5 things you need to know about diversity and inclusion in 2022.
Diversity and Inclusion continues to be a hot topic. So here are the 5 things you need to know about Diversity and inclusion in 2022.
Number One…It’s not about the minority
Diversity and Inclusion is no longer a nice to have business side hustle. It’s a business imperative. Whilst we used to talk about D&I in the context of maybe attracting more diverse talent, in 2022, if you are not actively practicing D&I you will fail to attract any talent, diverse or otherwise!
As the great resignation continues to prevail, employees are stepping back behind the wheel, and as they find themselves in the driving seat of their careers, they’re heading straight to destination inclusion.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”
When PWC looked into what millennials are looking for in the work environment, they found out that 80% of female millennials care about a potential employees approach to diversity and inclusion. According to a Gallup survey GenZ are looking for organisations that care about their employees.
Creating a Diverse, Inclusive, Value lead and Equity driven (DIVE) culture is the only way to attract the next generation of talent - who already make up 46% of the workforce.
Therefore developing a diverse and inclusive organisation is not something you are doing to appease a minority! It’s simply good business. And definitely something you need to do in order to future proof your business.
Number Two…You’ve got to stop faking it
Seriously, you’re not fooling anyone. In fact you’re making it worse. Stop professing concern / interest in diversity and inclusion and start practicing it. Honestly, it may take me two minutes to read or watch you latest spiel about how much you care about D&I but it only takes me one minute to google your company and see how white washed and male your board is!
So before you raise your rainbow flag, take a moment to ask yourself why. Because if you want it to be a symbol of inclusion, make sure your toilet signage is just as inclusive, or that your parental leave policies support same sex parents.
And before you promote how you support women on international women’s day, make sure you are actively working to close the pay gap!
I’m not saying you have to be perfect but you do have to be authentic. You may be at the start of your journey but you need to own it. This surface level lip service approach will no longer cut it. In 2022 you need to be super clear on where you are and where you are heading to. Because in todays world of business TRUST is in short supply and is worth its weight in gold.
Number Three…Go all in
Diversity and inclusion isn’t just about race or gender. We need to stop being exclusionary in our D&I efforts. There isn’t a hierarchy of relevance or importance here. Yes there are some aspects which garner more media attention or more greatly reflect social unrest, but where there’s one raging fire of injustice, there are embers burning for many more. If you are committed to having your most impactful D&I year ever, be committed to D&I full stop and stop cherry picking.
This point is closely linked to the first two. It’s about authenticity. Yes some aspects of D&I are easier to see and therefore count but you won’t win the D&I game by simply playing the numbers game. It really doesn’t matter if you add three different people to the table, if you don’t listen to their voice.
Be intentional. Whenever you make a decision, ask yourself, who I am not considering? Whenever you enter a space, ask yourself, who is missing?
Number Four…Be SMARTER
Whilst I’ve just told you to go all in, that doesn’t mean I want you to do all the things! In fact I want you to do less in 2022. In 2021 I saw so many D&I leads burn out. I watched so many companies launch so many policies and campaigns and a yet still fail to move the needle. We’ve got to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall. We’ve got to approach D&I in the same way we approach any other aspect of business. We’ve got to start with SMARTER Goals.
Take the time to get crystal clear on what your SMARTER goals are this year (if you need help with this simply drop me an email and I will send you a free resource on setting SMARTER D&I goals). And throw everything at those! Get senior leader buy in. Share them with you entire organisation. Work with external agencies. Secure a budget. Build the business case. Build a strategy to support the achievement of these goals. Publicise your goals. Publicly commit to achieving them this year.
Trust me when I say there’s nowhere to hide anymore. So be brave in 2022 and commit to achieving impact.
Number Five…Know your limits
You may be a one person show, or a small business, where everyone chips in, or a multi-national corporation. Whatever the size and scope of your organisation, you need to know your limitations. You may have an interest in D&I but do you have the expertise? There’s no right or wrong answer, I just want you to take a moment to acknowledge where you are. Because whatever efforts you’re committing to D&I in 2022, I want you to leverage the most impact possible.
Linked to all the other points we’ve covered so far, D&I requires investment. But that’s okay because the return on investment is tenfold! But what’s not okay, is heading into another year thinking you don’t need to invest in this!
Good intentions are a great place to start, but they are not the place from which change can happen. D&I work is embedded in cultural change. Ideally I would advise everyone to work with an external D&I consultant at some point, if you are truly committed to creating impact. Internally we often cannot see the wood for the trees. And being an internal D&I lead requires absolute psychological safety, which most organisations do not have.
If you don’t have the budget to work with an external expert, invest in up-skilling your internal D&I lead. There are so many courses out there now. Again personally I would look for something with a strategic / practical element, to help you really achieve your SMARTER goals.
Investing time and money in D&I specific all staff training is worth it, but again make sure you chose training options that will help you achieve your SMARTER goals for 2022.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you’ve found it helpful and I wish you nothing but success in achieving your SMARTER D&I goals in 2022.
If you’re looking for additional support and resources to help you on your D&I journey why not join The Diversity Doctor Community - it’s FREE to join and as a DDC member you will receive a weekly email every Monday with bitesize D&I content to help you become more intentionally inclusive and once a month a new recourse to help you turn your interest into impact.
