Why Is DEI So Challenging?

Hello doctor e here. Hope you are doing well. Happy march madness to those of you who are into the bracketology, and I hope you have that all filled out. I hope you do. Well. I am rooting for Penn State Nittany Lions. I have a little cousin who plays on their team. This is his last year, so I'm hoping they make a good run deep into the tournament. So go state. I wanted to talk to you today about what makes Dei so challenging or so difficult. I get that question quite often, and to be honest, it's not really an easy answer.

I think there are a number of reasons why Dei or diversity, inclusion and equity efforts are pretty challenging. And so I'll talk about a couple of things that are a couple of reasons that I think make them difficult. I'm sure you will hear others from different folks, but I think there's room for more as well. So one of the reasons that I think Dei is so difficult, first and foremost, is because it's typically not what we usually do. Right. We tend to operate in our default modes. And by default, I don't necessarily mean, you know, something's wrong with them.

I just mean it's our natural way of doing things, whether it's individually or as an institution, it becomes our standard way of operation or our status quo or how we do things around here is a quote that you will hear quite often. And so, because it's not what we usually do or how we usually do things, that makes it in and of itself challenging from the outset, because now we have to think about other things or other aspects or other components that normally or traditionally we wouldn't even entertain or engage.

And so it causes us to kind of take a step back or to be somewhat hesitant or maybe even anxious to some extent because we're having to think in ways and think about things that we haven't normally had to do. And so that can be one of the reasons why it's challenging. Because of that. I think the second reason is it takes us out of our comfort zones. Then, because we're operating out of our default, we're automatically in this space of uncomfortability or discomfort. And what do we do in those spaces?

Traditionally, what we do is recoil or, you know, step back instead of pushing forward or staying engaged. And so because we're out of our comfort zones, that's usually when we typically tend to do or tend to gravitate back towards what we are comfortable with. And, you know, again, which would be our default mode of operation. And then I think Dei is challenging because it's very. It's very difficult to sustain, particularly in times of tension, turmoil, tumult, all of those other kinds of things that make us want to just go back to what we used to do and how we used to do it.

How many times have you been on a path of change, a path of progression or shifting behavior and thought processes, and then something happens and all of a sudden your knee jerk or reflexive reaction is to do what you would have done or what you have normally done up to that point. That's all I'm saying. It's very difficult to sustain, particularly when we're faced with some of those kinds of things that make us want to reflexively jump right back into how we used to react, respond, engage, perform, evaluate all of those other kinds of things.

So one of the things that I think is really important to remember through all this is simply asking your question, asking a question of yourself, whether as an organization or as an individual, what are you trying to accomplish? And if you can answer that very simplistically, I think there are ways that you can actually see where Dei can help you accomplish that, whether it's monetary or bottom line, whether it's employee engagement, whether it's retention, whether it's progression, all of those other kinds of things, thinking differently, approaching things differently, doing things differently in a more inclusive and equitable way, can help you accomplish and achieve all of those things.

So remember, we operate in default mode, or we typically do. What we usually or have done causes us to be out of our comfort zones. Very difficult to sustain. If you can embrace and accept those three challenges moving forward, as you go into your Dei initiatives and goals, I think you'll be very well positioned to kind of be prepared to accept them, to work through them, and to move past them. So this is doctor E. I will see you next time. And until then, remember, Dei is always difficult, but it's also very rewarding.