Millions of dollars a year are spent on diversity & inclusion training, sometimes resulting in little to no change. Attitudes — and the diversity of the organizations — remain the same.” Diversity of demographics is one thing. Diversity of viewpoints and thought is another.
Stop spending time and resources on traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives unless you have implemented the following:
- Create Safety: Before you start any initiative, understand the impact of creating psychological safety first. Implement the four stages of psychological safety.
- Skills and Competencies: Establish an environment for intellectual friction (thinking), emotional support (feeling), productive action (behavior), and identify the diversity, equity, and inclusion skills and competencies needed that lead toward your desired result.
- Principle Based: Provide a foundational narrative that promotes intellectual friction and reduces social friction without political or secular agendas.
- Create Common Ground while simultaneously celebrating differences: Provide a safe space for participants to engage in discussion, and feel a sense of comfort with mutual expectations towards a desired result. These mutual expectations lay the foundation for eventually highlighting differences without creating divisiveness.
- Eliminate Divisiveness: Transform charged language such as “oppressed vs oppressor,” “racism,” and “white privilege,” as these terms are not the way to bridge gaps.
- Diversity is Not an Outcome: Focus on outcomes towards productivity, peace, innovation, trust, and an environment of unity. Diversity and inclusion without vision, purpose and care is ineffective.
- Diversity is More Than Race: Agree that diversity is a “fact of life” (not a race); inclusion is a “choice,” and “belonging” is an experience that brings unity and collaboration that can yield innovation when voices are seen, heard and valued.
- Diversity is Not an Event: Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives work best as an ongoing integrative process. The complexities of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives require clarity, patience and inspiration.
The Diversity, Unity & Belonging Solutions
Current Reality
Companies and organizations today are being reactive to the social unrest experienced in nations where political divides are widening, and cultural and racial divisiveness is growing. Sunlight Works provides a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) or principle based experiential learning plan that results in increased productivity, without behavioral compromise.
Studies have shown diversity breeds high levels of innovation, tapping into the uniqueness of an individual, utilizing their strengths, and valuing the difference they bring. These results cannot be argued. However, organizations are having difficulty getting to these outcomes. Why? Traditional approaches to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) compound social friction causing divisiveness that interferes with desired results, as these approaches are not working.
Advocating for diversity without the inclusiveness of multiple perspectives and approaches leads to undesired outcomes. Focusing on diversity as an end result will not lead to any advancement, as it has the potential to be divisive. Inclusion, by itself, also does not provide a lasting solution. Diversity and inclusion initiatives need to be accompanied with principle based skills and behaviors to produce an effective desired result that is sustainable, which grows with the entity. In traditional approaches to D&I, initiatives are missing belief, vision, and care. In order to have a successful D&I initiative, focus needs to be on the skills and behaviors that lead to a desired result.
Diversity and inclusion is not an outcome. Traditional approaches are leading with the wrong emphasis. Peace, trust, productivity, and innovation are examples of much better outcomes to gather and unite around. Walking into a room with the mindset of Oppressed vs. Oppressor, using titles like “anti-racism” and “white privilege”, or the idea of entitlement and “what’s owed to me” is not a way to bridge gaps.
Solution
Sunlight Works would like to partner with your organization and provide an alternative to create better D&I solutions, which will lead to greater effectiveness and productivity. Our focus is on skills and behaviors that lead D&I initiatives towards desired results. Effective D&I approaches should advance intellectual friction while reducing social friction. Because inclusion is behavioral, education begins with awareness, understanding, and appreciation, as being “inclusive” is a matter of skill–which takes practice.
The training and development space for diversity & inclusion can take on many topics not limited to race. Our program focuses on changing behaviors that stem from unconscious bias, belief systems, and pre-judgements.. We start with what causes behavior (the brain and emotion). Because of recent events, a lot of our emotions have been heightened. Therefore, our program starts with creating psychological safety and the tools necessary to lead towards better results.
Sunlight Works collaborates with your team through a D&I phased process that establishes psychological safety, and utilizes principles and practices that get to organizational objectives without interference focusing on competencies and skills. We customize the focus and phases based on your organizational needs.
By Kevin J. Giddins