During the recent d&i Leaders ‘Progressing DE&I in 2024’ online conference chaired by Charlotte Sweeney OBE, we heard a passionate and purposeful overview of the state of DE&I and gained valuable insights about where to focus our energy for the rest of the year and beyond. 
Greg McCaw, Chief People Officer at BKL offered sound advice, drawing on his experience of gathering insight, co-creating with leaders and becoming a B Corp…
- Conscious content: The firm behind this year’s International Women’s Day marketing materials received a great deal of backlash for being superficial and tokenistic. Instead, reach for resources from the UN, who are more action orientated.
- Invest: Amidst the fear of DE&I roles being cut, be sure to link your role to the organisation’s values, vision and priorities.
- Proof over promises: Just like the B Corp process requires you to do, demonstrate impact and outcomes, rather than goals and aspirations. Navigating people, planet and profit requires you to bring different lenses and perspectives forward.
- Co-creation: Bring your leaders and colleagues into the fold early on. It’s a skill to co-create and facilitate inclusion initiatives and activities. If that’s not your strong point, bring in an expert.
- Back to basics: Get the key things right first, such as equitable pay practices, gathering feedback and measuring outcomes.
Pauline Miller, Chief Equity Officer EMEA at Dentsu International also shared her expert musings on social media, storytelling and strategies for engaging leaders…
- Streamline socials: In the sea of awareness days, advocacy and education should be the focus when choosing what themes and topics to address.
- Tell us how: Have you or your organisation won an award in the DE&I space? That’s great but tell us why and how. Share the methods and reasons behind your success to support others.
- Self-reflection: It’s not always easy but try to be critical and gather feedback to improve the effectiveness of your approach and actions.
- Engaging leaders: Make DE&I relevant to leaders’ work and overarching business priorities. Strategically position this work by telling the story – this is good for business, good for our people, and good for society.
- Run the marathon: Remember, DE&I work is long-term, not a short sprint or quick fix.
To ensure your DE&I efforts are meaningful, sustainable and impactful, Pauline and Greg concluded that governance, transparency and accountability are crucial. Pause, take stock of where the organisation is currently at by gathering insight and data, look retrospectively at what has been done and what the impact has been. Then, collaborate with leaders and be sure to adopt a long-term perspective because DE&I work is never done.
By Lauren Castle for Alive!
