Five common workplace culture and DEI challenges–and how to solve them
You can’t put an ‘unconscious bias training’ bandaid on all your workplace DEI challenges.
Believe it or not, you can’t put an ‘unconscious bias training’ bandaid on all your workplace DEI- and culture-related challenges. Organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion learning and development needs cannot be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Your doctor wouldn’t prescribe you treatment without first thoroughly assessing the present pain or injury, and Justice Informed doesn’t offer tactical learning sessions without first developing a strong grasp on how the content of a session will meaningfully speak to the specific experiences and unique circumstances of an organization, its staff, the challenges it faces. Justice Informed approaches all our work through the lens of ‘relational specificity’—the idea that when we tailor social impact work to the specific needs and experiences of an individual team or organization, and specifically, those who have been historically and presently marginalized or minoritized within them, the impact is most meaningfully felt.
After training over 800 people and logging hundreds of hours of training across industries and organization types, we have come to see some patterns among our clients. Below are some of the most common DEI- and culture-related challenges that our clients face, as well as the tactical learning sessions we suggest to begin combating them.
1. Trouble managing difficult conversations → Tough Talks
If your team or organization struggles to engage in difficult conversations in a compassionate and honest way, chances are, you are ready to develop tactical skills and build a toolkit of resources that help ease the pains of challenging workplace conversations about anything from contentious current events to the intricacies of identity to delivering feedback.
Some common indicators of this challenge include:
The tendency for small workplace disagreements to devolve into heated arguments
Outright avoidance of or intense discomfort with conversations having to do with identity or current events in the workplace
Inability of people managers to effectively and compassionately deliver critical or constructive feedback to reports
A Justice Informed Tough Talks tactical learning session specifically offers:
A holistic, trauma-informed process for navigating difficult conversations through specific tactics and tools
Opportunities to role-play organizationally-relevant difficult conversations with peers
Tools for understanding how identity, privileges, and power dynamics impact how to create a safe and vulnerable space
2. Need for clarity around organizational DEI positioning → Partner, Advocate, & Challenger
Justice Informed often hears from client organizations and teams that know they value DEI but experience difficulty determining exactly how and to what extent their organization can and should show up. To these organizations, Justice Informed often recommends a Partner, Advocate, Challenger tactical learning session that helps organizations get specific about where they want to fall along a spectrum of accountable DEI actions.
Some common indicators of this challenge include:
Leadership and staff’s inability to succinctly articulate an organizational stance on DEI
Feeling ill-equipped to measure, understand, and hold oneself accountable to organizational DEI success metrics
Having received feedback from staff, partners, and community members that organizational DEI efforts are inconsistent, scrambled, and/or hypocritical
A Justice Informed Partner, Advocate, Challenger tactical learning session offers:
An opportunity for organizations to understand how risk, threat, and power can influence organizational DEI positioning
Space for brainstorming and understanding employee appetite for various DEI actions at different points along the Partner, Advocate, Challenger spectrum
Understanding how to define and measure accountability and outcomes through the lens of an organization’s ‘ultimate client’
3. Missing organizational consensus on the value and vision of DEI → Willingness Spectrum
Clients often come to Justice Informed and express their frustrations with misalignment among staff and leaders on how the value and vision of DEI should be actualized at their organization—or if it should be at all. With these clients, Justice Informed often leverages its Willingness Spectrum to help organizations understand how different stakeholders envision the work of DEI, how to build movement and partnership with the various personalities along the Willingness Spectrum, and how to discover the types of individuals best positioned to be invited into the work of DEI versus those whose hearts and minds are staunchly antagonistic toward it.
Some common indicators of this challenge include:
One individual or a small group (often those who hold power or privilege within the organization) consistently block or hijack DEI efforts
Staff and leadership are unable to articulate one consistent stance or orientation toward DEI
There are staff are curious about DEI, but only those with a robust knowledge of DEI are invited and able to engage in DEI movement work
A Justice Informed Willingness Spectrum tactical learning session offers:
A framework for understanding how willingness shows up in individuals, teams, and organizations
Guidance on how to identify next steps for engagement based upon individuals’ levels of willingness to advance DEI and social impact
Conversational tactics and an in-depth understanding of Justice Informed’s Invitational Method of communication to help build coalition
4. Missing the capacity, confidence, and competencies to engage in DEI conversations or build a DEI strategy → DEI 101
When an organization or team lacks the Three C’s—capacity, confidence, and competency—to engage in the important conversations and work of DEI, Justice Informed often recommends a space for them to develop their understanding of DEI theories and practices, as well as a personal connection to the values and the work.
Some common indicators of this challenge include:
High levels of discomfort engaging in DEI conversations for fear of “saying the wrong thing”
Increase in the number of reported instances of microaggressions at an organization
Staff agnosticism toward DEI or feelings of confusion regarding how DEI is or can be present in their current role or within the organization
A Justice Informed DEI 101 tactical learning session offers:
A robust yet accessible overview of DEI 101 definitions, theories, and practices (including intersectionality, centering, bias, and more)
Opportunities for individuals to develop a personal connection to DEI and see themselves clearly in the work
A space for organizations and teams to learn and model open, vulnerable conversations about challenging social issues
5. Difficulty articulating personal connection to and responsibility over DEI → Allies, Advocates, & Accomplices
Justice Informed often hears from clients who, while having decided upon an organizational positioning toward DEI, are composed of staff who do not see themselves clearly in the work or feel responsibility over it. For these clients, we typically recommend an Allies, Advocates, & Accomplices session designed to build a more individualized understanding of how to powerfully embrace the work of DEI through the lens of power, risk, and privilege.
Some common indicators of this challenge include:
The inability of staff and leaders to clearly articulate a personal connection to or interpretation of DEI values and responsibilities
Staff expressing ambitions for tackling more robust DEI efforts without being equipped with the skills and language to do so
Managers or leaders demonstrate an inability to either ally with, advocate for, or serve as an accomplice to their reports, especially those who hold marginalized and minoritized identities
A Justice Informed Allies, Advocate, & Accomplices tactical learning session offers:
A spectrum of accountable DEI and social impact actions for individuals to begin to understand and reframe their orientation toward DEI through
A space for reflection on how power, risk, and privilege impact actions we take within the workplace and beyond
A lens through which to view individual responsibility toward the self and others as it relates to DEI and social impact
DEI-related challenges at organizations are vast and diverse; it’s only logical that their solutions are too. Next time someone suggests unconscious bias training in response to a challenge that actually doesn’t quite have to do with unconscious bias, remind them that the solution might need to get a little more specific.
Visit justiceinformed.com or contact info@justiceinformed.com today for more information on any of our tactical learning sessions or to learn more about how we can best support your team or organization in its DEI journey.
