Equity is for Leaders
Equity covers several aims— racial parity, diversity, inclusion, belonging, access being chief among them. Despite the breadth of opportunity, organizations and communities continuously miss the mark in achieving equitable outcomes.
There are numerous ways to put DEI, ESG, CSR or any other equity acronym into practice, which might include:
Adopting new programs, trainings or or high-visibility initiatives
Auditing and revising policies, procedures or internal practices
Issuing proclamations of large cash commitments or bold public statements
Establishing time-bound or quantifiable diversity goals, benchmarks or objectives
Delegating inclusion efforts to external experts, technology platforms or a small group of internal champions.
Sound familiar? We default to “equity-by-process” strategies because they are the most common. Just because these approaches often prove ineffective and yield few noteworthy results, don’t give yourself a hard time. Such failures do not result from a misunderstanding of severity of the challenges we face or lack of positive intent. The truth is most DEI efforts fail because they focus on process instead of people.
Let us explain why.
Institutions are made up of people. Communities, too. Whether organized formally into groups or informally into loose networks, we humans are creatures of social connection. And culture is what brings us together.
Culture encompasses the behavioural norms, attitudes, values, beliefs, customs, and practices that fundamentally define how people see themselves and their environment. It is also a critical indicator of organizational health. We know that healthy organizations generate more value for customers, shareholders and team members, not to mention increase growth, impact and revenues.
It’s no wonder Peter Drucker concluded that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Equity is a creature of culture, not strategy. Whether naturally or by virtue of their positions, leaders bear the responsibility to establish, reinforce and maintain culture.
Equity is a core leadership competency. Yet we rarely acknowledge or treat it as such. We must develop our equity skills like we do any other such as communication, management or strategic thinking. Business school, training and even our well established leadership traditions do a fine job at teaching us what equity is, why it matters, but not how to translate it into practice.
Unfortunately, traditional DEI practices prioritize strategy and process over the focused support of leaders. If we want to achieve more equitable cultures and communities, we need to invest in the very people who influence how individuals and institutions interact with each other— our leaders. We need our leader to move from equity-in-theory to equity practitioners.
We disrupt DEI by helping leaders build their capacity to accelerate equity.
With the option to focus on internal culture and/or external social investment, we help our clients develop more equitable leaders by:
facilitating equity labs for leaders to acquire the skills, strategies and tools necessary to translate equity from aspiration into action
providing on-going advisory support in the design and implementation of strategies to improve equity and inclusive innovation outcomes
We work on a referral-only basis with public, private and philanthropic organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and family offices to private foundations.
If our unique approach resonates with you, let’s talk.