Discover Key Strategies to Deliver on DEIB Promises

Last week’s article gave you a brief recap of 3 pearls of wisdom from our Inclusive Leadership webinar. 

In this article, we’re diving deeper into original research from that webinar.

Of the 50 or so HR and DEIB leaders who attended, we asked one simple question:

What are your greatest challenges to leading your organization towards inclusive leadership?

Without further ado… here are the results!

The Top 3 Roadblocks that Impact DEIB Growth

1. Breaking through institutional barriers
2. Getting buy in from key stakeholders
3. Fear of making mistakes/doing harm

These are all valid, and you’re not alone. Many of our clients here at Intune once felt the same.

The DEIB space is new to many, and some are given the responsibility to lead this cultural shift in their organization even if they feel new to the work.

Which is why we’ve asked our Chief of Learning & Innovation, Wendy Horng Brawer to distill solutions to each of these challenges for you.

How To Overcome The Top 3 DEIB Challenges

#1 How To Break Down Institutional Barriers:

While we agree this is a tough one, it requires our collective momentum and endurance. It starts with individuals standing up for change, coalescing into groups, and empowered leaders who make choices in their areas of authority. If we each take responsibility to learn and grow more comfortable with this work and strive to institute more equitable practices and processes within our organizations, we can together shift the experience for people of color and underrepresented diversity. It does start with leadership as an “inside job” so that our organizations and communities can benefit.

#2 How To Get Leaders Onboard with DEIB Initiatives:

Here are 3 ways you might influence leaders to champion and empower DEIB work within your organization:

1. Work with top leaders to help them see DEIB not as a compliance issue, but as basic human and leadership development work.
2. Link the values of DEIB to the values of your organization. For example, if respect is a value in the organization, examine how this shows up in mindsets and behaviors for leaders and on teams and add a DEIB lens to the articulation of your existing values.
3. Present DEIB as invigorating, not scary work. Make the learning visible and engaging, helping people lean in, have real conversations, feel safe, and discuss the very real and current issues facing the organization. Focus on how to problem solve these together.

#3 How To Overcome The Fear of Making a Mistake or Saying the Wrong Thing:

What if we knew we would make a mistake at some point during our DEIB leadership journey? What if we could learn to forgive ourselves, forgive others, and repair broken connections with sincere apologies? If we center on learning and also on courage, we can do this. The human spirit is resilient and authentic, caring conversations can go far to help heal hurt, and bring grace and humanity to how we foster more inclusion at work. Bring a learner’s mindset and an openness to authentic conversation and you’ll find even the difficult-to-navigate conversations flow more easily.

Do You Need Help Making Impact With Your DEIB Work? 

If you are curious about how to take your next steps, feel free to book a 30 minute brainstorming call with our Chief of Learning & Innovation, Wendy to discuss where you are at and how you can move your initiatives forward.

Schedule a call to talk about your DEIB hopes and dreams.