Calling out the Bullsh*t in DEI Part 2
Marteka Swaby
Founder & Mental Health Expert | Coaching, Consulting & Healthcare Advisory
Calling out the Bullsh*t in DEI Part 2
I wanted to create a safe space for diverse talent where people could come, they didn't need to code switch. They didn't need to shrink back or worry about what they said and how this would be interpreted.
A place people could just come as themselves and share their experiences.
If we really want people to thrive at work, then we need to create environments that feel safe where people can be open and honest without feeling there could be reprisals.
Kinship is a Safespace for diverse corporate women where we can explore some of the challenges of intersectionality, being a woman of colour, neurodiverse, or navigating sexuality and gender bias in spaces where you are often the only one can be incredibly vulnerable and lonely.
Samantha Hawkins reflected ‘I think there's so much of an advantage to that external space, not just having an external person who can be honest about how they, what they see and ask difficult questions, but also for the people themselves to have a safe space away from work where they can, they can explore and engage and interact and reflect on things without that feeling of being in the corporate space’
‘There is such value in coming together to share experiences and get support just listening to others experiences is enough sometimes.
In part 1 of this conversation, the mental health and burnout of standalone roles was identified by all of us, as one of our biggest bugbears across the sector.
In a recent podcast with?Erin Corine?and?Samantha Hawkins. We were exploring some of the benefits of utilising external consultants to deliver DEI as opposed to keeping it internal to reduce burnout for standalone roles.
When you are part of the organisation, you're invested in the organisation, you understand the internal structures, processes and people. You are in the know and can easily navigate quickly how these structures interact together. A big benefit for being on the inside.
Navigating both the internal and external space
The other side of this Erin Corine?reflected is. ‘When you come from outside, that impartiality sometimes challenges people to really hold a mirror up to some of their practices’
Navigating both the internal and external space across organisational boundaries or structures is like a dance which requires rhythm and timing. If you miss a beat it can impact how you influence key decision makers and stakeholders.
‘The word performative is just stuck in my mind about all of this. It's just so performative. And I think there's that difference between diversity and inclusion and then justice, which is another word that's kind of coming in. And, another thing that I think is good practice is bringing justice into this equation as well’
If you are hiring external consultants or thinking of hiring someone, it is perhaps useful to always define a brief or outline of their work to agree the key objectives and deliverables. This empowers the role with a greater level of transparency and accountability.
It will also enable either the consultant or your diversity hire to navigate some of these internal and external boundaries, which can impact the success of DEI projects or hires.
In the podcast we talk about organisations often being stuck just doing diversity work. Hiring more women, hiring more black people, hiring more people with disabilities and not promoting them.
This is not successful DEI but doing the bare minimum to tick the boxes and increase numbers which is not good enough if the aim is to deliver impact.
Please listen to the full episode?here
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