Why So Much DEI Work Falls Flat

Written by Deonna Smith, EdD, Education Specialist, Historicons

In the years since the social justice movements of 2020, individuals and institutions have committed to increasing equity and reducing racism. Companies and organizations made statements, built strategic action plans, and formed committees to address diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns. So why, according to many metrics, haven’t we seen more progress?

Think about the DEI initiatives established (if any) at your place of employment. How were these actions met? Did you see significant improvements and changes?

Regardless of their efficacy, the intentions behind most DEI plans and strategies are good—some organizations even partnered with experts and consultants to develop thorough DEI plans with benchmarks, objectives, and criteria for success.

In education, schools and districts have committed millions of dollars to equity work, but most schools are still seeing the same, if not wider, gaps in outcomes between BIPOC and white students.

So, if the intentions and resources are there, why haven’t we seen significant changes?

Individual Accountability vs. Institutional Commitment

When institutions start to grapple with equity work, they’ll usually start with some kind of unconscious bias or microaggression work. This is the work of unveiling unconscious racism and prejudice, and untangling the complicated dynamics of interpersonal interactions. Training will usually focus on how people interact with each other, including colleagues and employee-supervisor relationships. This is essential work. Microaggressions can take a huge toll on work culture and undermine retention and recruitment efforts. Unconscious bias contributes to the “leaky pipeline” of BIPOC in leadership positions and pay gaps.

What these initiatives don’t do is address the systemic nature of bias, racism, sexism, and inequity. When we hyper-focus on interpersonal solutions, we address one critical element of DEI work, but not all. For an organization to fully commit to equity work, the systems and the institution must be interrogated.

Microaggressions and implicit bias weigh heavily on the individuals, but the next and critical step is to analyze how racism and other inequities show up throughout the organization's structure. Hiring practices, advancement pipelines, and other human capital policies are certainly influenced by interpersonal bias, but reducing these questions to individuals often leaves key stakeholders out of the conversation. When an organization looks to deepen its commitment to equity, institutional practices and policies must also be considered.

For example, many companies structure equity work as a component of their human resources department. Some equity work is well suited to HR because cultural insensitivity is typically a statement or action that involves two or more employees, but that doesn’t mean all equity work should “live” under HR. Equity work also means unpacking how power and privilege function on an institutional level. Questions about shared decision-making, remote work, maternity leave, and even sustainability are too important and too broad to be reduced to one department or one mandatory training.

Consider the following questions and how individuals and institutions might extend upon them and ask a deeper follow-up question:

“Do our employees respect each other?” But also, “Do our company policies respect the cultural values and identities of our employees?

“Does everyone feel included in the holiday celebration? But also, “Are our leave policies inclusive and humanizing for the many different cultures and values that our employees represent?

“Do we have a process for reporting culturally insensitive remarks? But also, “Do we have a process to ensure that a diversity of voices and perspectives are heard in the decision-making process?

“Do hiring managers know how to recruit BIPOCs?” But also, “What policies do we have in place to retain our BIPOC staff and ensure that they are fairly compensated and have agency?”

When organizations dig into the deeper, systemic, and institutional issues, we can start seeing significant changes and improvements. The challenges and issues that were brought to life in 2020 were much more complex than interactions between individuals, so why stop there in our collective response?

For an organization to meaningfully engage with equity work, interpersonal concerns like cultural competence, unconscious bias, and microaggressions are where the work can start but not where it should stop.

Challenging the Belief that DEI Work Always Has to Look Like “Work”

To meaningfully and sustainably enact DEI initiatives, individuals and institutions must also recognize that DEI work does not always have to feel like “work.” Society so often conditions us to think about equity work as a struggle. When we think about the social justice movements we learned about in school, images of marches, sit-ins, and clashes with police often come to mind. Perhaps that’s why DEI work is sometimes met with groans or eye-rolls. Even folks who ideologically believe in diversity, equity and inclusion might feel exhaustion or burnout because they only associate it with the most challenging aspects of the movement. Violence, confrontation, and tension are an essential and expected part of fighting for justice, but they aren’t the only part. Social justice movements aren’t all about struggle. They are also about resilience, liberation, celebration, and joy.

DEI work is just not sustainable unless organizations and individuals find space for joy.

When individuals and institutions make room for joy and celebration in their DEI initiatives, they avoid getting stuck in a deficit framework, reducing people from marginalized groups to only their struggles, strife, and challenges. It's the reason that celebrations like Juneteenth and Pride parades are just as important as initiatives to fight systemic inequity in the workplace.

Take educational institutions, for example, which tend to hyper-focus on deficits. There is no shortage of studies and reports that detail the fact that students of color trail behind their white counterparts in math and literacy. But there is also significant research that shows that students of color are more frequently reprimanded for their behavior, and when they are, their punishments are more severe than their white counterparts, even for the same behaviors. Many schools, when faced with this data, will suggest more testing, more instructional time, and more rigor, but the answer isn’t that simple. Many thought leaders in education see more instruction and stricter learning conditions as the only option, but that in effect, means less joy. Right alongside implicit bias, work with teachers and leaders must be a commitment to joy and celebration for students of color. If adults experience burnout from equity work that is void of celebration, rest, or joy, children will as well.

I was compelled to write Rooted in Joy: Creating a Classroom Community of Equity, Belonging, and Care for this reason. It’s a field guide for teachers and other education stakeholders who believe that our students deserve to find joy in learning and experience classroom communities where they feel they belong. Learn more about Rooted in Joy here.

The same can be said for other organizations; when you make space for celebration and joy, burnout decreases and efficacy increases. Our workplaces can also be communities of equity, belonging, and care!

Despite the challenges, an ongoing commitment to DEI work has never been more critical. Organizations and individuals must not allow the passage of time to obscure the urgency of the work. It’s clear that there are no quick and easy answers, and because of the intensity of the work, sustainability must be a priority as well.

Prioritizing interpersonal challenges ahead of institution inequities and failing to acknowledge the role of joy and celebration in equity work are two reasons why some DEI initiatives just don’t seem to yield their intended results. Making space for joy and celebration in tandem with equity work might just be the solution.