Ask Marguerite: How Do I Persuade My Boss Not To Abandon DEI?

“Hi Marguerite, I am an HR Director at a privately held company. Part of my responsibility has been to offer DEI programs to our employees. Given the current climate, my leadership is less enthusiastic about continuing the programming this year. How do you suggest I persuade them that it is still important?”

I can’t imagine you’re the only person with this question. These are certainly challenging times for people who care about DEI.

You won’t get far in the conversation if the anxiety of current events is an elephant in the room. If you’re able to, I recommend taking time to ask a couple of questions to address your leaders’ fears. Acknowledge that there are unknowns and risks, and that you share their commitment to protecting the organization’s legal and reputational integrity. 

With this common emotional ground established, focus on the advantages to the organization. If you’ve been doing DEI work in the past, go back to the “why.” Why did you start doing it? What were your goals? And what have the benefits been? 

Studies show the business value of diversity, inclusion, and equitable access. But make the case as specifically as you can. Show them evidence of systemic improvements—survey data about employee engagement, for instance—and highlight stories that make the data come to life. What great decision was shaped by input from diverse stakeholders? What high-performing hire might not have come on board but for new recruitment methods and a more inclusive culture?

Remind your leaders that these results are just as important as they have ever been, if not more so. With the discourse and news cycle as uncertain as it is, employees are stressed and afraid too. It’s time to invest more in helping them build skills for interpersonal interactions, open discussion, and mutual respect—not cut those supports. 

And if it helps assuage some fears, consider rebranding the programs. Words like “DEI,” “inclusion,” and “implicit bias” have been twisted. You can be clear about what it is without triggering people’s fears—or hiding the ball.

If what you’re doing is team-building, call it that. Teaching managers to lead their diverse teams can be called “Developing Leadership Skills.” Diversity, inclusion, and equity have always benefited everyone in the organization. It’s not deceptive to broaden the nomenclature. 

Now, if you can keep naming things with DEI terminology—or if your mission is explicitly about equity or justice—don’t change the names. In fact, you may have an opportunity to stand with Costco and others and defend the work publicly.. 

Either way, that’s my advice: name the fear, make tactical adjustments, and then continue to do things that are good for your employees. Good luck—and let me know how it goes.

Four Ways To Make Your Feedback More Equitable—and Effective

Last week we talked about dysfunctional rescuing, when good intentions around supporting employees from marginalized groups can go wrong. When we fail to give an employee critical feedback (due to our own discomfort), we’re not being equitable. In fact, we are cheating them of the opportunity to grow and reach their full potential.

So how do you make sure you’re giving honest, constructive feedback across difference, when you might be feeling sensitive about sounding discouraging? 

Try these four reminders before, during, and after each development conversation.

1.  Pause. Bias is our brain’s shortcut in times of stress or time pressure. So slowing down and taking time is always the first step to keeping those prejudices at bay. Take a moment and consciously remind yourself of some of the mental habits you want to watch out for, from broad habits like affinity bias to learned cultural stories around age, gender, race, or ability.

2.  Get Perspective. Get additional opinions. Pay attention to feedback from others that goes against your own beliefs and experience. That may indicate places where your own mental models are undervaluing your employee’s strengths.

3.  Pay Attention. When phrasing your feedback, be precise in your language. Words like “professionalism,” “cultural fit,” and “articulate” frequently mask bundles of biases. Dig deeper to the concrete skills that are truly required to succeed. Just as importantly, pay attention to the person you’re evaluating during the conversation. Ask questions and listen to their responses. Ask the person to repeat back what they heard and assess whether the person took in what you thought you were saying.

4.  Be Proactive. In between each feedback opportunity, practice examining your team using an equity lens. Who do you find it easy to give feedback to (and not)? Who isn’t being included in professional and social connections? Use microaffirmations to spotlight the contributions and skills of those who may be excluded, and find ways to bring them in to meetings, projects, and decision-making conversations.

When Helping Isn't Helpful

Do you consider yourself an ally to people who have been historically excluded?

Are you sure you’re really helping?

Say you hire a young woman of color. She is talented. You’re excited. You’re invested in her doing well.

Then she completes her first assignment for you…and it’s not quite as good as it needed to be.

You don’t want to discourage her, so you praise what’s good about it, and fix the rest yourself. 

Then you keep giving her easy assignments. She does well, and you praise her some more. 

Maybe it feels like you’re helping this new employee to succeed. 

But…she isn’t growing. In fact, she’s falling behind her peers. 

A year passes, maybe two. Everyone likes her, but she doesn’t get the opportunity to shine through her work. She doesn’t advance. And she leaves, disengaged. 

What went wrong?

Dr. Valerie Batts describes this pattern as “dysfunctional rescuing.” It tends to be a problem for people who see themselves as allies—who consciously want to see marginalized people succeed at work, but their implicit bias gets in the way. 

So they “help” them—by lowering their standards. 

If you recognize any of this, instead of beating yourself up about the past, focus on doing better going forward. The place to start is tackling your implicit biases.

Bias reveals itself through behavior, not conscious thought. You tell yourself you believe everybody can do well, but unconsciously, you don’t. Withholding challenging assignments and constructive feedback from some people and not others are signs that you are implicitly nervous they won’t do well.

Ask yourself: would you worry as much about giving feedback to someone who shares your identity? Who do you tend to think of when you need someone to work on a complex assignment?

All employees benefit from assignments that will help them stretch and grow. 

It is difficult for anyone to improve unless they receive constructive feedback on their work. 

Not providing it is not doing them a favor; it actually causes harm.