Walking the thin line of D&I

Working with D&I is sometimes a thankless job. The desire is too create change. However, often it is a change that is really hard to drive. Because in the end, it is not about securing a seat at the table for the minorities, it is about building an entire new table. Try telling that to a CEO, who has spent 25 years climbing the corporate ladder. 

Leaving money on the table
We often say that it is not the minority's job to adapt in order to fit in, but the majority’s job to make room. This is also why we oppose female leadership programmes as they often are designed to ‘fix the women’ or why we say that supporting Pride week is great, but not enough (read more below on just that). Are we perfectionists? Yes, to some extent, we are. Because, why start on the journey, if you are not willing to do the job?

However, we are also realists (or at least some of us in this company), and you have to start somewhere, whether that be in setting targets for more women in leadership positions or setting up an LGBT+ community internally. However, as a consultancy firm, we are sometimes faced with the dilemma of taking the job or leaving the money on the table, because the client's wishes and our recommendations are too far apart.

D&I is a vulnerable journey
We’re not about “hauling businesses”, kicking and screaming into the world of diversity and inclusion. We are there for the ones that have had that penny-dropping moment that diversity and inclusion is not there to scare them and to beat them up. It’s there to liberate their organisation and future-proof it. Our role is to service the clients, who want to advance their diversity and inclusion journey, and need a route to market to do so.

However, embarking on that journey is something that is really vulnerable. Much of the work requires that we, as individuals and thereby also as an organisation, take a good look in the mirror and acknowledge that, even our small and maybe unconscious behaviours, are affecting our culture, language and in the end our performance and deliverables. That is also why we do not kiss and tell about our specific clients. Simply, because we recognise that the journey is sensitive and it requires a lot of trust. 

One step at a time 
Our dilemma is easier to cope with than the dilemma that our counterparts in corporate have. Diversity and Inclusion work may not be all they have on their plate, they may have budget restraints, push-back from the organisation that they have to stakeholder manage or simply no resources to scale the efforts beyond HR.

That’s also why you can’t force diversity and inclusion. It is a slow change process, as it requires that everyone is heard.