Creating Sustainable DEI Change

With an inclusive mindset ant the right tools and skills, any leader can build a more equitable and inclusive workplace. But creating meaningful and sustainable DEI change doesn’t happen overnight.

If you’re feeling a sense of urgency, I caution against being overly reactive. Rushing decisions around DEI will almost always undermine meaningful change and decenter those most impacted by existing inequities. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your organization is to stop and ask yourself why you want to offer an all-staff DEI training, start a DEI committee, or increase board diversity.

For DEI efforts to be sustainable, it's crucial to step back and assess before launching a new initiative. Do you have a clear picture of where you are on your DEI journey and where you want to go? Are you being transparent about the challenges you face as an organization and the work that's needed in order to meaningfully address them

Here are my top recommendations for creating sustainable DEI change:

🎯 Begin with your “why.” In order to create sustainable change, leaders need to be able to clearly articulate why they are doing the work and what DEI means to their organizations.

🎯 Align DEI with your organizational goals and/or business strategy.

🎯 Promote advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as everyone's work, not just the work of HR.

🎯 Make DEI central to workplace culture and performance goals.

🎯 Build a solid learning foundation through ongoing, healthy conversations. Commit to consistent, long-term work of DEI, not one-off initiatives.

🎯 Share and monitor your DEI goals. Do you have accountability structures in place to make sure the work gets done? Are you measuring your impact and reassessing your strategies to make sure they are achieving your objectives?

Good intentions do not transform into sustainable change unless leaders take a proactive and systemic approach to achieving DEI progress.  Even small actions can have a big impact, so commit to implementing some of these strategies today.

I realize all of this may sound intimidating, but you have the power to make change happen for your teams. If you need support, reach out. I can work with you to develop a roadmap and actions steps to get there.

[Image description: Diverse group of people of various races, gender identities and expressions, and abilities.]