5 Things / The Year in Good Vibes
Some of you may know that I spent years as a wedding planner with an LGBTQ+ specialty and a speaker on inclusion in that industry. I started that business in 2004. I was so young! It's been nearly 19 years since the first legal same-sex marriage licenses were issued in Massachusetts -- and only NOW are those marriages — and interracial marriages – codified into federal law, thanks to the Respect for Marriage Act. Those marriages were allowed due to Supreme Court decisions, which could have potentially been challenged.
5 Things / Not DEI
I had a conversation this week with a very kind senior DEI leader who wanted to help me help the company. They gave me some words to say that they thought might help get buy-in from the boss. This person encouraged me to pitch our Inclusive 360 Assessment as an “organizational improvement methodology”, not DEI. Our future work together as “change management”, not DEI.
5 Things / 360
A new study from Boston College and the Society of Human Resources Management tells us that 65% of organizations believe DEI is important, yet 63% give little to no resources to DEI. This doesn’t surprise me. In my conversations with organizations, I find many who see DEI as an HR or L&D initiative. In other words, recruitment, and training. There are many DEI actions that can be taken that cost minimal external resources, such as policy changes and building inclusion nudges into process documentation.