TCC Reacts: What’s wrong with reaching DEI “fast”? | by: The Courage Collective
January 22, 2023
With the recent surge in DEI attention and commitments, we’ve seen a lot of really interesting headlines from other organizations in the DEI consulting and training space. One headline, in particular, has really caught our eye and this week, we are devoting special attention to reacting to it in a new blog series that we are calling TCC Reacts.
TCC Reacts will feature an emerging topic or trend and our team’s reaction to it. This is the perfect way to get to know our team and understand our collective stance on hot topics in this space. Without further ado, let’s jump right in and discuss:
What’s wrong with reaching DEI “fast”?
My reaction to “reaching DEI fast” is fast for who? And, what’s driving the urgency? Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts at their core require deep, challenging work that often results in radical change or even upheaval of current systems and ways of working. Simply put, this change is not going to be fast. When an organization prioritizes speed over the depth of change, it’s likely for the purpose of perception and not for the purpose of sustainable transformation. With our ever-evolving world, we’ll likely never ‘reach’ DEI, and as such it’s best to reframe away from how quickly we’ll get there to how acutely the change will be felt for marginalized populations.
Many would benefit from reimagining DEI as ‘agricultural’ work versus ‘political’ work. In politics, the aim is often to “be right,” whereas in agriculture the aim is often to be productive. The fundamental distinction here is that the political approach centers argumentation and the agricultural approach centers cultivation.When we seek to properly cultivate ecosystems that produce the People & Culture ideals we aspire to, we are compelled to consider Mother Nature’s patient example–growth is steady and incremental. If DEI work was simply about “proving a point,” we’d easily be able to implement change in an expedited fashion. But since it is about cultivating productive interpersonal and cross-functional relationships, it will take a more steady hand to nurture sustainable growth.
Recent conversations about DEI in society are heavily fueled, I believe, by the rush to “fix” what has gone wrong. Many companies and people are looking to fix a generational problem quickly without paying attention to the fact that it took many years for it to be what it is today. It has been an issue that many thought if they just turned a blind eye on it the problem might just go away (much like the mental health crisis, which is a whole conversation in itself). The real question then is how do you unlearn to relearn, how do you disconnect from the old habits to reconnect with humanity? This is what you all are wonderfully doing. It’s a long term investment.