All right. Last week I described the maturity stages as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion to give you some idea of what level of maturity your organization may be in. This week we're going to talk about why your organization maybe in that stage. And for many of you, why your diversity efforts may be failing. To start us off, I want to let you know that while we are not the root cause of this. Meeting people that do this work, the data suggests that we are struggling. Let me explain. Most diversity equity and inclusion professionals are highly experienced educated folks. According to American Association for Access Equity and Diversity or AAAED, a survey of its membership revealed that persons who identified as equal opportunity professionals. Which includes Diversity officers on average had at least 11 years of experience doing diversity equity inclusion work and 31% claim to have over 21 years of experience. So while there are a lot of new professionals that are now jumping into DE&I. An organization has an option if they so choose to bring in someone that has experience. The same AAAED survey also found that over 72% of the survey respondents had a master's degree or higher with 36% of the equal opportunity professionals having doctorates. So why do you think equal opportunity professionals like myself struggle. Honestly because I think we're tired. If you think about the past few years, you can't imagine how heavy carrying the DE&I weight, can be. Imagine the amount of direct and indirect traumas that equal opportunity professionals have experienced coupled with a lack of support. Often being isolated and siloed from real decision making, yet expected to change culture with no clear power to do so. After so long, it's no wonder that equal opportunity professionals feel frustrated, cynical, too exhausted to carry the efforts by themselves. I read an article where one EOP spoke about how she was inspired by a number of millennials of color she encountered over the past couple of years. Who shared with her how fatiguing it was to keep educating people who don't seem to understand the inequities that people of color continue to face in the workplace and beyond. And how befuddled they were that it was expected for them to have that responsibility in the first place. My thought was imagine if it was your employer, the organization you work for that felt that it was your responsibility to fix all of the inequities and ISMs that are occurring within your organization. Now I love, love, love what I do. But after doing this work for nearly two decades, I know for my own mental health and well being. I could not keep doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. Heard that before I am not alone. AAAED asked its membership the question if you were to resign your position today, what would be the reason? While 45% responded that it would be for a better opportunity elsewhere. A third of the respondents said that they would quit the profession because they were tired of fighting the same old fights. Can you relate with that? Do you feel like you're fighting the same old fights over and over again? If you do here are some ideas of how to stop the insanity and get away from the redundant, same old sayings. One major reason why diversity equity inclusion efforts fail or why equal opportunity professionals or EOP struggle is because not enough people care about them being successful. Just being honest, don't get me wrong. Conceptually speaking, most people are supportive of equity and inclusion. If there was a race and you were running with the DE&I baton in your hand, there would be plenty of people cheering for you on the sideline. Just don't try to hand them the baton to run the next leg of the race because they won't. Most people won't do the work. DE&I looks great on paper. But once what's on paper is put into action and accountability is put into the mix, that's when you get pushed back and why are we doing this again? And who has time to do all of this? And with pushback comes delay and eventually failure or at least the appearance of failure. Existing culture wins. Now my pastor, when he is about to make a point, a good point, when he tees up something for 45 minutes, and he wants to offer a solution, he'll ask the audience for permission to give them the answer and he'll ask, can I help you here? Of course the answer is yes. I mean you've been teeing this up for the past 45 minutes and now you're asking for my consent to provide me with the solution. So yes, pastor, please make your point. As the EO title nine equity guy, I love consent, consent is awesome. My pastor is awesome. It's the perfect way to intrigue the audience. So here we go. I ask you, can I help you here? All right, so you've heard the phrase culture eats strategy for breakfast. It applies here too. I know it's cliche but the idea is no matter how strong your DE&I efforts maybe, they will be held back by your team if they do not share the same ideas of success or incentive. When it comes down to it, you can't change culture by planning alone. To energize the plan and the organization must have the will to see the plan through. Will or steadfastness is needed to move your organization through the maturity stages. One stage after the other, your organizations will to raise the level of accountability until this extraordinary must be unwavering. Such a commitment is painful and some degree of failure is inevitable. But if it is your organization's goal to be extraordinary, these tasks must persist, they must become muscle memory or second nature to you. So can I help you here? Articulate the reason why you are implementing these strategies