How to Prioritize DE&I Awareness Within Your Organization

This year has been a year of national reckoning. Instances of police brutality against African Americans and the systemic inequities that have led to the effects of COVID-19 falling disproportionately on people of color have been brought to the forefront of our national dialogue. Though these injustices are by no means new, 2020 has ushered in a new wave of civil rights activism and has demanded that leaders look inwards at the ways in which their organizations have played a role in perpetuating injustice and exclusion. Many businesses have begun the process of reflection and are moving toward actionable steps in order to transform their organizational culture and cultivate inclusivity.

Today’s podcast will kick off a series in which I discuss the practical steps that business leaders can take in order to strengthen their DEI practices and address their organizational issues head-on. As a culture change expert, I have developed a three-step plan to address DEI practices: Awareness, Assessment, and Action. Today, I will interview WLH Team Member, Tianna Tye whose academic background in Industrial Organizational Psychology provides her with expertise in human behavior in the workplace.  We will be discussing the ins and outs of Assessment.

Tianna and I will share the three types of biases that impact organizational culture: conscious biases, unconscious or implicit biases, and second-generation biases. We will also discuss why it is so imperative that leaders and individuals reflect on their own biases, even our unconscious biases can have tangible and detrimental impacts on our coworkers and general feelings of belonging. As we move through the three steps in this podcast series, we hope to equip leaders with the tools necessary for organizational reform and progress.