5 Executive Blindspots that Sabotage DEI Success (Part 3 of 5)

Putting DEI roadmaps in the hands of “The Diversity Council” (AKA: passionate volunteers)

I get it. Companies have never been under more pressure to “do more” in the areas of DEI. Seconds count. Your talent brand and current level of employee engagement depends, in part, on your ability to get better (and faster) results in diversity & inclusion. Employees are asking why is it taking so long? Why isn’t anything changing? They are beginning to think, talk is cheap—where is the action? In pressure-filled situations like this, it is tempting to turn to the most passionate employees who are beating down a path to your door and say some version of this: You’re right. We do need to do more. What do you think about starting (or joining) a diversity council? We would love for you all to come back to us with some recommendations. 

And there you have it….a “Diversity Council” is born. 

While the intentions behind these groups are positive, the impact can often be less than. The problems are many. Often, there is high passion but low expertise across grassroots diversity councils, which means they spend exorbitant amounts of time and cycles trying to figure out what should be done to advance progress in DEI. It’s not all for not. Diversity councils have been known to come back with some pretty amazing recommendations! But, more times than not, it is tough for people to prioritize their volunteer roles within a company when their day jobs are demanding. This can sometimes lead to the feeling that they are doing more than their fair share of the “office housework” (the unpaid labor)…sometimes without receiving much personal benefit, credit, and without seeing much change. Volunteers tend to be highly motivated by impact. Many folks who join ERG’s or Diversity Councils are happy to do so—even eager to do so—until they realize that progress is slow. 

How can we solve this conundrum? Before you send passionate employees off and running, clarify roles. What is theirs to own or influence? What is yours to own, as the CEO? What lies in the hands of the executive team, the HR team, the recruiting team, the D&I team, and people managers up and down the company? I’ve seen it over a hundred times: a once passionate diversity council begins to feel demoralized (and possibly even resentful & frustrated) as slow or no progress is made. Much of this slow progress can be chalked up to three things: 1. Not having a clear roadmap (what are we going to do, why are we going to do it, what is our timeline, and how will we measure our success?) 2. Lack of role clarity regarding who owns what portion of the roadmap & how these various roles will coordinate and communicate. 3. Executive leaders not having enough ‘skin in the game’ and not willing to allocate enough budget. Executives invest money and time in things that matter to them, and to the success of the company. When employees start ERG groups or diversity councils, only to receive dismal funding, it sends an unintended & subtle message to employees: We say this is important, but we aren’t willing to show that this is important. And…even though we are investing time and money in other important priorities across the company, we expect you to do this work for free. 

Would you put your product in the hands of passionate volunteers? No? Then you should not put your diversity goals in those hands (entirely) either.

Mitch Shepard is an author, speaker, behavioral scientist, and the CEO & Founder of HUMiN Inc — a company dedicated to building DEI into the DNA of company culture. HUMiN helps companies measure and improve their diversity intelligence, from top to bottom, so they can improve their talent brand, make better decisions, innovate, and improve overall team performance. HUMiN is about unleashing human potential & building the habits & behaviors of inclusion.

Visit www.humininc.com to learn more and join our mailing list.