Integration Is the Next Step
Over the past month, I have had three colleagues change their titles so not to include the word “diversity” in them. This really irritates me and scares me too. But as someone who measures very high on the optimism scale and works hard to Spiral Up, I looked to Consider how we can leverage this in a way that we gain influence and our work grows in significance and impact.
Suppose the titles of our internal colleagues change to things associated with organizational culture and values, team connectedness, and belonging. In that case, I believe this allows us to integrate our DEI work into every aspect of our organizations more freely. Something that needs to happen anyway.
I discovered my “lane” in DEI work a long while back. I integrate the learnings being taught in specialty classes such as unconscious bias, valuing differences, privilege, having uncomfortable conversations, responding to microaggressions, etc., into the leadership and team development work I do every day. I do not do the specialty training in those areas, there are far more qualified professionals with the added value of more significant lived experience to do this work. My job is to help leaders and team members see how it fits into their day-to-day together. I, occasionally, will get the response from a participant, “I didn’t know we would be talking about this stuff in this session.” My response is, “Why would we not? This where these conversations belong.”
I believe in the “both/and.” We need both the specialty classes and the integrated sessions. We have not taken this next necessary step to integrate the DEI content into all of our other talent development work. I also believe that this is our cue to do just that. DEI work is not an add-on, a trend, or a “nice-to-have”. If we stay as just a specialty, we will be the expendable flavor of the month.
For example, I have been asked to do “Inclusive Leadership” for clients looking for “specialty” training (often because they think they “should”). I tell them that if leadership isn’t inclusive it isn’t leadership. All of our leadership development should focus on building inclusion and belonging, seeking and empowering diverse perspectives and experiences, ensuring psychological safety for all, having effective conflict around ideas, growing trust and accountability, understanding privilege, and addressing microaggressions. This is what leadership is!
Another example, I use Everything DiSC as a leadership and team development tool. As we explore various DiSC styles, priorities, and preferences, I connect that to the value of our other identities. Just as I cannot think like a “C” because I am an “iD”, I cannot know what it is like to navigate the world with black skin because I have white skin. But I can understand the value that the “C’s” on my team bring to our work and the importance of having their perspective, I can also understand the value that all of our identities bring to our work together. And, no two “Cs” are alike, nor are other identities a monolith.
Lastly, because of the huge connection I see with the Spiral of Accountability, Considering the perspectives and experiences of others whose identities are different from ours and taking Responsibility to learn and act on what I learn to Pursue Solutions through Collaborating with the diverse perspectives on my team (and in society) is exactly how we solve the complex problems together.
So let’s go get this. If the marginalizers want to minimize and take our words away, let’s take even bigger words to do our work on a much grander scale! We are on the side of love and truth. Spiral Up!