It’s Time to Make DEI Great Again

Many people will be angry, frustrated and even fearful by recent events across the pond. I’m sure some who are directly affected will use different and maybe stronger words.

So, what can we do? Two things:

1. Learn from the past
2. Implement version 2025

Learn from the Past

Don’t alienate the majority

We need to pay attention, and react to research, such as this Ipsos ‘Women in Leadership’ report that shows we are not bringing the majority with us.

For some time, we’ve seen the rise of resistors.  Those people who feel DEI has ‘gone too far’ and now works against them. Some, echoing Trump’s words, even see it as “immoral and unlawful.” If DEI is going to succeed, we must engage the majority not ignore them. As Emma Watson said when launching #HeForShe at the UN 21 years ago: “How can we effect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcomed to participate in the conversation?”

Have our strategies and policies unintentionally alienated the majority? Well one prominent person in the majority and with significant power is now the chief resistor.

Have a strong business case

I’ve talked to and analysed a lot of firms’ DEI strategies, and a few have compelling business cases. Like the head of a Nuclear power station once told me that DEI was a matter of life or death—diverse and inclusive thinking prevents groupthink, which can lead to catastrophic failures.

Compare that to a firm whose business case is that they should “look like their customers,” even though most customer interactions happen online. Is that truly a strong commitment?

What about a company with only two women in large leadership team (HR and Corporate Governance), stating for a decade that “gender equality is the right thing to do” while making little progress?

I wonder how many financial services firms only pursue DEI due to regulatory and governmental pressure. Could it be that those without a compelling business case are now pivoting away from DEI? Are we seeing others follow, even though it was a high-priority strategy just a week ago?

Finally get the focus right

I have plenty of evidence to suggest that most firms have focused efforts on the ‘D’ in DEI – the representation of those from underrepresented groups. They collect data, recruit diverse talent, improve HR policies, and then train these amazing minds to adapt to the majority culture. Often, they ask the majority to be “allies” in this process.

This is a futile strategy – which ends up with no great gain – diverse talent now thinking and acting like the majority and the majority feeling threatened by the whole programme, it all seems like a lose-lose rather than a win-win.

And indeed when you look at how far the strategies have got us – gender pay gap stats show no great leaps forward in female representation in the top quartile or any other quartile of most firms and  has lead to the rise of resistors – some very powerful ones at that!

 

Implementing Version 2025: Making DEI Great Again

So, what’s the solution? While I don’t claim to have all the answers, here are some ideas to move us forward.

Engage men as beneficiaries

Our strategies have too often ignored the majority, or sometimes even blamed them. We need to answer the questions: Why should they care? What’s in it for them? What do we actually want them to do?

Emma Watson’s HeForShe speech has been an inspiration to me for many years and I’d like to pick a few quotes from that speech that really resonate with me and should with other men:

“I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s.”

“I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease.”

“I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.”

“We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.”

“It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer, and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom. I want men to take up this mantel so that their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice, but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too, reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.”

“Statesman Edmund Burke said, “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.” In my nervousness for this speech, and in my moments of doubt, I’ve told myself firmly, if not me, who? If not now, when?”

 The fact is that Diversity can be divisive it can be perceived as having winners and losers.  Inclusion on the other hand brings us together – incluson is about us all – and it creates the fertile ground on which diverse talent can succeed and flourish.

Inclusion: The great unlock, the win-win

I’ve only seen a few firms who have really embraced and invested in inclusion. They recognise that inclusion is where all the benefits lie. Whilst others are still focusing on the ‘D’ they are pivoting to the ‘I’ mindset and strategy.

A simple example of how ‘D’ and ‘I’ strategies differ:

• More often than not ‘D’ strategies call on allies (men) to help and support those with quieter voices (women) to be heard in meetings by coaching, mentoring and training them to speak up, have more presence, more gravitas, leave the imposter syndrome at the door.

But does this mean diverse thinking is also left at the door? And is it only women who struggle to be heard? What is the benefit of these solutions beyond representation. How do we answer the question why should I invest time in helping her to become more like me?

• The ‘I’ strategies recognise that loud voices often dominate meetings, set the agenda and the discussion points and agree to the answers, and as a result we are not getting all the ideas on the table, we’re limiting our thinking.

An ‘I’ approach supports those in leadership and positions of influence to become inclusive leaders arming them with the skills to ensure all voices get heard, all ideas considered and to reach the best conclusions.  Inclusive Leaders change the way the meeting is run not the people in it!

The ‘I’ approach removes gender from the equation, includes everyone, and unlocks real business benefits. We the people and our businesses win as a consequence.  We open a world of opportunity and choice where individuals can innovate, contribute, increase thier choice and not be contrained by outdated stereotypes.

What’s Next?

Will we wind the clock back, or strike forward learning from the lessons of past mistakes? The choice is ours. Mine is to Strike Forward – we have work to do.