INsight/ Better than DEI

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Ubud, 29 January 2025 — It’s time to introduce inclusive leadership in your organization. Here is why that works better than DEI.

Story

It happened last week. The incoming US government launched a frontal attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs (DEI). While about half of the workers in the US supported the abrupt change of direction, many others were appalled, showing a deep divide.

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Lily Zheng, a strategy consultant and author of the forthcoming book Fixing Fairness: 4 Tenets to Transform Diversity Backlash into Progress for All, points out that an overhaul of DEI has been due for longer. That is true not only in the US but also around the world, in my view. 

Zheng explains that while 91% of US workers have experienced exclusion of some sort in the workplace, and 94% say that they care about feeling a sense of belonging at work, only 52% support DEI programs. She argues that a new framework is urgently needed to deliver better outcomes. I agree. Yet what framework?

Challenge 

To supersede DEI, Zheng has proposed a framework for Fairness, Access, Inclusion, and Representation (FAIR). I think this leaves more to be desired, for the reason I explain below. What businesses and organizations should be looking to introduce, in my view, is a fundamentally different approach that can deliver systemic change, starting in teams and rippling out to the whole organization. An approach that, in my experience, is more appropriate and effective than DEI. 

What is this new approach and why is it better? Let’s double-click on that. Traditionally, DEI has focused on exterior and easily quantifiable dimensions of diversity such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, physical (dis)abilities, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religion, and background. These are often the most visible dimensions and tend to be historically linked to systemic biases or barriers in some countries, including the US. However, to lift team and corporate performance, leaders across the world need abilities that go well beyond these DEI dimensions. They need to master working with the less visible, interior dimensions of diversity.

Think about discovering how your teammates have different personalities, values and beliefs, motivations and aspirations, worldviews, cognitive styles, thinking patterns, leadership and communication styles, education and knowledge, emotional intelligence (and other forms of intelligence), paths of spirituality and faith, and their different life, cultural and leadership experiences. How you will recognize and work with these interior dimensions is essential for lifting team and organizational performance. That’s where inclusive leadership is key, and that goes beyond Zheng’s FAIR framework.

Question

How inclusive are the leaders in your teams and organization? That’s my question for you this week. Do they know how to discover and tap into each interior dimension of diversity in their teams and the wider workplace? As leaders, do they know how to overcome blindspots and biases? Effective leaders will go well beyond DEI and work with all of the interior dimensions waiting to be discovered, by active listening and developing deeper relationships with colleagues.

At TransformationFirst.Asia, our focus is on helping businesses show up with inclusive leadership behaviors, from the CEO and the executive leadership team down to all levels in the organization. Businesses mastering this will perform better because staff at all levels become proficient in practicing inclusive leadership every day. They enjoy a sense of belonging and excitement, knowing that their unique skills and contributions are recognized and appreciated.

We help businesses and organizations master the Seven Ways of Inclusive Leadership and show up with small acts of inclusive leadership each day, in many different situations at work. Our method builds on the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and effective communication. If you want your business to go beyond DEI and introduce inclusive leadership, set up a Free Strategy Call so that we can discuss where to start.