As part of your DEI journey, it’s important to provide a forum for employees to ask questions and voice their concerns. Below, we’ve provided sample responses to common inquiries and pushback. We encourage you to engage in the difficult conversations and please reach out to HR if you require additional support or resources.

Despite what is being reported in the media, much of what we are seeing from organizations and hearing from DEI leaders is more of a reset or recalibration.  After the murder of George Floyd, many companies set lofty goals, increased the size of their DEI departments, and quite frankly bit off more than they could actually do.

Media headlines about the creation and then elimination of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions at Big Tech companies have generated plenty of buzz. This kind of coverage can raise doubts about whether companies are committed to DEI in the long term. But these headlines aren’t telling the whole story.

The authors of this article identify three criteria that make DEI programs most risky and offer solutions to help organizations mitigate legal risk while maintaining the core project of building a more just future.

While managing DEI opposition can be challenging, CEOs and chief human resources officers (CHROs) can view this as an opportunity to reinforce their leadership roles by creating an inclusive and equitable culture linked to their business strategy.

Over the past year, corporations have grown more cautious about following through on DEI efforts as businesses cut costs and conservative activists, lawyers and lawmakers seek to purge the concept from workplace life. That caution, along with the Supreme Court’s ruling last year ending affirmative action in college admissions, has created more speculation over how DEI work might change – and what might be lost in the process.

4 leaders make a compelling case for diversity.

Diverse teams can produce better results for your company. Here’s how to incorporate diversity—and individuality—to create a more innovative business.

Source: Inc.com

The Making it Count for Sales: The What, Why, and How of Diversity & Inclusion is a 75-90 minute training designed to help sales teams recognize and understand how they can best support the diversity and inclusion strategy.

This business alignment conversation starter is designed to help managers and their teams recognize opportunities to leverage diversity – particularly diversity of thought – to improve business results.

An organization’s ability to benefit from diversity and inclusion is directly relative to the D&I competency across the organization. All employees must understand the power in D&I and how to leverage that power to drive business outcomes. Here are some tips to get you started.

A native of Turkey, Elif Shafak has experienced firsthand the devastation that a loss of diversity can bring — and she knows the revolutionary power of plurality in response to authoritarianism. In this passionate, personal talk, she reminds us that there are no binaries, in politics, emotions and our identities.

The Customer Connections Worksheet is a tool designed to help individuals explore model behaviors in order to plan for an inclusive and productive client business interaction.

The Making it Count for Sales Conversation Starter is a series of discussion prompts designed to help managers and their teams recognize opportunities to leverage diversity to improve client / customer relationships and business results.

Sales is the lifeblood of any organization. And our ability to generate sales is as dependent on our ability to build relationships with our clients as it is about the quality of the services and products we provide. The importance of cultural competence has never been more paramount than it is today.

The business case is easier to make in a consumer direct market but, certainly there is a strong case in the business-to-business market as well. We want to take a look at the business case in a sales organization from 3 different perspectives: Workforce, Workplace, and Marketplace.

The business case for diversity and inclusion is rarely disputed these days. But despite widespread
commitment and investment in diversity and inclusion efforts, most organizations fall short year after year. Here are a few tips to help you close those gaps.

DEI cannot be the responsibility of just the DEI practitioners in the organization. Every leader, every manager, and every employee must understand the power in DEI and how to leverage that power to drive business outcomes. Here are some tips to get you started.

There are new studies linking gender diversity and better financial results every year. Read the latest updates. Read more>

This business alignment conversation starter is designed to help managers and their teams recognize opportunities to leverage diversity – particularly diversity of thought – to improve business results.

The Quality of Care Self-Assessment is a quick way to determine your level of competency in dealing with a diverse set of patients, areas of strengths and opportunities for improvement. This tool is not intended to provide a comprehensive assessment of your skills and competencies but a quick reference and high-level overview.

The Cultural Competence Action Plan is a tool designed to help healthcare providers identify competency strengths and opportunities for development. The tool identifies key competencies associated with the delivery of culturally competent care and provides a thought process for building competency in each area.

Is there a business case for diversity and inclusion in healthcare? When we take into account the world in which we live and the communities in which we serve the case for diversity seems somewhat obvious. Moving from conceptualization to actualization is where it becomes a bit more complicated. As a first step it is important to understand some of the links between diversity and the ability to deliver quality culturally competent care.

When we take into account the world in which we live and do business the case for diversity seems somewhat obvious. Moving from conceptualization to actualization is where it becomes a bit more complicated. That requires an ability to leverage diversity in support of your goals and priorities.

The customer service self assessment is a quick way to determine your level of competency in dealing with a diverse set of customers, areas of strengths and opportunities for improvement. This tool is not intended to provide a comprehensive assessment of your skills and competencies but a quick reference and high-level overview.

What does it really mean to innovate? And how, as leaders, can we foster a culture and environment that truly drives innovation in our work teams and places of business?  This article provides tips to driving innovation within your teams.

The Innovation at the Intersection exercise is designed to help managers and their teams apply diverse perspectives to business challenges and opportunities.

The New Information Drives New Ideas innovation exercise is designed to train individuals and groups to think differently and apply this process to solve real business challenges and uncover new and exciting opportunities.

This cultural competence conversation starter is designed to help managers and their teams recognize how cultural competence can impact the success of business interactions.

Employee Resource Groups have become a key component of successful diversity and inclusion strategies. ERGs can serve as a tremendous support system to foster respect, drive awareness, and promote inclusion within the workplace. Over the past decade organizations have been able to successfully demonstrate ERG impact on talent sourcing and management, community relations and business impact.