DEIB must be integral to every organi-
zation’s culture because creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace, champi- ons a sense of belonging at work. Improving DEIB is essential for organizations that want to compete in today’s talent marketplace. Companies with diverse, inclusive workplac- es have higher retention rates and an easier time recruiting candidates because these environments are desirable, and naturally, people are more likely to feel like they be- long. As employees and candidates rethink the types of companies they are willing to work for and search for shared values, it is vital that your organization is genuinely committed to the cause. Diversity is the presence of differences
among people within a given team or set- ting. Diversity refers to the demographics of your workplace, which includes ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, military/ veteran status, location, nationality, disabil- ity status, skills, and many other factors. Equity is the practice of ensuring that pro-
cesses and policies provide fair and achiev- able outcomes for all members of your team. Equity gives each employee fair and equal access, opportunities, and advancements, regardless of their diversity background. This can require companies to actively break down employees’ barriers to success. Inclusion revolves around the practice of
ensuring that people feel a sense of safety and belonging, ensuring that everyone on the team is treated fairly and respectfully, despite differences. Every team member should feel that their perspective is valued and adds something useful. Belonging to a team implies a sense of value – that an em- ployee is needed and wanted. Garter reports that inclusive teams have 30% better perfor- mance. Inclusion is about how employees interact. Are their ideas well-received? Are colleagues uplifting? Do employees offer each other constructive feedback? We recently spoke with Kemy Joseph,
executive coach and DEI strategist, about what diversity, equity, inclusion and belong- ing mean to him and about ideas to make DEI approachable, actionable, profitable, and even enjoyable for your company.
Q. The crux of DEI is really about people. Can you share what DEIB means to you? A. Think about how DEIB shows up in all of our communications. Often times, we have many different people participating on a team or even in a one-on-one con- versation with different backgrounds and approaches. The inclusion elements means that we are both mutual contributors to the conversation and the equity part of the conversation means that anyone can guide the conversation. In a time when we are seeing communications go poorly at times, many times we see that we are speaking “at” people instead of “with” people. When we are talking “with” people, we are practicing DEIB effectively.
well as habits that we have formed over the years. Training is a part of habit or behavior change and is helpful when there is a structural and environmental changes that support the new behaviors. People will find that bias trainings don’t work when it is just the information and no structural or environmental change that supports the new behaviors. Forty-five percent of our day is habits. Many of us wake up in the morning and follow a routine. If 45% of our day is habits, it could mean a good por- tion of the day is spent on biases we didn’t know we have. When we start to address them, it is going to be a little uncomfort- able. However, it is about knowing that we are going to replace those habits with even more exciting beliefs and habits and that
“In a time when we are seeing communications go poorly at times, many times we see that we are speaking ‘at’ people instead of ‘with’ people. When we are talking ‘with’ people, we are practicing DEIB effectively.”
Q. Can you tell us a little about implicit bias and elaborate on what that means? A. There are two types of bias. In the case of explicit or conscious bias, the person is very clear about his or her feelings and atti- tudes, and related behaviors are conducted with intent. Implicit or unconscious bias is information filled in by us and we may not even be aware that these biases exists. So how can you deal with an unconscious
bias? Many of us will start seeing our bi- ases when it is reflected back to us, either unconscious or implicit. By bringing this to the surface, we can recognize it and do something about it. It allows us to be more in control with the process.
Q. How can training help individuals overcome unconscious bias? A. Training is one part of the equation. Bias is both information filled in by us as
we are going to learn about other people in order to see them differently, treat them differently and communicate and lead with them differently.
Q. Is there a roadmap to begin DEIB efforts? A. We have five stages of DEI maturity: Initiating, Aligning, Progressing, Building and Scaling. In the initiating phase, you have ideas
that you want to begin a DEIB process but aren’t exactly sure where to start. This is typically started as a result of a reaction to larger global issues that are happening. Most organizations are in this or the align- ing phase right now. In the aligning phase, teams realize that
not only are there global issues at play, but also that there are small conflicts directly within the team itself. There are internal is- sues that we need to address and leaders are
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