Harnessing the Power of Resistance

Have you noticed? Hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations, have openly publicized their commitments to being proactive when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. That’s great news, but it’s come with little progress toward the goals being set. After hefty investments and budgetary increases, research indicates that efforts are still falling significantly short of declared goals. Why?

Beyond Inclusion Group launched a multi-stage research project that resulted in hundreds of responses from organizations across the country. Our findings reveal that many DEI efforts uncover resistance to change without spawning action to make forward progress.

Uncovering Overt and Covert Resistance

This recent research project kicked off with In-depth interviews of seven highly qualified, high-positioned leaders in high-impact organizations with advanced levels of experience and responsibility. Each had similarly experienced the same kinds of resistance—plentiful, prevalent, and formidable. They identified resistance appearing at two frequencies—one was magnified and overt, and the other muted and covert.

Overt resistance is active and easily identified. It may include:

●?????Undermining by Skepticism & Questioning—Asking, “Do we really need this? Isn’t this already covered under HR? What’s the point? We’ve not had any EEOC issues. Why this? Why now?”

●?????Blocking by Accusations—Unfounded claims are made, such as, “We’re lowering the bar by hiring and promoting people who lack qualifications.” Or “This will only better them and hurt us.”

●?????Asserting Fear & Fault Finding—Costs, poor fit within the existing organization culture, lack of necessity, and insurmountable time constraints are cited as the problem.

Covert resistance is passive, is more difficult to identify, and is the hardest to overcome. It may include:

●?????Agreeing in Name Only—Saying “yes” to DEI initiatives at high-profile opportunities, such as an annual strategic planning session but failing to implement and support them later on. The “yes” sounds good at the time but isn’t backed up with committed sponsorship and vital resources to succeed.

●?????Passing it Along—Isolating the initiative by passing it along to HR instead of assuring it is everyone’s responsibility at all levels of the organization. It’s not embedded in planning, decision-making, and evaluation processes to benefit all employees.

●?????Withholding & Delaying—Avoiding, diluting, or even thwarting diversity-related training programs by lack of attendance, foot-dragging techniques, masking low regard for DEI goals as irrelevant, inefficient, or superfluous.

Unfortunately, the interviewees identified resistance already profoundly woven into the organizational culture, collectively mirroring the hearts and minds of many people within it.

Which DEI resistance behaviors plague your organization?

In the second phase of the Beyond Inclusion Group research project, over 200 DEI and HR professionals identified their most felt resistance behaviors, which include:

●?????Skeptical questioning of the purpose and need for the initiative. (39.3%)

●?????Agreeing but failing to implement. (27.2%)

●?????Fault finding about cost, fit within the culture, time constraints, etc. (11.6%)

●?????Accusations of hiring and promoting unqualified people. (10.7%)

●?????Delegating the initiative exclusively to the HR department. (6.3%)

●?????Avoiding Training Programs, diversity meetings, or strategic planning sessions. (4.9%)

Do any of these resistance behaviors plague your organization? It’s not a question of if but a matter of when resistance behaviors will show up, even in the face of well-planned, well-funded, and fully supported diversity and inclusion initiatives. Therefore It is essential to systematically uncover and grapple with the underlying fear that bends us toward resisting change.

Leveraging Fear for Good

At Beyond Inclusion Group, we have the expertise to identify and leverage resistance so that your initiatives succeed,?saving you angst, time, and expense. Most importantly, we can help you create compelling, ongoing, high-engagement DEI change across your organization.

Reach out to us today to set up a consultation.

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