Women in the Workplace/DEI – Answer the Call to Conscious Leadership

After months of watching DEI lose the topic poll in the C3 community, and then seeing Women in the Workplace tie,?Lawrence Henderson ?and I made an executive decision to combine DEI with Women in the Workplace and get the C3 community rolling on this topic. It seemed to be an unfortunate parallel symbolizing how DEI rises to the top of visibility in the midst of particular events, and then lose steam as the events fade from the news cycle.

Asiya Abdul-Alim , Author/Organizational Change Agent Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in the Workplace, joined Lawrence and me to cover Women in Leadership and Women in the Workplace under the DEI umbrella. The conversation was just so pivotal.?Join C3 ?to watch the replay and learn what we said about the questions below, but also to take away a new vision of your (all you conscious leaders’) role in relation to DEI at your organization and at your clients’ organizations.

?What does women's representation in leadership mean and what does it look like?

?How do we integrate feminine leadership qualities into the current corporate climate?

?How does the bias against women stunt women’s potential and what can be done about it?

?Why is there still a glass ceiling? Why is there still a gender wage gap? How far away are we from changing this narrative?

?How well is the resistance to DEI working for employers? How long will it work for them?

?Why are performative allyships and support networks being under-sponsored by leadership today?

?What would it look like if women took more opportunities to promote each other vs. compete with each other?

?How much does diversity impact the bottom line?

?How will the younger workforce generations be impacted by the lack of progress in DEI?

?How does a company begin the process of elevating women in leadership/DEI?

?What do we all stand to gain by improving opportunities for women and other diversity groups?

?How do you bridge the gaps between diverse groups to optimize solutions and innovations our world needs and will need?

?What are some ground rules everyone can agree to that will create the space for greater change?

?What role can coaches play in facilitating meaningful change around bias?

?What is the significance of “Crawl>Walk>Run” in sustainable results around DEI initiatives?

?How can DEI efforts be reframed to gain more support and buy-in?

?Lawrence and I agreed that the best thing the C3 community can do to make sure that momentum around these initiatives continues to build rather than lose momentum is to dedicate a new monthly event to DEI.?Join C3 today ?if you want to co-create this.

Some other noteworthy mentions:

Lawrence said – “Call them in; don’t call them out.” I could not attribute this quote to a particular author or authority, but I did see it used as early as 2018. It’s not new, but it deserves to go viral.?Join C3 ?to watch the replay and see how this relates to DEI.

Michael Taylor’s ?name came up regarding what?Schelling Point ?found to be the reason for the lack of support for change initiatives.

As usual,?Cy Wakeman’s ?wisdom around working with the willing and the role of ego came up.?

Brené Brown ?also had her regular mention and love.

Joining the C3 community ?is the simplest thing you can do right now to gain access to opportunities that enable you to co-create a more conscious, more diverse, more inclusive, and more equitable corporate culture. I invite you further to make sure those in your organization supporting DEI request to?join C3 ?today.?