Donuts & Diversity: Driving Accountability in DEI

Last week, I was on the phone with a client who was feeling frustrated with the slower-than-desired progress and low accountability surrounding their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. It was a story I had heard many times before…common contemplations and questions, such as:

• How do we decide what we should be doing & who should be at the table deciding?
• Who should be responsible for what?
• How do we maximize inclusion & get the right voices around the table, without becoming slow and inefficient (too many people around the table) in our decision making & actions?
• How do we measure our results?
• Are we measuring representation? Inclusion? Employee engagement & culture? The number of women and BIPOC joining the company? The number of women and BIPOC advancing? The diversity of our board? The number of diverse interview slates (activity) or the number of diverse hires (results)?
• How do we hold people accountable?
• Should we be rewarding managers who are excellent in EI (emotional intelligence) and DI (Diversity Intelligence)?
• Should we reward the leaders with the best diversity metrics and retention rates?

He must have rattled off a dozen questions in less than a minute. I felt his pain. And his commitment.

I bet some of you have these questions & pain points too...

At one point in the conversation, we got distracted and took a fun little detour into his personal life. Seemingly unrelated, he shared a cute story with me about his two young granddaughters. The prior weekend he had visited them and taken them out for donuts. But these were not ordinary donuts, they were hard-earned ones.

Apparently, leading up to his visit, his son and daughter-in-law dangled a carrot: Make your beds. Brush your teeth. Pick up your toys without us hounding you. Eat your vegetables. As a reward you will get “points”. Earn enough points and you can get donuts with Papa when he visits! As I heard this story, I smiled big and felt a wave of relief to know that I was not the only parent who had resorted to bribery in the desperate toddler-training years.

As we switched gears back to his diversity initiatives, specifically, how to measure and hold people accountable, it occurred to me that his granddaughters earning donuts for good habits & behavior (which they achieved—yay!), isn’t too far off from what companies should be thinking about when they decide how to reward and incentivize leaders & managers for DEI success. I do not want to condescend anyone here, but we all know that you get what you measure & reward.

Generally speaking, people get more money, stock, kudos and opportunities when they perform well, right? Well, shouldn’t they also get more money, stock, kudos, and opportunities when they kill it in the DEI realm? I think so. But currently, there are very few companies who effectively measure inclusion & tie rewards to great performance in DEI. In grad school I had a wise professor, MaryBeth O’Neil who used to say, “Expectations minus consequences equal wishes”.

If we are committed to removing systemic barriers, attracting/hiring/valuing/retaining diverse talent, treating people equitably, and building inclusive & thriving cultures, shouldn’t there be consequences for failure and rewards for success?

This story—and the thoughts I recently shared in this article 5 Executive Blind Spots that Sabotage DEI Success—have inspired me to offer a free learning session this month, Friday April 23rd at 9 AM (PST), on Driving Accountability in DEI. I hope you will join this conversation and bring your ideas and questions with you.

This work is not easy. These answers are not simple. If it was easy and simple, more of us would be nailing it by now. This convo will be part fireside chat and part best-practice sharing, based on the years I have spent working with clients across tech and biotech, watching them fail, succeed, learn, grow, and ultimately get better and better at this thing called DEI.

We will discuss:

• Blind spots that sabotage DEI success—including the pitfalls of “diversity councils”
• How to balance the tension between inclusion, speed, and efficiency
• How to treat this work like a marathon, not a horse race, & pace yourselves
• Ideas for driving accountability—top to bottom—in your organizations

You bring an open mind. I’ll bring the donuts. I hope to see you there!

Click this link to register: https://tinyurl.com/drivingaccountabilityinDEI