Inclu$ion with a capital ‘$’
Inclusion with a capital (money sign): Putting money towards acton
In a recent article for Refinery29, Kathleen Newman-Bremang pointed out that the recent wave of organizations and individuals focusing on “listening and learning” is “absolving white people from action.”
The reason “listening and learning” is such a popular tactic right now is threefold:
It means that organizations and individuals don’t need to do anything;
It protects individuals from action that might negatively impact their careers and wellbeing;
It’s free.
Listening and learning? Can only take you so far. And then you need to take action.
And if you’re not taking action – if you or your organization is still in “listening and learning” mode – you need to catch up.
The opportunity for listening and learning has passed. You’ve listened. You’ve learned. If you’re not taking action by now, you’re reinforcing racist power structures. Your inaction makes you complicit.
The comfort of individuals who “don’t quite get it yet” cannot be more important to you than the trauma that your Black, Brown, female, trans, disabled, LGBTQ2+, and Indigenous team members are facing.
If your organization is pushing an inclusion approach which:
Prioritizes incremental changes or statements over strategic or systemic action;
Relies on an internal task forces with no mandate other than to ‘investigate’;
Has no dedicated budget for diversity, equity and inclusion; then...
... you’ve got some red flags. Big ones.
What this should tell you is that you need to invest in this work. Like, with money. Not just task forces or people hours. You need to put money towards action.
As we collectively struggle towards the end of 2020 and move further away from June’s catalyzing public awareness around Black Lives Matter, it’s going to get even more difficult to make the case for dedicating organizational budget and resources towards equity and inclusion.
You need to be prepared to approach negotiations for diversity, equity, and inclusion resources in your organization with the same tenacity, rigor and preparation that you would for any other strategic challenge or goal.
Here’s a guide for how to budget for DEI and make an argument for a meaningful budget.
Step 1: Get familiar with the business case for DEI in your sector
Take the time to research industry specific statistics around the benefits for investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as the human cost of ignoring DEI. Here are some statistics to get you started:
67% of job seekers consider workplace diversity an important factor when considering employment opportunities, and more than 50% of current employees want their workplace to do more to increase diversity. (Glassdoor)
A Boston Consulting Group study found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues due to innovation. This finding is significant for tech companies, start-ups and industries where innovation is the key to growth.
In 2002, almost one in four visible minority workers reported that they had experienced racial harassment or discrimination in the workplace. In the Ethnic Diversity Survey, Statistics Canada found that 56% of participants who perceived discrimination or unfair treatment identified that they most commonly encountered such treatment in the workplace, particularly during job applications and promotions.
Understanding the business case for DEI will help you advocate for why it’s important in your organization – and what kinds of changes your DEI budget will lead to.
Step 2: Identify your challenges and how much they’ll cost to solve
You need to clearly articulate the challenge you’re trying to solve in your organization.
Not sure what that is yet? Consider QuakeLab’s DIY Inclusion Strategy, which will guide you through a comprehensive organizational inclusion audit.
Once you know that the problem is, you can start to budget for a solution. This includes understanding:
Will building a solution require external hires, consultants, or resources?
Will building a solution require internal change management?
Will building a solution require new documentation, policies, and processes?
What don’t you know yet about how you might get to a solution, and how can you budget with flexibility for that uncertainty?
Step 3: Develop a budget for your future DEI work
In order to do the long term, consistent work required to build an inclusive and equitable work environment, a budget must be assigned to this work, and individual(s) must be designated to maintain and deploy that budget.
Here’s an example. There is no ‘copy-paste’ budget that will be exactly right for any one organisation or department. Use this table as a guide, but ensure you are building a budget that aligns with your organisation.
Example of a DEI budget in a table form
If you’re ready to go through the process of making meaningful change in your organization, register for the QuakeLab DIY Inclusion Strategy course.
This online self-guided course will support you to:
Audit the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization,
Understand your organizational culture – and who you really are;
Understand the needs and experiences of your internal and external stakeholders;
Develop tactics, an evaluation method, and a budget for your inclusion work.
Based on the same framework of design thinking and results-based management as our bespoke consulting work, this is an online self-paced course that provides an affordable option for organizations that want actionable strategy but aren’t able to engage with us for a full scope of work.
By the end of the QuakeLab DIY Inclusion Strategy course, you will have:
A completed diversity, equity, and inclusion audit for your organization
Empathy maps and journey maps for your stakeholders
An action plan for institutionalizing inclusion
A monitoring and evaluation strategy
Templates for budgeting and managing for inclusion
Access to a community of peers and inclusion experts