DEI COnference - opening speech

Last week, on the invitation of Alina Szeptycka - Ombusdwoman for Equal Treatment at the Buro of Major of Wrocław, I had a pleasure to open the “Diversity at the workplace” with a keynote speech on the value of diversity.

 The main points I shared with the audience:

• Diversity is not a fact for everyone to the same degree

As people involved in DEI, we often say “Diversity is a face”. Looking at data for Poland we need to acknowledge though that diversity is not a fact for everyone to the same degree. Polish society, though increasingly diverse, is still in many aspects pretty homogenous. This lack of exposure to diverse groups of people impacts the way we, as our society and organizations, perceive diversity – not always as an opportunity but often as a threat or at least inconvenience. We need to build an empathy for these experiences as well.

• Diversity is not in the organization’s DNA

Even if we work in diverse, international organizations, we still have a human tendency for bias that creates and perpetuates unjust systems that we have a responsibility to address.

Make an experiment – identify 3 people from your surrounding and 3 co-workers that you ask for: advice, help when you need to take a decision, feedback. Then check how different/similar they are to you in terms of their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ability/disability, relationship status. It often turns out, that diversity can be around us but it needs an intentional effort to tap into and not fall for comfortable default that leads to mirrortocracy. We can use self-directed neuroplasticity to expand what we feel comfortable with and change processes in our organizations for more equitable.

• Diversity isn’t easy but we can learn to navigate it in order to transform our work environments

The sooner we learn how to build strategies that respond to challenges related to diversity – the faster we will be able to tap into it as a resource. If we want to grow – as healthy people, ethical businesses and modern societies we need to give the DEI priority.

We can do that but supporting each other, across different sectors by sharing our know-how and best practices but also individually - by introducing small changes into our daily routines. In Poland, we urgently need to focus on building the sense of belonging for everyone, in order to heal from the challenges of our socio-political context. It’s the daily acts of inclusion, not grand gestures, that create space for everyone to feel here at home.

Photos: @komisjaeuropejska