Driving DEI initiatives is tough for the front-enders. When coupled with disintegrated teams and leaders, it could only mean fatigue and sometimes, failure of the entire system. Beating these derailers takes immense commitment and strategic measures to establish culturally-successful workplaces.
Avtar and Seramount’s Best of the Best Conference 2022 invited DEI leaders from recognized conglomerates to discuss their experience in a panel discussion titled ‘Reimagining the Impact: Breaking DEI fatigue’ to enable peers and counterparts to address similar dysfunctions in their respective firms.
The session moderated by Dr. Nandini Murali, Vice President, Learning & Research, Avtar Group, brought about impactful conversations in driving effective DEI agendas. Joining her in the panel were leaders including Reena Sofia, Vice President – Merchandising, Lowe’s India, Amruta Choudhury, Head Inclusion & Diversity, Flipkart, Sonali Jain, Lead, Global D&I Agenda for Gender, LGBTQ and Employee Wellbeing, Genpact, and Ramkumar Ramakrishnan, Senior Director, Inventory Management, Target in India.
Reena addressed the primary derailer of DEI. She stated, “Lack of awareness and understanding of the value of having diverse organizations is one of the challenges organizations face.” “If we can create a culture and ecosystem for empowering people, DEI and everything else will follow,” added Reena. Ramkumar commented on strengthening the impact of DEI measures as he mentioned, “…A lot of my energy has been focused on how I can integrate people at the senior level and make them understand why organizations are representations of our society.” He also spoke about performative allyship, where virtual sympathy is shown without further support or advocacy. Ramkumar added, “intention means nothing if it doesn’t convert into impact.”
Driving inclusion at all business levels is easier when companies have standard protocols to complete training programs. Responding to a query on driving inclusion at all levels, Sonali commented, “At Genpact, we have an e-learning module on the kinds of biases that exist in the organization, be it hiring, performance biases, …and all the employees must complete that training.” “If POSH could be mandatory, I think an Unconscious Bias module should also be mandatory,” added Sonali.
Commenting on the significance of having a psychologically-safe workplace, Amruta emphasized the importance of having compassionate empathy in the workplace for breaking the DEI fatigue and failures. Adding to it, Reena commented on identifying the right persons for creating the right environment. People with any one of the 3D syndromes- denial, disengaged, and derailers— should be watched carefully to ensure they do not interrupt the system and towards creating an inclusive, safe, sustainable workplace.
