When leaders ensure that their workplace fosters comprehensive DE&I strategies (and actually follows through with them), it creates high levels of innovation, creativity and collaboration.
According to Daisy Auger-Domínguez, chief people officer at Vice Media Group, there are three actions that leaders can take so that their organizations are places where fairness, justice, equity and inclusion are the experience of all:
1. Hold up a mirror
Leaders need to ensure that they themselves are practicing what they preach. This is a mirror that people do not like to look in to, but is a truth that needs to be seen and acted upon.
2. Act on what you learn
Being aware is great, but acting on it is the essential part.
“Here’s the thing about looking in the mirror. It fundamentally requires you to recognize your personal, cultural and systemic sore spots. You are going to have to reflect on your identity in relation to someone else…this work comes with pain, conflict and discomfort but if you want to drive change, you’re going to have to work through that discomfort,” Daisy Auger-Domínguez said.
3. Persist despite your discomfort
When leaders can move past discomfort, they will arrive at a place of real change.
Creating workplaces that work for everyone is difficult, but it is necessary to reduce the burdens that exist for the marginalized. Creating a place where employees feel that they are valued, that they matter, and that they are essential is important to a successful workplace.
