Is DEI Struggling?
Managing Change Through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
The answer is that it's a mix. If leaders fail to adapt, DEI might be on the decline. This was stated by Dr. Sandra Upton, the founder and chief DEI strategist at Upton Consulting Group, in our discussion.
Dr. Upton has been consulting on DEI for years, even before it was given that label. Her book, Persist: A Guide and Practical Strategies for Succeeding in DEI Work, assists leaders in answering the question: How can we transform our positive intentions and aspirations towards DEI into real and long-lasting improvements?
These critical moments for DEI work, with perceived pushback, might feel like change within change. Since DEI has always needed to be part of a larger change management strategy, DEI is well-equipped to manage this change in the environment. Change management is essential for organizational cultures to fully embrace the diversity of their workforce, treat everyone fairly, and cultivate a culture of inclusion.
Baiba Žiga, the founder and CEO of Impulsum, a workplace culture and leadership development consultancy, emphasizes the need for leaders to rethink their strategy towards change management. She underscores that change should no longer be regarded as an extra task to plan for but rather as the constant context for how businesses operate. Consequently, change leadership must become a vital skill for every leader, essential for navigating today's work environments.
Given the recent perceptions of DEI pushback, DEI professionals have been adapting and planning changes to the DEI industry as a whole, including linguistic adjustments, strategic shifts, and behavioral and systemic adaptations. For practitioners, DEI might feel like change management within change management.
To tackle this conundrum of change within change, Dr. Upton suggests that DEI leaders consider these change management strategies in the present highly polarized political climate for DEI:
- Modifying DEI language.
- Ensuring a data- and outcome-driven strategy.
- Initiating behavioral and systematic shifts for inclusion.
Modifying DEI Language
Modifying DEI language may involve substituting misunderstood phrases and acronyms with clear, relatable terms that resonate with everyone. This shift promotes inclusivity by making DEI concepts more comprehensible and accessible, encouraging broader participation and engagement.
Although DEI-related words may change, the actual work doesn't. Removing DEI from a course title or strategic document doesn't transform the course or document; it reduces the risk of assigning an unnecessary DEI goal to it.
As Dr. Upton states, “You can call DEI whatever you like. Just do the work. But not in a performative manner. People can tell if you're genuinely doing the work or not. People need to see tangible results in the short term and substantive advancements in the long term. This necessitates allocating necessary resources and a lifelong commitment to the work, despite any backlash and distracting issues.”
Shifting the language of DEI allows practitioners to carry on with the work without being targeted. By focusing on the long-term game, DEI work can better weather the short-term backlash.
Ensuring a Data- and Outcome-Driven Strategy
Ensuring a data- and outcome-driven strategy involves gathering and scrutinizing relevant data to detect disparities and monitor progress. This data-oriented approach enables organizations to assess the effectiveness of initiatives, showcase impact, and make required adjustments for ongoing improvement. Dr. Upton also stresses the importance of differentiating the data to understand the often varied experiences of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups compared to the dominant culture.
Leveraging her extensive experience working with organizations across the U.K. and Europe, Žiga points out that data collection in many workplaces tends to concentrate narrowly on demographic metrics and broad employee involvement scores. While these figures might be beneficial in quarterly leadership updates, they often lack the nuanced insights or drive substantial advancement. She notes, “Pivotal components of workplace culture—like psychological safety and cognitive diversity—are frequently overlooked, leaving untapped significant opportunities for impactful interventions.”
Dr. Upton advises, “I'm constantly reminding organizations that the challenges they faced before the U.S. election—attracting diverse talent, upskilling employees to collaborate effectively across different cultural groups, increasing employee involvement and psychological safety, ensuring pay equality, etc.—are still present at your organization post-election. Stay focused on these issues, or as your data suggests, and strategically address them with interventions that yield results, not just outputs.”
Cultivating the right data and consistently measuring that data to track DEI work to results is vital for long-term achievement.
Emphasizing the Change in Behaviors and Systems to Achieve Inclusion
Emphasizing changes in behaviors and systems is crucial for achieving genuine inclusion and moving beyond superficial pronouncements. Dr. Upton highlights, “This calls for those responsible for leading the work to see themselves as change agents and grasping the fundamentals of change management. This perspective and methodology are necessary precursors to implementing the work through crucial efforts like actively addressing unconscious biases, fostering inclusive leadership, and redesigning processes to dismantle systemic barriers and promote equity.”
In her DEI Propel course, Dr. Upton walks DEI and HR leaders through the process of creating a strategy using change management techniques.
Despite the perceptions of a DEI pushback, leaders can guarantee the longevity of DEI work by modifying language, adopting a data-driven approach, and emphasizing behavioral and systemic changes for true inclusion.
- To ensure DEI's success amidst perceived pushback, Dr. Sandra Upton suggests leaders adopt a change management strategy that prioritizes modifying DEI language, using clear and relatable terms.
- Baiba Ziga emphasizes the need for leaders to view change as a constant context, not an extra task, making change leadership a vital skill for navigating diverse work environments.
- Ensuring a data- and outcome-driven DEI strategy involves gathering and analyzing relevant data, differentiating experiences, and focusing on key issues like pay equality and psychological safety.
- Emphasizing changes in behaviors and systems is crucial for achieving genuine inclusion, requiring leaders to see themselves as change agents and implement strategies like addressing unconscious biases and fostering inclusive leadership.
- DEI professionals are adapting the industry to changes in the political climate, including linguistic adjustments, strategic shifts, and behavioral and systemic adaptations, to better weather short-term backlash and achieve long-term advancements.
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