Diversity? Tick. Equity and Inclusion? To-do
In the 43rd episode of Why Care?, I had the real pleasure of hosting Denise Hamilton, a leading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practitioner and author of Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences Into a Stronger Future. She explained that pushback against DEI may be because the field has veered into “this Noah's Ark approach.”
When I asked her what she meant she said that some organisations only focused on having “two of each kind” instead of valuing “that different people with different perspectives and different backgrounds contributing to your decision-making process are going to give you a better decision.”
Could it be that we must steer the ship differently to keep it afloat?
What Denise describes here is a concept referred to as tokenism. Tokenism is defined as the superficial inclusion of minority group members to create an appearance of diversity without genuine commitment to equity or inclusion. At one point, we aimed to build a diverse leadership team. Now we have refocused our goal: getting everyone in the room to contribute to decision making and bring their unique perspectives to the table. In my previous article, I quoted the BBC’s previous Head of Creative Diversity, Joanna Abeyie, who stated that “autonomy, influence and decision-making is minimal to absent when there is no sign of improvement and the role is created because optically it’s the right thing to do.” Getting diverse representation across the organisation is important, and something all organisations should work towards, but we mustn't abandon the ship halfway through the journey.
So, if measuring diversity alone isn't an accurate reflection…
How can organisations meaningfully measure DEI?
Focus on quality alongside quantity. How satisfied are your employees with their day-to-day experiences at work? This often reflects their productivity levels. How fair are your internal policies? For example, a policy that restricts the use of flexible working arrangements to only certain departments or seniority levels can discriminate against employees with caring responsibilities. Organisations can also monitor the career progression and retention levels of different demographic groups. These two things can be impacted by systemic biases in promotion processes, disparities in access to career development resources for underrepresented employees, and unequal opportunities for networking and professional visibility, among many other things.
You’ve noticed that your DEI efforts need improvement. Now what?
My first piece of advice: think before you act. Before you do the ‘how’, confront the ‘why’. Doing this now will ensure that your actions have longevity and that your plan endures challenges. For more on brand values, see my article “The Brand Behind the Mask”. It is also important to set the intention to deliberately recognise your discomfort when undergoing change - an idea which is explored comprehensively in my book Beyond Discomfort: Why inclusive leadership is so hard (and what you can do about it).
Organisations should then work to uncover the root cause of any disparities. This may be unconscious bias, anxieties around change or insufficient leadership commitment among many other things. These may be hard to get to the bottom of, but it’s important to approach them comprehensively.
Then, organisations can go on to develop their action plan. For example, one of the clients I am currently is looking to refresh their DEI strategy. They are aiming to accelerate the progress they have already made and to actively explore what they have previously missed. This is an example of an organisation ‘Beyond Discomfort’, which has a Receptiveness to Learn where they still aren’t quite there yet and a Willingness to Act when they realise opportunities to do more.
How can Avenir help?
Change looks different for different organisations. At Avenir, we offer an Inclusive Leadership Programme, which provides you with the support your leaders need to create meaningful and sustainable change.
Beyond Discomfort: Why inclusive leadership is so hard (and what you can do about it) delves into ways organisations can use difficult feelings to create outcomes that serve everybody. You can get your hands on a copy of the book here. It is also available as an audiobook.