How to deal with resistance in DEI work
Imagine the scene: you are talking to the people you work with about diversity, equity and inclusion. You tell them that you want to make sure the organisation better reflects the society we live in. You are going to work to implement change to remove the barriers in your organisation which have lead to a lack of representation of Black and Brown people beyond middle leadership, high turn over in staff, LGBTQ+ people telling us that they are subject to stereotypes and microaggressions, and no disabled people working in the organisation at all. You explain all of this and the reason why you want to make change. You list the reasons.
You tell them: it’s just the right thing to do; you believe having a more diverse work force, will lead to more creativity and better problem solving; you say you feel more diversity will mean more role models and increased self esteem for the young people we work with; better connections with the local community; higher sense of inclusion for all means reduced staff turn over and happier employees… you go on.
And then, there is a voice from the back:
I don’t understand the big deal with all of this diversity stuff. Everyone is treated equally, no one ever gave me anything in my life, I’ve had to work for everything I’ve got. I feel like, if I go for a promotion now, if there is a Black Disabled person there, the job is theirs- no point in even trying. The pendulum has swung too far the other way in my opinion. It’s nonsense.
This kind of response is all too common. This is what I call overt dismissal. Here, this person is overtly pushing back and using their own lived experience as justification for not addressing the inequities and injustices that groups of people experience. Their white fragility is front and centre and this needs addressing.
This isn’t the only type of resistance we face.
What does resistance look like?
It can look like:
Overt dismissal: brushing off and ignoring the reasons for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Overt rebuttal: pushing back with their own evidence base, often gathered from unreliable sources.
Apathy and exhaustion: The dominant group exclaiming that they are ‘tired of’ or ‘exhausted by’ the whole ‘diversity thing- it’s everywhere’. Equally, people who have been historically excluded telling us that they are sick of engaging with this work only to find it fizzles and nothing changes.
Distraction: this might look like ‘switching off’ during training, scrolling or initiating conversations on unrelated topics rather than engage with difficult or challenging matter you are trying to cover.
Placing responsibility in the wrong areas: this often looks like giving responsibility for DEI to someone who lacks the platform to make change, or leaving it to people who are part of an affinity or working group.
Lack of commitment from leaders: this might look like blocking changes and giving weak reasons for not making change; not providing a budget to finance important actions such as training or remuneration; failing to implement effective accountability measures, or evaluation and review systems.
Resistance is incredibly difficult to deal with. In itself, it can be draining and exhausting, especially if the person leading on DEI is a junior member of staff or middle leader. If resistance is ignored however, it can become pervasive and halt any progress made.
How do we tackle it?
Engage in listening activities first. Talk to your people and make sure you have a clear and evidenced understanding of the problems for your organisation or field of expertise.
Establish your ‘why’. Move beyond, ‘it’s the right thing to do’, and make sure you have a clear reason for why this work is important to you. Who does it benefit? Why is it important that they benefit? What tangible improvements can we expect to see? You need to be able to challenge overt dismissal and rebuttal.
Make sure your leadership team are on board and are driving this work.
A top down and bottom-up approach often works best. Leadership together with working groups, (which should report to leaders) can create an ‘all through’ approach to DEI ensuring that it is targeted in the right areas and attack the most troubling areas first.
Make it a fixed agenda item. This can look like a fixed point in all line management meetings, fixed in senior leader meetings, department meetings, and in Board meetings. It could also be ensuring that all Board papers include an explanation as to how the paper and the work behind it, addresses DEI.
Implement a training cycle so that people have a deeper level of understanding of the barriers and biases people face.
Give people the vocabulary. Challenging resistance will need to be everyone’s job. Make sure people have the vocabulary to be able to discuss topics with people and call people in for deeper conversations which can help to take everyone on the journey. Give people the vocabulary through training and resources, (which could be blogs, articles and short videos) which explain topics such as microaggressions and the cumulative impact of discrimination. Build a team of allies and advocates who support and continue to drive this work.
What you can’t do, is ignore it. Doing nothing is to maintain the status quo, and the status quo is discriminatory.
Find out more about the training I offer and how I can support your DEI leader here.