What Lies Beyond DEI

0:28This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L-theanine for both kiddos and grown-ups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help. Erasing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Oli Sleep Solutions for the whole family at Oli.com. That's O-L-L-Y dot com. The mainstream DEI strategy adopted by many organizations often falls short. It silos under-resourced practitioners and leaders away from the main work of the business. It uses jargon, buzzwords, and rhetoric to give the appearance of progress without real action.

1:06And it leans hard on burned-out volunteers, check-the-box workshops, and outdated tactics that can sometimes do more harm than good. This is why DEI leaders and practitioners at the forefront of this work have long been modeling different ways of doing DEI. Effective practitioners are using data to measure the results of their efforts and hold themselves accountable. They take a change management approach to not only shift how individuals act, but also influence how workplace policies, processes, and incentives might be enabling unfair treatment, exclusion, or even discrimination. They work to bring people together across differences to solve problems collaboratively.

1:44And they relentlessly communicate the benefits of this work for everyone, even their biggest skeptics. Based on nearly a decade of experience and research, I've put these insights together into a new standard for leaders and practitioners looking to mitigate backlash and hone their impact, which I call the FAIR framework. FAIR, standing for fairness, access, inclusion, and representation. Here's how to put these principles into practice. First, make sure you're achieving results, not just tracking inputs. FAIR work isn't just about organizing events or putting on programs, it's actually about achieving fairness, access, inclusion, and representation for all as outcomes.

2:24Second, make sure you're fixing systems, not just focusing on individuals. Go beyond the default of individual bias and individual behavior to start looking at workplace culture, common norms and beliefs, shared practices, standard policies, and workplace incentives that affect behavior at scale. Third, build coalitions, not clicks. Impact doesn't come from ideological purity or perfection, but from high trust relationships that bridge our differences. Find and bring together the many people who stand to benefit from a fair workplace into a coalition to work together on making change. And last, never stop highlighting the win-win.

3:01Anti-DEI panic relies on misinformation and fear of losing out under a zero-sum worldview. But we can communicate the truth instead. A healthier, safer, and more respectful workplace is just plain better for everyone. Fair hiring, pay and promotion processes lift us all. To learn more about FAIR and just what it entails, you can read my full article on hbr.org. Have no fear. Chosen Foods is here to defend your favorite foods from the forces of seedy oils and sketchy ingredients. With cooking oils, salad dressings, and mayo, all powered by the good fats from 100 % pure avocado oil and simple, delicious ingredients.

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