Why Most Companies’ DEI Initiatives Never Get Anywhere

This article was originally posted on Forbes.com.  

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the 2020 Summer of Racial Reckoning that followed, many enterprises worldwide—not only in the Americas—either established or renewed commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. However, research in the subsequent years has demonstrated that, while at least initially well-intentioned, many of these initiatives have turned out to be at best ineffective, and at worst, knowingly performative. By late 2021 some 80% of companies had “taken action” on DEI. Nevertheless, nearly two-thirds of employees surveyed by WebMD said these programs were not accomplishing their objectives, and nearly half felt they had been failed “personally” by the inefficacy of these initiatives.

For many companies, whose leaders do have a genuine desire to improve their practices, policies and processes in ways that truly and meaningfully promote DEI, this is disheartening (though not entirely surprising) news. Overwhelmingly, the executives we’ve spoken to through our own research, including interviews with over 3,000 company leaders and survey insights from thousands more, express a common frustration: They are committed to improving DEI within their organizations, yet, the needle is barely budging on any of their key performance indicators (KPIs).

So, what’s getting in the way and why isn’t their genuine desire and commitment having an impact?

A Series Of Common Mistakes

Ultimately, we have identified five main reasons why DEI actions fall flat, despite organizational leaders’ stated commitments and best-laid plans:

1. Fear Of Saying The Wrong Thing

At the time of George Floyd’s murder, many organizations made public statements and gestures condemning racism and underscoring their commitment to DEI. However, a not insignificant number of these companies then faced criticism about issues such as the racial composition of their executive teams, or policies they currently had in place that might counter progress on DEI. As a result, these company leaders went quiet—and in many cases, no further action was taken. In our experience, that fear of saying or doing the wrong thing, particularly in a way that exposes a company or its leaders to social opprobrium, has kept many organizations and leaders from meaningfully moving forward.

2. Not Committing To Education

Unchecked ignorance, however unintentional, is an insurmountable obstacle to promoting and progressing DEI in an organization. This includes not understanding the world from other people's perspectives and not taking the time to learn about their experiences, the obstacles they face and their needs. Gestures of support for a marginalized group may land very poorly—and be perceived as insensitive or offensive—without a proper understanding of the impact these statements make and the sentiments of affected communities. The only way around these blind spots is for leaders to invest the time in their own education, engage with marginalized communities and have real conversations that elevate their voices and experiences.

3. Relinquishing Responsibility

Often, senior executives faced with a need to implement DEI initiatives will appoint a chief diversity officer (CDO) or chief people officer (CPO) to lead the charge and then say to them, “go and do what you need to do, deliver the action plan, and come and give us an update in three or six months.” In doing so, they're handing their responsibility over to somebody else who doesn't have nearly as much power in the organization. Then, if something goes wrong or they fail to hit the DEI targets and aspirations they created, it becomes the fault of the CPO or CDO, rather than the fault of those who are actually making the critical decisions in the boardroom. Considered delegation is fine, it takes us all to create real and sustainable change, but abdication of responsibility is counter-productive. Meaningful DEI changes need to come from the top and from a place of organizational alignment.

4. Systemic Inertia

In many organizations, there’s a certain resistance to doing anything differently. For instance, maybe a company has a goal of hiring more diverse candidates, but they continually rely on the exact same recruiting and hiring practices that failed to yield enough diverse candidates in the past, including looking in the same applicant pools. This leads to conclusions such as, “Well, maybe diverse candidates just aren’t interested in working for us,” or “Oh, we tried that strategy briefly and it didn’t immediately work, so we went back to the old ways.” As the saying goes, when nothing changes… nothing changes. Organizations must be willing to revisit their policies, practices and processes, looking at what is working and what isn’t. Then, they must experiment with different options and make concerted shifts.

5. Having ‘No Time’ To Address The Issues

We hear this all the time from executives: “I know DEI is hugely important, but I have a million things ahead of it on the list.” What they’re actually saying is that DEI is not a priority—and this is itself absurd, because DEI should be implicitly embedded in everything they do, as part of their natural activities as senior leaders. Moreover, if the problems they were facing were related to sales or productivity or profits, they clearly would find the time to address them, regardless of what else was on their list. There are examples where time is an extension of the fear underlying many of these stalled efforts as well as the levels of ignorance; some senior leaders don’t make the time to address DEI because they’re so afraid of doing it wrong.

Changing Direction

So, what can leaders do to course correct? First, they must identify and acknowledge their own barriers. What is stopping them? And what can they do about it and who is there to support them?

If it’s fear, it’s important to examine what’s behind that trepidation and take steps to mitigate it. If it’s ignorance, then leaders must reflect and gain feedback on their knowledge gaps and create plans to become much more educated on the subjects and raise their awareness—not just for themselves, but for others in their organizations. (Note that this does not involve going to the diverse employees in the company and asking them for the answers. It's not their responsibility to educate and upskill senior leaders.)

Once the problem is clear, it’s time to discuss what’s going to be done differently. For example, say the recruitment process is not yielding diverse candidates: It’s time to unpack all the different elements of the process that may be stopping diverse candidates from applying. Here, it’s important to be forensic—to drill down to find the root cause of the problem and determine what needs to be done about it.

When we work with senior leaders on this process, many of them say something along the lines of, “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.” But there is no generic fix that works for every organization and every situation. Rather, company leaders may benefit from finding partners, both internally and externally, who can work with them to identify their specific issues around DEI, to drive an evidence-led approach and then support them in devising solutions that will work for their organization. This will also require the measure to review the progress made and continue to course correct as and when required. In this way, these executives’ commitments and actions can finally yield the meaningful impact they, and their employees, seek.