DEI Spotlight – Dear Niels ...
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Dear Niels,
When you suggested I write a letter for your panel, something that spoke to my expertise in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, I was filled with both excitement, and honestly, some apprehension. "Don’t hold back," you said, and that thrilled me. Yet, at the same time, it also made me nervous – for myself, and for you. You see, even the most reasonable folks sometimes turn into different creatures when faced with cultural change. Throughhout my life I have seen people get defensive, angry, and downright mean when faced with the prospect of sharing power. I get the sense that you are prepared for that though, and this seems like a friendly audience, so let’s get into it.
We should start with a simple truth: this is VERY doable – and it’s good for business. Embedding DEI into your organisation is not only possible, it is relatively cheap and is proven to deliver results. Some societal challenges – like tackling climate change – are complex, capital-intensive endeavours that require transformation like we have never seen before at every single level of society. Embedding DEI in your organisation does not. It is 100% within your capacity, and there are many different organisations and people out there that are willing to help.
In my personal opinion, most of the time it doesn’t happen because there isn’t the will from leadership to make it a priority.
Again: the challenge that you face to embedding DEI into your organisation is likely you and your fellow leadership’s willingness to make it a priority. YOU might be unprepared to give up even a tiny part of your power. YOU might be finding it too hard, personally. YOU might be one of the barriers to change.
The upside? You can change that. This is entirely within your control.
You’re all smart, driven people. You know how to make things happen. You set a goal – a particular ROI, a certain level of growth – and you move mountains to achieve it. That is why you are paid the big bucks.
So why not apply the same attitude to DEI?
Don’t feel like you know enough? Do some study or coursework yourself, so you know what you are talking about, so that you can challenge people’s assumptions and biases. Don’t feel like you have enough time? Sorry, I don’t believe it. Make time. If it is important to you, you will make time. You have time to watch football, play golf, or mindlessly scroll on Facebook? You have time.
Don’t have the right personnel to drive the change within your company? Hire experts – people with a track record in transforming culture, who get praise from the marginalised communities, not from the people already in the dominant culture. If the straight, rich white man in power says they are great but no woman or black person recommends them, give them a miss. Then, give your DEI lead enough resources to actually implement changes. How can I tell when a company isn’t committed? They have a DEI lead, and that person has no team, no budget, no priority. Find the budget. Then actually implement their strategies for longer than just 1 or 2 years.
Is everyone going to like it? Possibly, but possibly not! You don’t make business decisions so people like it, you make them because they are good for business. This is good for business.
You might be wanting more from me: you might be wanting tactics rather than strategy. But tactics depend on your organisation, the specific challenges your company faces. I cannot suggest tactics without knowing the details first. But strategy - I can make some suggestions.
Look at building organisational DEI capacity:
- What do you and your staff know about DEI? Are they trained? Is the training effective? Is it ongoing? You don’t do one day of running and believe you are fit. DEI, like exercise, is a muscle that needs constant training to work.
Consider your DEI Policies:
- Who created them? Are they effective? Are they actually implemented? Is there accountability for when someone goes against the policies, or are you protecting people who are in power, and throwing others under the bus? Are you hiring people from historically marginalised groups and then losing them after a few years? Diagnose this by asking why they left, and then fix those problems!
Think about community engagement and partnerships:
- Are you developing DEI policies and capacity in a vacuum? How are you connecting to the communities you are part of? Engage communities with integrity and respect, and develop partnerships with them to create mutually beneficial opportunities.
There are so many other strategies you can consider: collecting data to inform your work, developing measurement mechanisms to track change over time, overhauling operations to ensure DEI is part of the fabric of all your work.
But strategy, without the WILL to make it happen, is useless. So, can I count on you to commit to making it a priority?
Embedding DEI very doable, but that doesn’t always mean it is easy. It’s like going from never exercising in your life to training for a marathon. You are going to need to learn new skills. You are going to need to be vulnerable. You are going to need to accept that you WILL make mistakes. And it may have been a while since you learnt new skills, were vulnerable, or made a potentially embarrassing mistake. I get it. It’s hard. But have courage. Lean into it. You run the risk of your organisation falling behind into irrelevance and oblivion if you don’t.
So, with that all said, I want you to START. Start today. Not tomorrow, next week, or next quarter. If you care about DEI, just start today. Start small - maybe go online and watch my TED talk tonight, "What does my headscarf mean to you?" And then read a book, like "The Fix" by my friend Michelle King. And then talk to your fellow leaders about how your next company strategy meeting must have a focus on DEI. I don’t care how you start, or what you do, but just like being fit, you have to do a little bit every day, and you have to start somewhere. So, enough talking, and let’s begin.
(And Niels, that means you too!)
Kindest regards, your friend and comrade,
