Throughout the course of U.S. history, any significant movement toward social justice, civil rights, and equality has been met with “backlash,” typically from those in positions of power and privilege who profit the most of maintaining the status quo of conformity, inequality, and oppression. What can we do to counteract this constant backlash to progress? For answers, let’s turn to mechanical engineering.
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For anyone involved in learning and development, it’s not enough to just build well-designed DEI training programs. To ensure sustainable, systemic progress, we need to examine the underlying biases that exist at the very core of an organization’s learning development infrastructure. Regardless of the subject matter, all training should be grounded in inclusive and equitable practices. Yet, often training materials do not represent diversity and may even reinforce stereotypes and biases.
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I recently lost my curiosity in a diversity and inclusion course I was facilitating. I observed one participant sitting with his arms crossed, frowning, barely speaking. I instinctively labeled him as the stereotype, “stubborn old white man who thinks DE&I is a waste of time,” and assumed he was a lost cause. Then, he shared his story.
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What does it take to build truly sustainable diversity and inclusion initiatives in our organizations? Companies spend an immense amount of time and resources on DEI, yet often do not see marked improvements. What is getting in the way? Turns out, it’s us. For diversity and inclusion to evolve, we need to equip people with a deeper level of empathy, vulnerability and discomfort. In addition to diversity and inclusion, we need to practice expansion.
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