GUIDE TO LEADING POLIcIEs, PRAcTIcEs & REsOURcEs ...

art II4. Employer Challenge: Culture, LeadershipChampions, and Veterans’ EmploymentAnother challenge frequently cited by firms pursuing veteran-focusedemployment initiatives relates to a rigid, inflexible, or idiosyncraticcorporate culture that makes implementation of specialized hiringinitiatives difficult to institutionalize within the firm.Fortunately, many issues related to corporateculture and leadership-in the contextof employment-have been thoroughly exploredin the context of initiatives focusedon workforce diversity. As such, models forleadership-driven decision making havebeen developed in the areas of high-performancetalent acquisition, diversity initiatives,disability accommodations, and more.As a result, the community of employersdoes not have to reinvent the wheel in thecontext of veteran-focused engagement, butrather survey the landscape and choose themodels most appropriate given the firm’sgoals and setting. However, the model itselfdoes not appear to represent the most importantfactor positioned to overcome obstaclesbased in corporate culture; instead,we have found that it is the engagement ofleadership that will drive progress withinthe organization, as it relates to veteranfocusedemployment initiatives.To date, much of the hiring of veteranshas been driven by calls for corporatesocial responsibility, and the “support thetroops” goodwill that exists in Americansociety. That is a good starting point, as ithas drawn attention to the employmentneeds of the population, and to corporateAmerica’s drive to give back. However,all indications are that this motivation isinsufficient to sustain enduring employercommitments. Instead, the longer-term sustainabilityof veteran-focused employmentinitiatives at any given firm will correlatedirectly to the commitment of the firm’sleadership to such programs. Executivelevel commitment is essential to motivatethe culture change necessary to institutionalizeprograms and processes positioned tosustain a focus on veterans’ employmentwithin a private-sector organization.Based on our research of leading firms,it was apparent that almost all firms thathave successfully implemented veteranfocusedinitiatives have also identifiedexecutive level champions responsible forthose initiatives. In fact, almost all thefirms participating in this research were ofthe opinion that to meaningfully addressveteran employment, veteran-initiativeleaders need to be involved either at, orreporting directly to the executive level.Only leadership commitment to the establishmentof values and goals supportive ofthe initiative, backed by understanding ofthe competitive advantages veterans bringto a civilian employment situation, willovercome cultural barriers. Some practicaladvantages cited in support of executivelevelengagement from the employerssurveyed were:42 INSTITUtE FOR veterans and military families