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DEI Deconstructed provides a comprehensive guide to understanding and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Lily Zheng offers practical advice and actionable strategies to create meaningful and sustainable change within organizations.
What does it take to drive meaningful change within an organization? Some leaders naively believe that good intentions alone can reshape company culture. But success often depends on one make-or-break factor: trust.
Trust is the currency that funds change. With ample reserves of goodwill, leaders can drive change through authority rather than painstaking coalition-building. In environments plagued by cynicism and doubt, even the most brilliantly designed efforts fizzle out. So how can leaders or other proponents of DEI gauge the level of trust?
The presence or absence of skepticism is an indicator. In high-trust organizations, employees rarely question leadership’s decisions. When bumps in the road occur, they extend patience, believing that leaders have their best interests in mind. Medium-trust environments show more uncertainty; employees actively challenge the official narrative, scrutinizing missteps. In low-trust workplaces, mistrust and bitterness reign supreme. Employees assume leaders will fail to achieve espoused goals. They view DEI commitments as performative, and participating in them as risky.
Let’s look at how DEI approaches differ according to each level of trust.
In high-trust companies, where formal authority translates to real influence, the path forward is relatively linear. First, leaders can prime the organization by clearly setting expectations. They must ensure that executives and managers are prepared to legitimize and vocally back DEI efforts. Managers should be reminded to give thoughtful feedback and help steward their teams through discomfort. And HR and operations leads should be encouraged to collaborate with grassroots groups if needed.
Next, leaders assess the current state of DEI within the organization. This involves a period in which quantitative and qualitative data is gathered to understand the company’s strengths and shortcomings. For example, linking promotion rate data to demographics may reveal disparities. Meanwhile, qualitative data from in-depth interviews gives the human context behind statistics. If, for instance, survey data suggests that biased evaluations may be disadvantaging certain groups, in-depth conversations could reveal how this is occurring.
Leaders then need to distill the data into a compelling rationale for change aligned with company values. One way could be to explain that the company previously prioritized rapid expansion and profitability over employee well-being – sacrifices needed to survive initially. But now that the company is established, it can broaden its focus, balancing growth with investments in employee health, fulfillment, and inclusion. This type of narrative can help employees understand the evolving priorities and rally them around a vision for a more humane culture.
Next, leaders and stakeholders should iterate experiments, guided by patient feedback. For instance, they might implement evaluation rubrics and structured interviews to standardize the early stages of hiring. Or they could use bonuses to incentivize managers to meet diversity goals. Even something small, like taking steps to equalize office housework, can build momentum for broader change later.
As solutions are tested, proponents must celebrate successes – without becoming complacent. They can tout measurable progress, emphasize outcomes over intentions, and continually reiterate the long-term DEI goals. Each achievement renews reserves of trust, enabling progressively greater and greater ambition. With time and care, leaders can leverage the goodwill they’ve earned to methodically enhance equity within the organization.
But what if the leaders of the organization inherit a more skeptical audience? In this case, top-down efforts may face heavy resistance, and the playbook followed by high-trust organizations may fall flat. Leaders must take conscious action to secure buy-in, and show they have skin in the game through concrete commitments. A strong statement might, for example, promise specific outcomes like pay parity within a set timeline – with leaders’ bonuses on the line for results. Goals backed by clear accountability help to build trust, whereas vague vision statements only invite further doubt.
In medium-trust environments, small wins are critical. Achieving narrow, bite-sized goals steadily rebuilds depleted trust reserves to motivate greater change. Compounding small wins ultimately earns enough confidence and buy-in to overhaul the system.
Leaders can also help create or prime new accountability groups like DEI councils. Comprised of employees of diverse backgrounds, these groups wield grassroots legitimacy and influence. Their involvement lends credibility to leadership initiatives otherwise met with skepticism. Together, councils and leaders can coordinate two distinct halves of the movement for change, balancing legitimacy and authority to drive pragmatic change.
But what about a truly low-trust environment – a workplace where reservoirs of trust run bone dry and where skepticism has fallen into corrosive cynicism? In these environments, stakeholders doubt everything and everyone. They see self-preservation as the only rational approach, and any solution relying on collective trust is dismissed off the bat.
With troops unwilling to follow marching orders, transformation needs to originate outside formal authority structures. For this to happen, leaders have to cede power to disadvantaged groups, enabling bottom-up change. Rather than resisting grassroots movements, executives should empower them – apologizing for past harms, allowing demands to shape priorities, and redistributing decision-making influence. Though counterintuitive, elevating stakeholders is the only path to redemption.
Employees can sense when goals are about checking boxes, not reform. So defying their cynical expectations and taking action can really help leaders shift the mood. Progress depends on steadily empowering employees until their cynicism softens into manageable skepticism. True, lasting success requires leaders to acknowledge their mistakes and hand over control with integrity.
DEI Deconstructed (2022) bridges theory and messy reality with pragmatic insights to make your organization more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Moving beyond ineffective strategies, it provides a detailed foundation and roadmap for driving systemic change within companies.
DEI Deconstructed by Lily Zheng (2022) offers an eye-opening exploration of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Here's why this book is a must-read:
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Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trialBlink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
What is the main message of DEI Deconstructed?
The main message of DEI Deconstructed is to dismantle and rebuild diversity, equity, and inclusion practices for a more just and equitable society.
How long does it take to read DEI Deconstructed?
The reading time for DEI Deconstructed varies depending on the reader, but it typically takes several hours. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just a few minutes.
Is DEI Deconstructed a good book? Is it worth reading?
DEI Deconstructed is a valuable read for anyone interested in creating real change. It provides insights and actionable steps towards creating more inclusive environments.
Who is the author of DEI Deconstructed?
The author of DEI Deconstructed is Lily Zheng.