Intentional investment puts these two ideas directly together, routing resources where they're needed most: the people.”
Bradley Rothenberg, founder & CEO, nTopology
“The single most important action for companies to take is to ensure their leadership and management teams are as diverse as possible. When this happens, a company will hire, support, promote, and develop a diverse population with much more ease, legitimacy, and authenticity. We have focused on building out a diverse leadership team at nTopology, not just in gender, race, ethnicity, etc., but also in thought, backgrounds, experience, and perspectives, and this has enabled to support, attract, and develop a diverse team to deliver the best new engineering software to our customers.”
Phyllis Nordstrom, Executive Vice President, Chief People & Culture Officer, 3D Systems
“As a Chief People Officer, I believe the most important action to increase diversity within the additive manufacturing industry is to look for ways to increase underrepresented talent in our industry. It is important that the term “top talent” becomes synonymous with having a diverse workforce, as the diversity of thought, experiences, culture, and backgrounds will greatly propel the AM industry to deliver innovative and revolutionary solutions to our customers.
“At 3D Systems, we are on a journey to expand diversity within our workforce and across the broader AM industry. We are focused on diversifying our talent by creating equitable opportunities, such as involving ourselves earlier in the education cycle, creating opportunities for diverse students in STEM careers, and providing broader exposure and access to AM technology.
“As leaders in this industry, we should actively look for ways to give underrepresented talent the opportunity to join our industry and use their unique talents to shape the future of additive manufacturing.”
