Why Do Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives Fail?
Starting a diversity & inclusion initiative can propel your organization towards harnessing its diversity in the service of productivity. What many do not understand is that this is essentially an organizational development (OD) effort to create a change in culture, which is difficult. There are a considerable number of diversity and inclusion landmines that professionals need to navigate. The organization’s leadership may understand the benefits of valuing diversity, but have a difficult time taking it to heart. Then there is the challenge of onboarding the entire organization, which can feel like an insurmountable task at times. One way to increase the probability of success is to learn from the mistakes of others’ efforts to implement a diversity & inclusion initiative. Below is a list of sources of failure.
- Failure to establish specific goals for the diversity & inclusion initiatives’ efforts and interventions
- Failure to demonstrate sufficient courage to deal with the resistance in the organization and among key managers
- Failure to specify both short and long-term diversity & inclusion initiatives goals for the effort
- Failure to consider who the real client is
- Failure to work with the organization’s real diversity & inclusion needs
- Failure to honestly consider what needs to be done and why
- Failure to develop viable options when plans do not work
- Failure to solve problems by seeking “quick fixes.”
- Failure to work with the organization as it is rather than as you would like it to be
- Failure to measure or evaluate the activities
Other reasons include:
11. Failure to plan for and persuade the client to take the OD effort seriously.
12. Failure to escape entrapment in the “mystique” of OD, which leads to a distorted interpretation of the OD process
13. Failure to tailor the effort to the jointly analyzed needs of the specific organization
Can you think of anything else to add to this list? If so, please send your ideas to us so we can share them.
Don’t let all these negatives make you feel like the job is too big. Simply being aware that certain negative behavior patterns have the potential to negatively influence on success can help avoid such behaviors.
This article was originally printed as Top 10 Reasons Diversity OD Efforts Fails (http://dtui.com/start_own.html#Reasons).
Author: DTUI.com Team (http://dtui.com/about-dtui-com/)