The value of fairness and inclusion

In a world of growing identity politics and increasing political backlash (or indeed outright assault) from the US government on diversity and inclusion, together with significant corporate withdrawal or re-branding, several critical questions for us as DEI professionals emerge:

1. Is our current approach to DEI doing more harm than good?

2. Is it time to move towards a holistic values-based approach of inclusion for all; one that promotes cross-interest alignment and drives human connectivity, belonging and corporate cohesion?

3. How would a move towards values alignment assist with navigating the ‘politics of diversity’?

4. How can organisations measure and reward values alignment?

To answer these questions, we much first reflect on the current ‘state of play’. Presently, we as a profession face several strategic challenges as highlighted in my blog, ‘Repositioning our value as  DEI professionals in the current economic and political climate’.

In summary, our four biggest challenges are: 

1. The out-right attack on DEI: While we may look at the immediate political environment in the US as an obvious point of reference for this, the truth is the anti-DEI movement has been building for some years across many geographies. We have witnessed ‘LGBT-free zones’ in Poland and the lurch towards the right in Hungary, Italy and, more recently, in Germany. In the UK, the previous government began to ramp up anti-DEI messages, with the Conservative minister for government efficiency calling for government departments to ban ‘fancy’ wellbeing and DEI programmes.

2. The skills deficit: Speaking candidly, we as a DEI community do not have a consistent skills set for creating inclusive workplaces. Too often we have overlooked the importance of coherent frameworks and analysis in favour of our personal passion to create fair and inclusive workplaces. Consequently, too many individuals working in the field of DEI view their lived experience as evidence of competencies. While it’s important to acknowledge personal lived experience, this alone can never equate to a broad set of change-agent competencies and skills.

3. Organisational homelessness: One of the biggest challenges DEI professionals have faced is the challenge of finding a natural home within an organisational context. Many colleagues sit within HR – which automatically positions DEI as a people issue, as opposed to a strategic priority. It associates the profession with the soft side of strategy and culture, and therefore is always vulnerable in times of strategic change and challenge.

4. High effort / low impact: Perhaps one of the greatest challenges of all, is that despite many years of effort, very little has really changed. It’s not for want of effort, but we need to ask, are we focusing our time and energy on those things that have real and lasting impact? Naturally, change takes times, and with this comes fatigue. To help counter this, it’s important that we can evidence significant inclusion outcomes, balanced against significant input of time, effort and organisational resources.

Taking a values-based approach to DEI 

To help to navigate some of these challenges, we need to place organisational values at the heart of our approach to DEI. This is critical as the current agenda is governed by a clash of opposing personal values. Researchers Anselm A. Beach, and Albert H. Segars have developed the Values/Principles Model, or VPM. This model is based on four values — representation, participation, application, and appreciation, and is supported by seven guiding principles that drive the achievement of the values.

Aligning corporate values with an inclusion-for-all agenda assists with navigating identity politics and promotes a culture of inclusion and respect for all. However, there is one critical caveat: whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever your politics, we expect your behaviours to align to stated organisational values. Or put more simply – your personal values should be mediated if they clash with organisational values and promote exclusion.

1. A repositioning of the value of inclusion: While the business case for DEI is well established, the argument, for obvious reasons, has tended to stress the economic value of diversity, which, in effect, reduces people to items on a human capital spreadsheet. While this narrative has indeed contributed to gaining ‘corporate buy-in’, it positions DEI in the deficit.

   We, as DEI professionals, need to convince others (corporate leaders) of its merits. We need to change the narrative. As any psychologist would attest, using rational arguments to convince emotional humans is an ineffective approach. We need to stress the value, not just of diversity, but of inclusion and respect, as foundational principles of running a good business. The profit argument views diversity as a supplementary factor.

2. Values over laws: Many businesses operate within a cross-border environment, supported by global mobility programmes. This can lead to cultural conflict and a lack of protection for minority groups due to limited or zero legal protection in certain locations.

   One way to navigate the legal complexities is to stress the importance of the values of inclusion, together with an overt expectation that regardless of personal viewpoints, behaviours (not thoughts or feelings) should align to such stated values. These values (and not laws) become our guiding star. This approach also reinforces inclusion for all and corporate cohesion, over the politics of diversity.

3. Reward value-based behaviours: Good behaviours should be rewarded. But to do so, organisations need to be much smarter at articulating the behaviours that they are measuring and rewarding. Too often, corporations stress lofty values with little articulation of the expected behaviours that underpin such values. This leaves too much room for ambiguity or interpretation, which itself invites cultural conflict.

   To avoid this, businesses should clearly stress a set of behaviours that underpin each value and put into place a reward mechanism that celebrates individuals who excel in these. This approach begins to create unwritten cultural norms that nudge colleagues and leaders towards the goal of creating a culture of inclusion for all.

4. Expand the boundaries: This is one of the seven principles of the Values/Principles Model. We need to be brave and reach out beyond our silos. We need to adopt the principle of perspective-taking and lean into the voices of communities that we may have less affinity with. Only by connecting with difference can we, as a community, expand our own fields of vision and create inclusion strategies that align to our strategic goals of challenging discrimination and bias, and creating cultures of inclusion and respect for all. This is what we do at FAIRER Consulting.