"Diversity is being invited to the party.
Inclusion is being asked to dance."
-- Verna Myers
In June 2021 Congress created a new federal holiday for the first time in 38 years. In recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, Congress commemorated the date in 1865 when slavery ended in Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
The eve of the first ever federal Juneteenth holiday seems like a good time to reflect on diversity and inclusion in our cooperatives. I’ve been engaged in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work in some capacity for more than 20 years. I’ve never had the luxury of being fully focused on DEI; it’s always been just one piece of my responsibilities.
In my experience, your approach to DEI must be aligned with your organizational culture. What works for one co-op won’t necessarily work for another. With that said, here are 5 ideas I’ve used to move DEI efforts forward.
5 Steps to Advance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts
- Start with Why – Figuring out, and clearly stating, why DEI work is important to your cooperative gives you a foundation from which to work. If you don’t really know why you’re engaged in DEI it will be hard to prioritize actions and stay motivated. Revisit your “why” often, don’t assume that everyone remembers what it was from 3 years ago!
- Find an Executive Sponsor to Promote Inclusion – Having someone on the senior leadership team champion DEI efforts is critically important. This requires more than simple agreement; this is an influential and engaged leader who understands and communicates the business benefits of DEI. Otherwise as soon as things get a little uncomfortable (and they will), or workloads get heavy, DEI will fall by the wayside.
- Pick a Theme – Choose a theme for a month, a quarter or a year and find multiple ways to engage employees in the theme. This could be Women’s History Month, or LGBTQ+ terms. Communicate.
- Post information on your intranet
- Share short videos
- Post quotes or statistics on doors in the office or in employee breakrooms
- Host lunch hour discussions to give employees several ways to engage
- Leverage team meetings to communicate shared messaging across the cooperative
- Print information for managers to physically post in a central location to reach team members who don’t work at a computer
- Integrate DEI into Your Culture and Processes – Effective DEI efforts are not contained to a scheduled training or discussion. When hiring, discussing promotions, preparing for performance reviews, or determining salary increases the impact on diversity, equity and inclusion should always be a part of the conversation.
- Use Free Resources to Build Understanding – It’s hard to build understanding without firsthand experience of a situation. One of the best resources I’ve used is the “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” series with Emmanuel Acho. Consider watching one episode a month and then facilitating small group discussions.
Most importantly, don’t stop. True inclusion and diversity are found when it no longer stands alone and is incorporated into business decisions and interactions daily. In other words, it is asked to join the dance.