Brain Power

Our clients often ask as their initial question: How do we understand diversity, inclusion and equity in a way to assure we not just talk the talk, but walk the walk? Regardless of where an organization is in their journey toward understanding DEI and obtaining measurable results, overcoming what can seem like a mysterious and daunting effort requires intentional focus to achieve measurable and sustained results.

Because organizations are systems that act according to a set of rules that its stakeholders’ function under, it’s critical to interrogate the interrelated and interacting elements that form the constructs of the organization. Unpacking, discarding, reimagining, and repacking these elements to create a DEIcentered organization forms the building blocks that fosters an equitable and inclusive environment. What must you do to put your organization on the path toward being DEI-centered? We offer five BIG ideas.

1. MAKE a Public Commitment. It seems so simple. Many companies launch their DEI efforts by establishing a series of activities such as book clubs and affinity groups. Those companies that go a step further make commitments to DEI to their staff and board through their HR department with training programs and individual assessments. Others demonstrate their commitment by incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into their strategic plans. While these efforts go a long way toward instigating movement in the right direction by staff and specific departments of the organization, they can limit the degree of engagement to internal parties.

To be effective and accountable to organizational decisions that support DEI, companies should not just commit to these efforts internally, but make the commitment public to its vendors, partners and most especially customers. By making a public commitment to this important work, companies enlist all of its stakeholders to hold staff, managers and leaders accountable for achieving results. Organizations, like individuals, recognize that one’s word, or put differently, one’s public statements is its bond and seal. Consider those organizations that integrate inclusion and diversity statements into its core values and reflect their commitment through acknowledgements posted on their websites or in their marketing. Customers and stakeholders, especially those from BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized groups not just notice these commitments, but often are more willing to partner with organizations to ensure results.

2. INVOLVE Everyone. Organizations will often rely on a single department or group to push for change and manage DEI efforts. Ensuring fairness, equitable results and inclusive decisionmaking must be the responsibility of all stakeholders if an organization is to be successful. The onus of achieving results – real results – cannot rest on the proverbial shoulders of just a few folks. Doing so, creates a siloed understanding of the challenges an organization may have, and diminishes the “brain power” that an organization can and should bring to bare on these issues. Too often organizations either directly or indirectly rely on its BIPOC staff and stakeholders to do the heavy lifting. This misstep can create a sense that the work falls on a single group to fix. One way to ensure universal involvement is to develop benchmarks and tie staff reviews and/or bonuses to DEI goals. What we measure and assess are the things we prioritize.

3. LEVERAGE Structure. When organizations struggle with getting to measurable results related to their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, it is typically because they have not enlisted the power of “structural influences”. Change moves cyclically with multiple levels of influence deployed. There are three primary influences that affect organizational culture change: 1) Individual Influences; 2) Social Influences; 3) Structural Influences. Individual influences are the most common change dynamics used to shape DEI efforts through individual assessments and trainings that seek to help the individual understand more about her biases. Being aware of one’s blind spots, it is believed, can shape how one responds to others. Social Influences comprise those things like DEI book clubs and discussion groups. Sometimes affinity groups are developed too. All of which make up the body of activities that connect stakeholders through mediated spaces of social dialogue and engagement. We recommend that organizations leverage the structural influences to obtain immediate results that are more easily sustainable. To what extent do your policies and procedures reflect and promote DEI? How is your organization organized to foster inclusion at all levels? Although invisible and fairly mundane to staff and other stakeholders, structural influences operate as an organization’s scaffolding.

4. BE Disciplined. Set priorities for your DEI efforts and be specific about how you will measure the impact of your changes. DEI requires rigorous and consistent mining to surface the essential strategies that will create different and more universally fair outcomes and opportunities for all. To get to equitable outcomes, organizations must combine a (public) commitment to diversity and inclusion with sustained discipline that is reflected in behaviors demonstrated by all stakeholders.

5. SHOW Results. Finally…. When you have identified your organization’s indicators of success, report on your progress. And when we say report on your progress, show good and bad results. Transparency in this work fosters trust. DEI progress does not move in a straight line. But If you deploy these five big ideas, you are more likely to see and SHOW measurable results that will set you apart from those organizations that just want to check a box.