Many organizations fail to take the time to create a DEIB strategic framework and integrate it into their overall planning. Instead, they prioritize actions that translate easily into something noticeable to the organization’s employees and other stakeholders.
These organizations and their leaders demand highly visible “quick wins” and pick “low-hanging fruit.” Instead of creating a plan, they default to a “check the box” mentality.
By proceeding without a coherent plan that the whole organization understands, this haphazard approach not only undermines the effectiveness of the organization’s DEIB efforts but can damage its brand identity as well. When an organization is seen as emphasizing short-term actions, not genuine long-term improvement, employees, and other stakeholders question the organization’s sincerity about DEIB, dismissing shallow one-offs as “performative DEIB.”
The objective of DEIB is not to secure momentary recognition. It is to create a Culture of Belonging – an inclusive workplace environment where all employees feel they are part of something bigger than themselves and, therefore, recognize and are recognized by the rest of the organization as equals.
The design and timing of DEIB initiatives determine their success in becoming part of the organization’s DNA. If they are introduced prematurely, before the organization is ready, they won’t stick and may even weaken DEIB efforts. And if initiatives are not sustainable, they eventually fall by the wayside.
Our experience teaches that a Systemic DEIB approach that includes careful sequencing of sustainable initiatives is indispensable to evolving an organization’s environment to include fostering a Culture of Belonging. Systemic DEIB is the deliberate, organized, and sustained actions necessary to educate organizations about the more than 20 dimensions of Diversity, their value, and help them to identify and adopt behaviors and practices that bring traditionally excluded individuals and groups into processes, activities, and decision/policy-making in a way that shares power and ensures equal access to opportunities and resources and ensures fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some individuals and groups.
Most organizations that profess a commitment to DEIB lack a holistic and systematic approach to achieving it. Or, if they do have a plan, it is ineffective because it is not organic, strategic, or cohesive. As a result, there is no real prospect of DEIB ever becoming an integral part of the organization’s overall culture.
Cultural evolution is nothing new. Many businesses have, for example, sought to integrate a genuine culture of safety or customer service into how they operate. When an organization decides to adopt specific attributes as part of its overall culture, it recognizes that this takes planning, and that change does not happen overnight. The same is true of embracing DEIB to create a culture of Belonging.