Losing momentum? A guide to reviving your diversity work
It happens to all of us, we kick start a new project with bucket loads of passion and energy but over time this energy depletes and we slump into slow motion. Perhaps other workloads have increased or leadership priorities have changed. Tip #1 is not to panic; you can get the ball rolling again by following the steps below.
Let’s focus on 4 key areas:
How clear are people of a) the role of your network group and b) their role and contribution within it?
What are your strategic objectives and goals for the future?
What barriers lie in the way of achieving these goals?
Are the members of your network empowered to act?
If you are currently in the process of setting up a D&I network and need specific guidance around that first, check out this article on “Setting up a diversity group or network: A step by step guide.”
1. Defining roles
A clear framework provides clarity and vision in regards to what your network wishes to achieve. This is also helpful for both the employer, in understanding your network’s role within their D&I strategy, and to employees, so they know how the network can support them.
Firstly, I would suggest refreshing your mission statement, or creating one if you do not already have one, and perhaps most importantly publish and share it with stakeholders. A mission statement should reflect the true values of your network and the overarching aim should be clear. It should state these values concisely in a maximum of 3 sentences.
A mission statement provides direction and a central focus. It will guide your network towards your agreed definition of success for the various phases your group moves through and should be refreshed as you deliver progress.
From my own experiences, it may also be helpful to assign roles with clear summarised job descriptions for key members of your committee. The committee should consist of a small working group of dedicated, proactive people that are happy to drive the network forward and are able to allocate sufficient time. Assigning roles will allow committee members to be empowered to act.
Roles may vary depending on the type of network but I would start with the following roles:
Co-Chairs - guides the network to meet objectives
Deputy co-chair - key future talent whom you are coaching to step into a future leadership position within the network
Treasurer - responsible for ensuring the network adheres to budgets and plans for current and future years
Social media representative - responsible for collating and sharing content through agreed channels and gathering stakeholder and third party support, typically working alongside the communications lead
Communications lead - supports in drafting and designing all communication for the network such as newsletters or event invites
Events co-ordinator - responsible for organising events for the network, this could be split into an internal and external role
Partnership liaison - focussed on maintaining and developing relationships with key stakeholders and third parties and maintains ownership of an engagement plan
These actions send out a message to your network that you are co-ordinated and organised. It will also avoid putting too much pressure on the co-chairs alone which could result in burn-out.
2. Setting objectives and goals
The best way to drive change and monitor your progress is to set measurable and achievable goals that your network can be held accountable for over time. These goals should be considered over three key time periods:
The immediate future - what do you want to achieve over the next 3 months?
The next year - what is your focus over the next rolling 12 months?
Longer term - where do you want to be in 3-5 years’ time?
These goals should align with the business (where relevant) but do not be afraid to aim higher. For example, a common theme in the workplace at the moment is supporting Black colleagues in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Your Race and Ethnicity network could go one step further by acknowledging the intersectionality of Black colleagues and seek out representation from Black LGBT+ colleagues, or perhaps those with a disability. Other groups such as the older Black population may have different experiences from younger Black colleagues. This approach acknowledges that people within a “group” can have shared experiences with those from another “group”. By doing so, we can help non-Black colleagues to enter the conversation on a mutual ground (e.g. age or sexuality).
An objective is an overarching focus or aim. For example, within an LGBT+ network there may be under-representation in communications or events for bisexual and trans communities. Therefore one objective could be to consciously seek out more diverse content and to educate colleagues on the wider LGBT+ community.
Another objective might be to share your work wider than just the network so that more people can educate themselves and perhaps find their own voice .
My experience is that a maximum of three objectives is workable in order to avoid dilution of thought, and to refresh these periodically as you make progress and to make sure they remain current and relevant.
Goals are measurable actions you wish to take to deliver your target objectives. To make this clearer I have made an infographic below.
I would suggest laying out your goals as per the template below or similar so that you have 1) a goal, 2) the measurable action that you want to take to deliver that goal, 3) metrics to monitor your progress, 4) the resources required to achieve this and 5) the time frame to hold you accountable to.
Template shows grid with measureable goal, actions to take, metrics to measure, resources required and timeline.
Using the two example objectives from earlier, related goals might be:
Objective: To have wider LGBT+ representation. Goal: Mark a more diverse set of LGBT+ related awareness dates such as bi-visibility day or trans awareness week.
Objective: To capture a wider audience. Goal: Host 3 events next year - one with another internal network group, one open to anyone in the industry and one open to clients specifically.
I would suggest laying out plans and timeframes that you share with your network group to hold you and your committee accountable for moving these areas forward. Sometimes goals have to be rewritten but always look to identify progress where possible.
Certain goals may also align to particular members of the committee so do not be afraid to assign and agree individual goals where relevant.
3. Breaking down barriers
Ask yourself what barriers lie in the way to achieving both your goals and a diverse and inclusive culture in general.
I think there are probably three main areas that stand in the way:
Communication related
Lack of engagement by groups, and
Unforeseen blind-spots
Communication
Are you banging the drum loudly enough to ensure people are hearing about your events? Are the right people hearing about your events? And by right, what I mean is, are you shouting in an echo chamber or are you reaching people that may be less passionate but actually need the education for example.
