Spotting The Signs Of Diversity Fatigue
Sheryl Miller
ERG Leadership Training | Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consultant | Speaker | Author | Ex EY | MBA |
After years of bumbling along, with little traction in most organisations, one would think that renewed enthusiasm for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion would be welcomed.
Every organisation had its conscience pricked in 2020, with even the Daily Mail realising the tide was turning, wokeness was de rigueur and fascism, thinly disguised as moral indignation, was on the way out.
It’s only been a hot minute but for some, diversity has lost its shine and people are fed up.
Fed up of talking about it, fed up of not talking about it enough, fed up with the lack of action, or worried that it’s all moving too fast and that the wrong action is leading to newly created injustices.
When leading transformation programmes, especially where I was brought onto a flailing program that had been running for a while, I was very aware of ‘change fatigue’. The risk that individuals, particularly those who were hands-on in delivering the project(s), dealing with all of the resistance that came with the territory, would run out of steam.
In the DE&I work I do with organisations, I am increasingly seeing fatigue at all levels of the organisation - from the C-suite and beyond, and on all ‘sides’ of the debate - those that want more diversity and those that feel the initiatives are going too far and too fast.
There are no overnight fixes, no silver bullets and few playbooks that have been proven to bring about inclusion and belonging. This is going to be a long slog, which is why we need to be especially vigilant for the signs of fatigue and have the tools to tackle it.
Diversity and Inclusion Makes Some People Feel Excluded
In some organisations, DE&I training and initiatives have led some to feel like ‘it’s not for them’. That they will not benefit from greater diversity or inclusion and in fact will be disadvantaged.
In this 2017 research by EY over one-third of those surveyed believed the increased focus on diversity in the workplace has overlooked white men. If this was the view in 2017, imagine how those individuals feel in 2021.
If you’re unsure this applies to your company, ask a few people, run a quick poll or look at who has and hasn't volunteered to sit on your Inclusion and Belonging committee. If DE&I is presented as something that only benefits marginalised groups then a large proportion of your organisation will feel excluded.
Inclusion is often taken to mean the steps necessary to make the workplace more welcoming to those from under-represented groups. While this is true, inclusion goes beyond that to mean an environment is created where everyone is free to be their authentic, weird, wacky and wonderful selves.
Revisit your training programs and communications to make sure they explicitly address how DE&I benefits
If the benefits to each of these groups are unclear then the whole approach needs a rethink.
The Naysayers Have Gone Quiet?
How do you deal with people that won’t ‘get on’ the DE&I bus’? Those colleagues who perhaps disagree with your point of view and just won’t budge?
Repeating the same things over and over again, otherwise known as ‘argumentum ad nauseum’ is often the go-to strategy, especially when collective wisdom appears to be ‘on your side’. The naysayers start to feel like they are not being heard and simply disengage.
It is important that we create safe spaces for people to share unpopular opinions, otherwise we drive it underground and risk backlash.
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The Advocates Have Become Cynical
D&I has been talked about for many years but it has been moved to front and centre in an unprecedented way in the last 12 months. This may have led some to think we were at a tipping point and that change was imminent.
What has happened in most companies is they’ve now hit the ‘pointy end’ of what needs doing. Beyond the diversity reports and the public commitments, the action-taking is not quite as easy as posting good intentions on social media. And so the advocates who were once so positive and hopeful start to tire and lose patience.
Within your organisation
D&I Becomes a Weapon Of Mass Division
In 2021, within a few weeks of Joe Biden entering the Whitehouse, research revealed that 53% of respondents expected polarization to stay the same while 31% expected it to increase. All of this despite Biden's unite messaging.
You don’t need to look very far on Linkedin to find a diversity-related post, e.g. the recent EU directive on hijabs, or the Stormzy/HSBC scholarship, and see the level of discord. Other bones of contention include the ongoing anti-trans feminist stance and debates about privilege.
Disagreements are largely based on opinion, or different interpretations of the same ‘facts’ and rarely does anyone back down or change their mind. The 21st-century westernisms of self-centredness, general outrage, feeling personally attacked if someone challenges your viewpoint, and the unhelpful medium of social media, create a toxic combination where no one truly listens and positions become entrenched.
As Kate Bornstein offers so eloquently in their essay from the book, ‘We Can Do Better than This’, we can start by recognising that there are two types of truth
Make your DE&I training as evidence-based as possible:
There Is A Growing Backlash
With the same ferocity as cancel culture, we have seen some organisations, including the UK government, cancelling unconscious bias training; Critical Race theory has been banned in schools across several US states. We have seen ‘Blue Lives Matter’ in response to ‘Black Lives Matter’ and accusations of ‘reverse racism’ are on the increase.
The root causes are complex and varied but the manifestation is a clear and vociferous rejection of either a need for greater diversity, and/or the associated interventions.
It can be tempting for us all to believe, whatever your perspective, that we are on ‘the right side of history’ and to therefore ignore the signs that we are not taking others along with us. Do this at your peril.
We are becoming more polarised than ever and if we continue to ignore dissent, disagreement, and the signs of fatigue it will not go away.
Let’s lean into this together, with a curious mind, an open heart and a genuine willingness to listen and learn.
Founder of COHO ?? Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 ??
3 年Very enlightening, thank you. I believe companies should be embracing diversity as otherwise you build a product that appeals to people who look and act like upper management. In most cases that leaves a whole load of the market unaddressed. As a minor example, earlier on when I was coming up with the list of "interests", I showed my wife the first list and she said "I wouldn't choose any of those...". A lot of well-meaning people argue that "it's better to not see colour" (.. or gender), but we have a natural attraction to people more like ourselves, valuing qualities we consider were factors in our own success. But that just leads to the problem above. I was part of the "hire for skills" group, until I saw a story this science group that got together, the top people in one sector, to solve a problem. They then experimented with picking for diversity, and even though the average ability (perhaps on paper) was lower, they came up with better a better solution. The problem was the first group was essentially 30 of mostly the same person. The second group was 30 people with very different backgrounds and experiences that they could bring to the table. I found that really interesting, and suddenly "obvious".
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3 年Great article Sheryl! Diversity projects are often emotive which leads to fatigue. *Personal TIP* Only join projects focussed on the strands of diversity to which you do not identify. This will allow you to remain curious and open to all perspectives while having the energy to drive positive change!
Senior People and Culture Manager｜CIPD L7
3 年Fantastic article! As EDI practitioners when we put forward and implement EDI initiatives, it can sometimes feel like we are preaching to those who are already converted. I found it insightful what you said about encouraging debates within sessions and being very transparent on communication. I will be taking these tips on board, thank you, Sheryl :)
Award-winning Head of Equity & Diversity in policing. Please get in touch so I can help you make EDI integral to your professionalism and organisational success.
3 年Many thanks for this. Good timing!
President of Future Faces GB Chambers of Commerce I Multicultural Apprenticeship & Enterprise Ambassador for Pathway Group I Non-Exec Director Multicultural Apprenticeship Alliance & Thinkfest
3 年I am definitely noticing fatigue in this space, people not able to keep up with the changing landscape or generally just assuming things have moved on and that we don’t need to talk about it anymore. In my humble opinion I feel like a lot of activities have been done for show and achieved very little and now more than ever we need action as opposed to policies and data analysis. The only way to deal with issue is to change the culture and that has to take place at all levels.