Evolving the Practice of DEI
Baleva Ward (US Veteran)
VP of Equity | Culture Champion |Strategic Leader | I help organizations achieve inclusive excellence by driving diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, fostering community, and implementing strategic DEI programs.
Good morning,
As you look at the world around you, it becomes apparent that we need more mastery-level DEI leaders at every level and corner of our organizations. Unfortunately, the guiding philosophy behind most management practices today is not designed to produce those mastery-level leaders we need in DEI. Why do I say that? Let me explain.
Almost every management job today is built around the Fredrick Taylor management model called Taylorism. Taylorism is a management practice that seeks to get employees to do things in the best way to improve labor productivity. Taylorism was born to improve economic output in a factory setting and gave birth to the concept of the best way, which today we call a best practice. Today this “Tayloristic” management approach is used everywhere even though things like HR, Marketing, or DEI are not factory operations. The result is a lack of the innovation and creativity leaders need in these non-factory professions to achieve practice mastery. And unfortunately, an entire best-practice industrial complex is out there designed to feed this need for the “best way” to be embedded into the fabric of our leadership efforts. This complex churns out papers on the best way to do this or that and stages best practice-sharing conferences. None of this is bad, especially for new people entering the fold and those more advanced who want to share their pearls of wisdom, but they will not take you to the much-needed DEI leadership mastery level.
So, what can you do to become a high-impacting DEI leadership master if it’s not just networking with other companies and continuing to collect best practices? I believe the answer is the Japanese Shu-Ha-Ri approach. Shu-Ha-Ri was invented by a gentleman named Fuhaku Kawakami to guide the process of progressing from beginner to martial arts mastery.?Bruce Lee is an excellent example of someone who went through all stages of Shu-Ha-Ri. During his Shu stage, he learned the form and structure of martial arts, such as Wing Chun under Yip Man, and Tai Chi and Boxing from other top masters. During his Ha stage, he experimented with various combinations of these disciplines to win tournaments and a few street fights. Finally, during his Ri stage, Lee developed the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy that drew and built upon those different combat disciplines.?
So how can this be applied to someone who wants to achieve DEI mastery? Here is a brief description of the Shu-Ha-Ri approach to mastery with application to a DEI leader:
Step One is the Shu Stage -?The new DEI leader learns how others who perform well do the work and copies them during the Shu stage. This is the stage where you emulate exemplars.?This stage is also very similar to what most people do today. Find the practices that work well elsewhere and copy them as closely as possible.
Step Two is the Ha Stage –?Here, the developing learner who’s copied exactly what other successful DEI leaders do to date breaks away from simply emulating others. At this stage, the?developing leaders begin to do trial-and-error experiments to mix, match, and add to what they've learned. This creativity leads to the development of new practices to address new opportunities or old challenges in new ways.
Step Three is the Ri Stage -?After combining and recombining and testing new approaches in this trial-and-error stage of Ha for a while, the developing leader moves to the Ri stage by striking out entirely on their own path. At this stage, the leader writes new rules, evolves the practice, and creates original competitive?strategies that address their current and future opportunities and challenges. They can now serve as teachers for the latest beginners entering the Shu stage.
Today, some DEI leaders practicing for nearly a decade or more remain stuck in the Shu stage—going to conferences searching for the safe, sure best way to address a challenge or opportunity. But unfortunately, despite all the hype about best practices, next practices, and tomorrow’s practices, following these will not propel you to mastery, nor will they help you develop tomorrow’s competitive solutions. It also won’t enable these leaders to elevate the state of DEI leadership to new and higher levels. To achieve those loftier goals, DEI leaders must move from the Shu stage through the Ha and Ri stages.
So, if you’ve been a DEI practitioner for a few years, I advise you to stop just seeking best practices and start preparing for Ri-level mastery by moving into the Ha stage and experimenting and testing new solutions for todays and tomorrow’s challenges. The new normal and the rapidly evolving future need more DEI leaders at the Ri stage, not an army of practitioners eternally stuck in the Shu stage as beginners.
In the CDO PowerCircle, they work with their members to support them through this critical developmental evolution. They curate as members DEI leaders already operating at the Ha and Ri stage and fuel them to become even better versions of themselves. Their vision is a world full of these much-needed DEI Master Leaders.
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Please be safe and always remember to . . . watch for signals from the future so you can generate the vision and strategies that lead others to higher levels of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging!
Sincerely,
B. Maurice Ward
(Approved for sharing by Joseph Santana, CEO, Chairman of the CDP PowerCircle)