Understanding The Expectations Of DEI Leadership

When it comes to the work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), it is of utmost importance for leaders to genuinely believe in the initiatives and expectations they present to their teams. People can sense when you actually believe in what you are trying to implement. Leaders truly need to walk the walk and talk the talk.

Sometimes shifting the paradigm of how to think about DEI is necessary to accomplish what needs to be done. To do this, it’s important to address how leaders truly feel about the DEI initiatives they are seeking to implement. Like any program you ultimately want to be successful, your level of enthusiasm and belief can make a huge difference. Do you feel obligated to address DEI? Or do you see it as an opportunity to improve your workplace culture? DEI leadership will be most effective when it is approached as an opportunity, built on a foundation of trust and understanding.

Do You Have Trust Established?

As you begin to take on initiatives that address challenging topics and require vulnerability, consider whether you’ve established an adequate level of trust with your employees. In a Harvard Business Review article entitled, Begin with Trust, it states, “Trust is also one of the most essential forms of capital a leader has…In our experience, trust has three core drivers: authenticity, logic, and empathy. People tend to trust you when they believe they are interacting with the real you (authenticity), when they have faith in your judgment and competence (logic), and when they feel that you care about them (empathy). When trust is lost, it can almost always be traced back to a breakdown in one of these three drivers.”

When leaders make it a priority to establish trust, show a commitment to empathetic leadership, and apply emotional intelligence in their interactions with team members, the adoption of DEI initiatives will not only be championed, they will be successful.

More Than an Obligation

Simply implementing surface-level diversity tactics out of obligation in the workplace won’t work. It will take dedicated efforts of inclusion and integration on the part of trusted leadership to help diversity be successful. In an HBR article referenced previously, it addressed this very point, “Diversity can be a tremendous asset in today’s marketplace, and the companies that get it right often enjoy powerful competitive tailwinds. But this advantage isn’t automatic. Simply populating your team with diverse perspectives and experiences doesn’t always translate into better performance…When they choose to bring their unique selves to the table—that is, the parts of themselves that are different from other people—they can create an unbeatable advantage by expanding the amount of information the team can access. The result is an inclusive team that’s likely to outperform (by a long shot) both homogenous teams and diverse teams that aren’t actively managed for inclusion.”

The importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion can’t be stressed enough. Which is why organizations and individuals who take on the work of DEI must do so with authenticity and a focus on advancing the individual lives of those in the organization. When we prioritize the need for trust within our teams and build on that trust to create safer environments for individuals to thrive in, we make room for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace – which benefits everyone.