FAQs from White Men on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Let's discuss some common questions and concerns about DEI programs at work.
In this edition we explore common questions about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at work. We acknowledge the truth in the comments and the topics they raise worth exploring. We believe an open dialogue on inclusion and diversity programs will help us all improve the work.
I’m a white man and feel DEI programs unfairly block my career.
We hear you. Especially for people with 20+ years of experience, there tends to be fewer promotion and external hiring opportunities. This feeling of scarcity is real and difficult.
The other aspect of this comment is fairness. The key question is: has the status quo been fair? Can we improve fairness for everyone with some DEI initiatives?
Most of us believe in meritocracy. If our industry was a perfect meritocracy, why do so few women and people of color make it to senior positions? Are they that much less talented?
Bias creeps in to people-decision processes, especially when the processes are informal and loose. Studies show this bias tends to disproportionally impact people from underrespented groups, however everyone is hurt by biased processes.
The Coalition’s DEI action recommendations focus on improving a company’s processes to reduce bias. When teams are more structured and deliberate in hiring, performance assessment, promotion, and succession planning, studies show that the outcomes are more equitable for everyone.
I’m worried about doing or saying the wrong thing regarding diversity.
I’m concerned my organization will be criticized for either doing the wrong things or not enough.
Yes, even those of us who spend a lot of time on DEI work feel nervous about saying the wrong thing and screwing up. In fact, writing and sending this newsletter makes us nervous.
We encourage everyone to approach DEI work with the following:
Acceptance of the Clumsiness: The reality is we all are going to mess some things up here. We have to lower the expectation for ourselves and others that we’ll get everything right. This means embracing everyone who is trying, no matter what their level of experience with DEI topics.
Continued Learning: We also have to keep learning and seek best practices. Take advantage of opportunities provided by the Coalition for Diversity, DEI thought leaders, and real estate industry organizations.
Don’t Give Up: Take action and try things out. We know diverse organizations perform better. We’re never going to improve our teams and industry if we don’t carve out time and attention and take action. We need both a sense of urgency to keep at the work and patience for the results.
DEI conversations all seem to focus on gender and race/ethnicity. Isn’t diversity broader than those categories?
Yes, there are a lot of components that make teams diverse: socioeconomic upbringings, geographic and cultural backgrounds, areas of expertise, ways of processing information, etc. It’s likely that diverse companies are more profitable because their different talents and points of view lead to stronger decision making and business outcomes. Diversity of thought comes from all different areas.
Race/ethnicity and gender are only part of the metrics that make diverse teams. So why focus on measuring those stats over others?:
First, organizations are able to easily gather and track those stats.
Second, diversity of gender and race/ethnicity can be good proxies for diverse organizations. It is unlikely that an organization that is concentrated in one gender and race/ethnicity is truly inclusive of lots of perspectives and people.
The main goal is inclusion: of different types of people, background and skills, and ways of approaching work. Diversity stats can be an important measurement of an organization’s execution of inclusion.
My organization has enough "business issues” to work on, and we’re too busy for DEI stuff.
Most real estate companies are professional services firms, meaning that success and profitability rely heavily on having talented people in the right roles, robust decision-making, and well functioning teams.
Our research on the best practices for DEI at work, which we share on our website, is focused on good people decision systems. When companies carve out more time to be deliberate on their people processes and strategy, the inclusiveness and diversity of the organization improves.
We find that a lot of real estate companies are strategic about their business deliverables, but not strategic about their people.
Has your organization adopted best practices in performance assessment, hiring, promotions, succession planning, and mentorship? What could you gain by increasing the percent of leadership’s attention spent on people strategy?
If you’re not strategic about your people and leveraging their talents, how can you be fully strategic about your other business priorities?
Quote
“The high level way of thinking about DEI is giving everybody equal access to thriving.”
-Frances Frei
Harvard Business School professor, tech executive, and author on leadership and strategy
Reminder: What is the Coalition for Diversity in Real Estate?
We are a volunteer organization providing companies and teams free tools and resources to advance your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Our CoalitionForDiversity.org Website includes:
DEI Action Toolkit - with small research-based steps your team can take to reduce bias in your organization in hiring, performance assessment, and mentorship.
DEI Progress Tracking Worksheets - for companies to develop and track DEI progress.
Curated DEI Resource List - links to real estate resources and top DEI information sources.
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