Keep saying yes: Advancing DE&I through connection

Two years ago, we witnessed a profound moment of racial reckoning when George Floyd was murdered. A year later, we experienced the collective grief that came with confirmation of the first of many unmarked graves of children who had attended residential schools. At FHR, our own commitment to become the most inclusive agency in the world felt more important, and more urgent.?

We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. There was no blueprint to getting it right. It would take more than an epiphany to erase the hurt and damage of the past and the present. We were saddened and furious but with pain came a strong sense of consciousness. We knew we had to do more to eradicate the sickness mercilessly breeding around us.?We had to do better.

The work is ongoing, but we feel an intense fatigue with trying to move it forward. Some days, looking around, it feels like nothing has changed and it feels like there isn’t enough time in the day or resources to keep up. We are unlearning things we thought we knew but it feels like the expectations are sometimes unattainable. And sometimes it feels like speaking up is harder and riskier than saying nothing at all. But our passion for change is as strong – maybe stronger – than it has ever been.?

Our biggest challenge is to keep saying yes, finding a new path forward, to make lasting, fundamental change.?

We know this work comes with a real sense of loneliness. People tasked with this responsibility are courageously figuring it out, in real time, but arguably with more high stakes than?anything else they do. Those outside the work are also feeling lonely. They want to be a part of the good work. They feel the pain, but they are not sure they have the lived experiences or the credentials that qualify them to be a DE&I activist, advocate or an ally.?

In the words of our FleishmanHillard HighRoad President, Angela Carmichael: “Our goal – a goal we share with companies and organizations around the country – is to increase workplace diversity, broaden inclusivity and achieve equity. But like everyone else, we know that work is hard, and our passion doesn’t prevent us from sometimes getting stuck. That’s why we’re working with our clients to create a community to support each other, identify our shared difficulties and create solutions together.”

Working within our own company and with our clients, we’ve identified the DE&I Dilemma: the passion to move forward and make meaningful change and simultaneously feeling stuck in the present reality. There’s no single road ahead. Instead, there are forks in the road that require tough decisions, there are sharp and swift turns, some abrupt, and some that knock us down. We have an inherent need to see instant results. We want to see instant change. Instant progress. Instant goodness. We want it all done quickly, and when we don’t see positive change, we get frustrated and are tempted give up.?

We forget that the journey we embarked on does not come with a GPS. We must build the roads. We must set the stones and the concrete. We must set up the road markings and signage. We must set up the streetlights.?

We have to walk in the shoes of our friends, colleagues, family members, strangers and as many other people we can until there’s some discomfort. In that discomfort is where we’ll find the clues to dismantling the DE&I Dilemma. The discomfort points us to progress. But we need to do it together, listening to each other, learning and supporting each other.

Today, we are taking a step forward with the intention to do some good.?

We are announcing the launch of the first-of-its-kind collective,?The good group, to help our clients dismantle the DE&I Dilemma. The good group is a community of peers who are working to implement DE&I strategies, a community to break through the isolation and challenges we are all facing, to support each other and create shared solutions.?

The truth is that?we are all desperate for connection.?

At FHR, we see you and we hear you. We want to walk with you, and show you that there are many others, just like you, with a burning passion to do good.?

Let’s walk together. We have a lot of good work to do.

HOW IT WORKS?

A team of FleishmanHillard HighRoad True MOSAIC counselors will facilitate ongoing discussions with clients tasked with diversity, equity and inclusion mandates to provide peer-to-peer support and solutions. Based on shared experience, with ambition to tackle barriers to more inclusive workplaces, The good group is a space for honest discussions about what’s holding companies back and how to move forward with real progress. Conversations are confidential, off-the-record and intimate, to build trust and give our clients the space and support they need to focus on working through challenges.?

For more information on The good group, please reach out to?[email protected].