The importance of organizational accountability for DEIB

- Let's face it, accountability can be a scary thing, why? Because generally with accountability there are consequences. And for some people, that's the scariest part. When you think about creating and implementing a DEIB strategy, there has to be accountability to ensure that the strategy is successful. As a leader, you're familiar with setting goals and strategies, measuring success and holding people accountable for accomplishing those goals. Well, your DEIB strategy needs to be respected, and managed in the very same way. And believe me, I get it, I know many aspects of DEIB can be hard to quantify, or qualify or show a return on investment or ROI, like other financial people goals, but that doesn't make it any less important than any other corporate strategy or goal. Let's look at what some organizations have done to help drive their DEIB success. For instance, some organizations have added DEIB goals to their people leaders performance reviews each year. This holds them accountable for ensuring they're diversifying their individual teams fairly and equitably paying and promoting people, and creating a psychologically safe environment for all team members to thrive, not just survive. Other organizations have made public commitments to increasing diversity throughout the organization, especially within the top leadership tiers. These progressive companies have published their employee demographics on their website for their current and future employees, and the general public to see all while making commitments to do better. In many cases, boards of directors and socially conscious investors are also setting expectations with company leaders by establishing ESGs, or environmental, social and governance criteria which includes a DEIB component. This is another way to hold leaders accountable. Now, as I said in the beginning, accountability can be scary because with accountability comes consequences which could result in some resistance or lack of commitment to fulfilling the DEIB work. What would this look like? Well, leaders may start to lose focus or interest in accomplishing DEIB initiatives and no longer prioritize them because they feel everyone is busy and distracted with their day job. So DEIB gets pushed down on the list of to-dos, or people leaders may complain about having DEIB goals included as part of their performance review because it'll impact ratings, potentially resulting in lower merit increases and bonuses. They may even argue that certain aspects of DEIB are out of their control, like recruiting, so they shouldn't be penalized or held accountable if they don't successfully diversify their team throughout the year. And finally, some leaders are not comfortable being transparent about their employee demographics. They may feel embarrassed, or that the company will be negatively viewed by current or potential employees because of a lower percentage of one or more racial groups over another, especially at the higher ranking levels of management. I've had many leaders tell me they want to keep their demographics confidential until they can show measured progress over a period of time. Hey, I get it, they want to have a good story to tell. I'm not discounting any of these potential reasons for resistance, but I am keenly aware that current and future employees, customers and clients, investors, and the communities in which these organizations serve are paying attention. And these are the main people who will help hold organizations accountable to their DEIB commitments.