How to Find and Nurture Your 'Dream Team' With Ximena García From EQUALS TRUE
Every business leader envisions a company culture where employees work together seamlessly and productively. But building such a “dream team” at work can feel like an impossible task. The modern HR professional faces a massive challenge in assembling a team that works cohesively, strives for goals, and moves towards united ambitions. Fortunately, Ximena García has cracked the code.
Ximena García is a female entrepreneur who is making waves in the future of talent relations with her startup company, “EQUALS TRUE." EQUALS TRUE utilizes artificial intelligence to meet diversity-focused talent needs of companies interested in creating a workforce characterized by diversity, inclusion, and equality. Ximena recognized early on that an inclusive company culture is a necessary element to creating successful teams. Company culture permeates every level of the organization and brings employees together through unified values, mission, and goals.
EQUALS TRUE is a pioneer in its approach to talent relations because it helps companies build inclusive culture from the ground-up, rather than a piecemeal solution. The company's mission to empower enterprises to discover, select, nurture, and retain diverse talent is what put Ximena on the map as a leading woman in technology.
Equality and Inclusion
Ximena believes that “having a diverse workforce with a range of different perspectives and backgrounds can boost creativity. Diverse teams also help forge closer relationships with customers because they reflect the real-world demographics of almost any technology product/service. And with the benefit of such varied perspectives and experiences, complex problems and issues are more quickly and effectively resolved.”
Ximena is the founder of EQUALS TRUE and co-founder of ATHENAWORKS. Both companies have thrived thanks to their most important asset: their diverse people. Ximena has built exceptional teams of people who may have previously felt excluded from the tech industry - women, people with minority backgrounds, disabilities, LGBTQ+ identities, etc. But through Ximena's approach to talent acquisition, these individuals now feel included and empowered, and as a result, they are highly valuable members of the “dream team.”
“Equality in the workplace is a moral issue and a business one,” Ximena remarks. According to the article by Boston Consulting Group, “Learning from Women Who’ve Made It to the Top in Tech”: almost half of the US workforce is female (47%), but women in leadership positions in tech hold less than one-third (28%) of the positions. The lack of representation of female leaders stifles engagement and excludes female employees from reaching their full potential. Ximena experienced this inequity first-hand — it was the driving force behind her success with ATHENAWORKS and EQUALS TRUE.
According to Ximena, the correlation between team diversity and business success is significant. Harvard Business Review found that more diverse companies report 19 percent higher revenue. So, besides it being the right thing to do, it’s also just plain good business.
A Business about people
EQUALS TRUE is a prototype for any company that strives for diversity and seeks to ensure its workforce feels safe, respected, and supported. This is a “must-have”, according to Ximena, who believes that people don't leave bad jobs: they leave bad managers, bad teams, and bad work cultures.
Ximena's business and talent relations approach are about enhancing talent, focusing on individual strengths, and providing support to those who may experience disabilities, differences in learning, or other non-normative traits in the workforce. Instead of diverse talent feeling rejected or forgotten, they are now the lifeblood and pulse of the organization. EQUALS TRUE has had a significant splash on the talent relations industry, with many well-known employers seeking out their services to help create healthy, balanced, and inclusive company cultures.
Managers that Care
EQUALS TRUE was created by Ximena to provide managers and leaders with the tools to enhance their employees’ productivity and happiness at work. This is achieved through tailored consulting services that ensure leaders have the strategies and tools to nurture employees’ personal growth and success. However, creating happiness at work is no easy feat, as Ximena knows. EQUALS TRUE believes that each employee is a unique individual. Therefore, modern leaders should strive to individualize communication, feedback, and constructive critique.
"The most important voice when it comes to employee happiness is the employee. So it’s the job of leadership to constantly engage and listen. Particularly, in this time of redefining the new work normal. Employees perceive manager empathy as the biggest factor in their job satisfaction and well-being,” Ximena García said.
EQUALS TRUE was designed to assist leaders in hiring diverse teams and building a company culture that reflects the social values critical to healthy employee morale. Ximena sets the standard at exceptional and best-in-class for her clients. She also encourages managers to be brave, and most importantly, to create a “safe place” for their teams. For years Google studied what makes a high-performing team. The answer in the end was elegant, straightforward and clear. It doesn’t take a room of Nobel laureates. Rather, it takes a group of thoughtful individuals that collaborate well because they feel safe to explore, learn and make mistakes. But it’s up to the leader to create that dynamic each day.
Multiply Potential
Ximena created EQUALS TRUE to foster talent innovation and rapid growth for companies across all levels of the organization. This involves company leaders actively utilizing and multiplying employees' potential by establishing unique strengths and motivating employees to meet personal and company goals.
By teaching leaders to individualize, rather than homogenize their workforce, EQUALS TRUE helps build diverse and inclusive teams that empower talent, not stifle it. This creates a positive reciprocal relationship between companies and their people that leads to better company culture, happier employees, and greater business success.
In conclusion, the “dream team” is more than possible. It is in essence: providing resources and a work environment that nourishes, values, and multiplies the potential of every team member. Moreover, it’s where employees are held accountable only for their work outcomes and not their personal characteristics. Rather, they are celebrated for their differences. With EQUALS TRUE, Ximena García is creating a revolution — a revolution characterized by inclusion, diversity, equality, and unlocking the potential of people that have been marginalized.