and communicated often. Over and over again, remind your organization about who it wants to be and communicate why these efforts will help them become that. Make a point to recruit as many executive team members as possible and have them repeat the same message. Also provide incentives and recognition for implementing DE&I efforts. This alone sends a message that there's a value in DE&I. And that the organization will reward people who buy in. Make sure DE&I gets the same sort of limelight any other strategic effort gets. And if it fails, talk about that too, people need to understand that when these efforts fail, they are further away from their goal to becoming extraordinary. As a member of the DE&I team, I am often asked to change the minds of a few hater stakeholders that are not buying it and I get it. Because of my role who's in a better position than myself than to make the case for diversity. But as much as I would like to say that I'm that persuasive, if someone doesn't buy in, I cannot force them to do so. My role is to collect and assess data and provide strategies for systemic accountability anyways, not to change minds. But a problem in doing that is if I'm not properly funded or I don't have the staff to do the work. It will be very difficult to achieve the organization's objectives in this particular area. As I was once told by a prominent DE&I practitioner speaking on this very point, commitment without finances counterfeit and don't let anybody tell you any different. I love those words, No truer words have been spoken, write that down, put it on your wall or on your door on the screen saver or something. Can I help you here? Learn to ask for money. The adage that closed mouths don't get fed has proven so true for me. So whenever a goal is created for the organization, ask for a budget before you commit to doing it. While no amount of money will change minds, money for messaging and training helps. If offered a new job, remember to negotiate the budget for staff, programming, everything before accepting the job. The worst feeling is having to rely on your wit or charm in order to do good work because you have no money to do so. Also, I have alluded to it. But let me, let me make this clear. DE&I is not about miracles or hypnosis and only those two things can control what people think. Therefore DE&I cannot solely be about changing or winning hearts and minds, there may be some aspect of that, but that cannot be the goal. Empathy alone is not enough of a motivator to make a person who does not buy into DE&I want to implement a DE&I initiative. This is what some organizations think I'm here to do. And when I am unable to change minds or worse, employees begin to resist these efforts, it's no wonder why it appears that I failed. So making sure no one has that expectation of me is a priority. One of my favorite papers that I wrote in college was about the ills of material possessions. I entitled it the infection of flossing. What a great title. I love that title. Back then flossing was slang for showing off material things like things that shine. Today, the kids call that drip, but I digress. The point of the paper was if you chase shiny things or become infatuated with material possessions you might become infected and you lose your way and never make it to the destination you have for yourself. I think DE&I suffers from the same faith. It has a million of topics and things to chase every single day and it feels like a shiny object. And sometimes those things are deeply personal and meaningful to employees. However, if you chase those things constantly, it's very difficult to connect them to your long term strategic goals, right? So you can't respond to everything in the news. You can't get caught up in the cultural hoards that are taking place related to this particular work or just address something because it's hot or trending if it's not connected to your long term strategic goals as I said before. And finally beware of activities that feel like gotcha games because it could scare people off and they may never come back. Chasing too many shiny things distracts and will often lead to failure. Can I help you here? A DE&I team must remain relevant. Please don't hear me say anything different. Just make sure that everything you're doing is tied to your overall strategic objectives. Before you shift focus determine how that shift brings you closer towards your goal. Why is this relevant? Then articulate it so others will understand why this adjustment is necessary for the organization to achieve those objectives. Next, be transparent. Every bit of metrics you collect, make it accessible to as many people as possible. People want to know the status of their hard work. Are these efforts working or not? Allies as well as other suspicious employees. They want to know the data for themselves. They want to see it. They want to know how many complaints were filed last year or if they were addressed or not or if the consultant found the website to be accessible or not etc. Transparency reveals the information that is used to produce fodder for rumors about the organization when it wasn't available. Lastly, can I help you here? Take care of yourself. I had to learn that I need to let go of the things that I cannot control like what others do think and feel. That's why I'm so passionate about that. I had to recognize that I'm as good as my team and I am no good if I am unhealthy. If I am drained mentally, physically, spiritually, or financially, I know that I cannot be at my best. So please take care of yourself and your health. Nas, one of my top five emcees, easy says health is wealth. That's a smart guy. See you next week.
