I do believe that most people have good intentions. Despite misunderstandings of what DEI is (and is not, as we covered last time), an ongoing majority of people agree with the need for and benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion: a workplace where everyone, including straight white able-bodied men, feel a sense of belonging and can bring their whole self to work as they collaborate to achieve the organization’s goals. Countless studies have been conducted about the financial benefits for EDI programs from management consulting firms McKinsey, PwC, Boston Consulting Group, and more (check out the list on our site) but even though the results are proven and the intentions are good, you know what they say about where they can lead.
I find the execution of IDEA initiatives in general has been a tremendous problem. The majority of my conversations are with a person who was assigned DEI by the side of their desks, as they say, so it is not their core competency and/or they are not provided with any resources, neither human nor financial. Most clients simply want to “tick a box” so they practice performative DEI, posting a trite calendar of diverse holidays and scheduling either a workshop or a bravery talk during a one-hour lunch-and-learn. I’d think to myself, “So you want me to teach your staff about the systemic racism which has been embedded in western society for 300+ years and how to dismantle it, all in one hour while people eat their lunch?” This is not a realistic goal or an adequate approach. It is literally the least amount one can do to help address just one form of oppression versus so many other forms that exist in the workplace today, yet this performance is all most organizations want to do. So of course this kind of DEI is not working. At best, it’s a superficial attempt at addressing root causes; at worst, you get some organizations simply stopping hiring “white dudes” in favour of women, BIPoC and other marginalized peoples to fill “quotas.” As we said last time, this is not DEI, this is discrimination. There may be no shortage of loud pundits saying there’s no distinction but they are wrong.
I tell the story of why I founded Breakfast Culture in 2017 because it demonstrates how deep the roots of these problems go. I’d had a career for ten+ years as a Public Relations Executive, earning the qualifications, the merit, and even the capacity of a Vice President but was neither afforded the title or the salary that went with my duties and responsibilities. As I looked at the industry around me during 2011 to 2017, there were zero Black peoples in C-suite roles in the public relations industry, even in Toronto, one of Canada’s largest and most ethnically diverse cities. We were well represented in the sector but underrepresented in senior management roles. I was underemployed at the time, working for the Ontario Public Sector (OPS) as a Media Relations Officer at the Ontario Science Centre. I approached our HR Director to inquire about a career path to a Director role in the OPS and was told they required a Master degree to be considered for management. Fair enough, but I had a white male colleague training for a Director of Communications role in the OPS who did not have a Bachelor’s Degree or any education beyond secondary school. I found that odd but soon learned from other Black OPSers that this kind of discrepancy was quite common so I joined the Black Ontario Public Service Employees Network (the BOPSers!) and I began my advocacy work around fair and equitable treatment for Black employees.
I went back to school, studying Change Management for Diversity & Inclusion, and came up with a ten-point action plan to address widespread anti-Black Racism in the OPS. In this 65,000-person organization spanning the entire province of Ontario, the complete lack of Black peoples in senior management meant that the Executive Sponsor for our Black employee resource group at the time was a South Asian man! I used the OPS and the Ontario Science Centre as the basis for my Change Management Capstone Project. My professor stated that my plan was sound and, most importantly, actionable and praised how I went further to identify any potential risks and included a methodology to mitigate those risks. Upon presenting my plan to the Science Centre, however, the CEO and HR Director said they could not act until they received direction from Cabinet Office. So I went to Cabinet Office, where the head of DEI for the Ontario Government at the time agreed that my plan was solid. I had identified many of the common problems with most DEI initiatives: a lack of money, people, resources, and time. He then took the ideas from my 2016 plan and used eight of my ten recommendations to make what became the Ontario Government’s Anti-Racism Action Plan. I wasn’t too upset about the credit for my work being stolen by this white man—this is a common occurrence for many underrepresented peoples in the workplace and I felt that if it would result in positive change for Black OPSers, it was worth it. When the OPS announced their Anti-Racism Action Plan a year later and I went back to my HR Director and my CEO to share my plan again, they noticed how it was almost identical to the broader strategy that Cabinet Office was proposing. Yes, I informed them, it was my plan, but sadly my CEO and HR Director still did nothing to act. So I took my lemons and made a French 75, founding Breakfast Culture with the plan I’d developed as the foundation for our Proven 5-Step Human Capital & Culture Assessment. These solutions, like the issues they address, were many years in the making.
After the horrifying murder of George Floyd and the short-lived “Racial Awakening” in 2020, Breakfast Culture had a number of motivated clients approach us to discuss issues of race and racism in the workplace. Some organizations did this after some form of litigation due to racism, sexism, homophobia, or other forms of workplace discrimination. The smart ones moved beyond the typical “lunch and learn” approach and agreed to conduct a full Human Capital & Culture Assessment that actually measures the health of their workplace culture. The quantitative data and qualitative insights we learned proved there were workplace concerns around issues of race but the organizations also learned there were issues with ageism and even hidden disabilities, with 40% of the staff of one organization identifying as neurodiverse. This was a key piece of information because the company had grown from 100 to 300 employees and was in the process of building a new open-concept office space that the President now realized would not work for almost half of their staff. They credit Breakfast Culture with helping to retain 40% of their workforce because of our Human Capital Assessment Tool (Feel free to email me for the complete case study to learn more).
In short, DEI done well requires five key things: Data, Policy, Accountability, Measurement and Resources (I went into more detail in a previous Secret Sauce). Sadly, many clients want to skip all of these steps and simply jump right to a bravery talk or some form of training which are helpful but frankly just “ticking a box” or simply being performative. Make no mistake: DEI is not a “one and done,” it is an ongoing process that continues to grow and evolve with the organization. It is about the journey, not the destination, and we always recommend a Human Capital Assessment to get them started right by addressing the Data and Measurement. The successes from fully resourced DEI programs—and the failure of performative ones—prove the old adage “what doesn’t get measured won’t get fixed.”
Want to learn more about how to benchmark and measure your Human Capital & Culture Initiatives or KPIs? Visit www.BreakfastCulture.ca and/or book a talk with me at https://calendly.com/jefferson7/30min. Let’s unlock your whole team’s potential together.
Let's Break Some Eggs!
– Jefferson Darrell, Founder and CEO, Breakfast Culture™ Inc.
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