The Diversity Month is almost over and for some organizations it was the time of facing signs of resistance towards their DEI efforts.

Today I want to underline the importance of understanding what could have caused it and the importance of addressing it.

Plastering pushback by moving on without acknowledging it, is like plastering cracks on a wall without giving it a proper attention and fixing the root causes.

The cracks will resurface – sooner or later.

Where does it come from? I'm explaining on the carousel.

How to approach the resistance?

🔹 Acknowledge it - take time to understand the employees' needs and experiences related to DEI

🔹 Speak to people, without judging them or assuming their reasons for being hesitant towards DEI

🔹 Verify your DEI communication strategy

My observations as a DEI consultant are that a lot of resistance starts from how the DEI is being communicated about.

Look critically at the narrative you’re using around DEI:

𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘌𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘴?

𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴?

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘌𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴?

Building trust towards organizational change related to DEI is a long, deep and often individual process and because it’s individual, DEI leaders have limited influence over it.

But in order to make this process more inclusive, we need to pay attention to cracks in the process, pause and try to fix the root causes that are often structural ones, which are in our powers to change.

🔹🔹🔹
This reflection is a part of learning sharing from the Global Inclusion Dialogue meeting in Norway. Thank you, the whole group, for great discussions and Nene Molefi for yet another great metaphor.