Perhaps your invites are getting lost in inboxes and you need a new approach. Have you considered a survey to capture their views and opinions or a 30 second video invite to introduce your next event and why your colleagues should attend? Could you ask your CEO to share a personal story or content in their regular update to really capture peoples’ attention?
Related to communication, perhaps you have limited collaboration across different D&I network groups resulting in communication fog with endless newsletters and event invitations. Working together and coordinating messages will help you engage and retain a wider audience and address that all important crossover piece. To facilitate this, you could initiate an informal co-chairs group to collaborate on a regular basis.
What about your branding and messaging? Quality of communication is critical, as is selling your event. Why should employees take time out of their working day, or their limited free time, to attend your event? What value or benefits does it bring to them? It might be the right thing to do but if “a more diverse team will generate more innovative solutions to drive better business performance” that sounds much more captivating.
Finally, is your work being seen by the right people? For example, when clients attend your offices do they see signs of diverse and inclusive practices? When future talent looks at your website do they see role models and diverse representation such that they can picture themselves at your firm? Try to avoid use of demographic stock photos as it will feel inauthentic and sets the wrong tone. Sharing personal stories from speakers or information on D&I practices, events and networks will have a much bigger and more sustainable impact.
Lack of engagement
This applies to both your D&I group representatives, as well as the wider workforce.
Firstly, are your D&I representatives driving change and developing ideas or have they lost momentum? It is important to work with them to check in and to understand what may have changed, noting that this work is often voluntary and they are under no obligation to continue. It might be that their manager is not valuing their voluntary achievements or that they are now under pressure in their day job. Potential solutions to both problems include educating/training people managers, getting senior leadership recognition and renegotiating personal targets to re-engage D&I representatives. This is truly a time to make sure that your business backs up their desired inclusive image with achievable actions and aims. In some cases, committee members may just need additional coaching or tasks delegated to them to own and deliver. As a leader do not be afraid to assign tasks where you might need support, or where others have deeper skills or strengths. This creates an environment of mutual support – it’s a team game after all!
Alternatively, a lack of engagement from the wider workforce may infect your D&I representatives and generate their lack of engagement too. Why bother running an event if few people attend? There are two frames of thought for this: first, making a difference to one person’s life is valuable, and secondly, how can we market these events to attract attention?
At a pre-COVID Creating Inclusive Cultures seminar entitled “Inclusive Leadership Masterclass” that I attended, Charlotte Sweeney informed attendees that as confirmed by a recent study after receiving an email with “D&I” in the subject line, 92% of colleagues deleted the email without opening it. Likewise, for the same group of colleagues, 97% opened an email within 2 hours that had “Strategic Direction” in the subject line, which reveals what you need to know about workplace culture, and the need to understand the audience.
Diversity and Inclusion needs to be marketed as business relevant in order to eventually become ingrained in the organisation’s culture. Market your events with the same care and polish as you would for a board or client facing event. Hook them with a catchy headline to get them in the room - how does your event add value to their lives? We need to avoid thinking that colleagues should attend because it is the “right” thing to do. People have multiple concerns to cope with and we have to create and present our case to ensure it becomes a priority to attend these events.
Knowledge gaps
We all have them, gaps in our knowledge about a way of life or an inherent bias that we do not even know we have. These are not weaknesses as long as we strive to educate ourselves and fill the gaps. For example, as a cisgender woman I can never truly understand how it is to live as a transgender woman, but what I can do is ask, listen and learn. And I can continue to do the same for any other community or aspect. Doing this will enrich your life as you will be better able to empathise with the diverse perspectives of people from different backgrounds.
Having a diverse network to learn from and raise different ideas and perspectives is critical. I have seen many events or initiatives that do not succeed because they have failed to consider the perspective of a particular group.
4. Empower your members
You may have lots of diversity champions in your organisation - which is great! But are they empowered to act or is it a badge without impact? For many people this work is voluntary and they are still learning and gaining confidence. They may not have time available to redesign business practices or feel confident to host an event themselves. Delegation is helpful to a degree in breaking down larger projects into more manageable tasks that individuals can pick up when they have capacity. Likewise, having clearly defined roles as mentioned earlier also removes any uncertainty around what they are permitted to do.
However, many are still struggling with confidence and more concerned about saying or doing the wrong thing. What education and support can your network provide to your champions/committee to ensure they can make a difference with confidence? Perhaps setting an event concept as a group, and then giving them the power to host it locally will give them a confidence boost or rotating the speakers to bring others into the limelight.
From my experience, empowerment and engagement are two of the biggest challenges any network faces, and the key to both is to talk to your D&I teams both 1-1 and in groups to surface what is stopping them from doing more. You can then work together with your committee to remove some of these barriers.
I hope this offers you food for thought and helps you get your D&I work back on track. Running out of steam happens to all of us. The trick is to take a step back, measure the progress made and get the support you need to get moving again. Remember as well, TED talk viewings are really easy events to host with minimal effort and planning time so take a look at that article for more information.
Have you tried any of these tips? Perhaps something still isn’t working - comment below or click the “Ask a question” button at the top of the page and we can work it out together.