Having reached the final installment of their ‘Nope, That is Not What It Means’ series, Michelle, and Maria shine their spotlight today on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Each word carries considerable power on its own, and together they constitute a critical aspect of every organization, yet there remains a great deal of confusion surrounding them. Today, our hosts look at the reasons behind this confusion and, as always, provide clarity and their trademark valuable advice for all listeners.
They begin by examining the confusion regarding DEI’s importance, some challenges in the way it is done currently, and the need for true change through ‘getting comfortable with being uncomfortable’. They also highlight some excellent resources, the need for the alignment of clear understanding of DEI within an organization, and just how critical it is to continue to have discussions about them. A fitting conclusion to this crucial series, it provides the impetus, as Maria notes, to continue ‘elevating ourselves, elevate our games’, and ‘making sure that we’re taking that a step further’.
The Finer Details of This Episode:
“I think what happens, particularly with leaders who are not diverse, is it becomes a threshold or a number.”
“Diversity is when everybody gets invited to the dance, and inclusion is being asked to dance.”
“The entire point of diversity in a work environment is to bring people's differences.”
“We will never get to a place of equity and inclusion until people can get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
“We're still a society who encourages people who don't have white sounding names, like Michelle or Betty or Amanda, to put initials on their resume instead of their actual name.”
“Getting hung up on a metric keeps you from focusing on the purpose or the intent behind the metric in the first place.”
“Talk about things other than pay. Talk about promotional opportunities, talk about growth, talk about who you're bringing in, talk about what roles they have within the organization.”
“It's getting us all aligned in the organization with the same language and the same philosophy around that word.”
“Start with the foundation of the words, understanding meaning, and how you're going to apply the principle changes within the organization, and take that to the next level.”
“We need to focus on making sure that we get, like, our words right, and we know the meaning of everything that we're applying in our organization.”
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