It’s personal: how communicators can advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

By Nathalie Noël | hello@nathalienoel.ca

Nathalie Noël shares three ideas on how, as communicators, we can advance diversity and inclusion in our workplaces and the profession.

Off the bat, let me say I’m uncomfortable writing this. I wanted to take this opportunity to challenge myself and do some introspection about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). You see, I’m not an expert. Not even close. Only once in my 20-year career as a communicator has diversity been in my portfolio. I’ve been a consistent yet quiet champion of these themes. But, as we sit here in 2020 with poverty, injustice, and race-based violence dominating the headlines and our Twitter feeds, I can only feel that the championing I did wasn’t enough. I didn’t learn enough, do enough, or speak loudly enough to move the DEI needle in my workplaces, sector, or profession.

I don’t have the answers on how to successfully advance DEI. What I do have is the desire to be more of an agent of change in the second half of my career than I was in the first. As a communicator, what can I, and you, do to advance DEI in our workplaces and profession? The answer is probably “a lot,” but I’d like to share just three ideas.

Lead our organizations to be their own conscience

I have always been proud that the communications profession is grounded in honesty and integrity. Just look at IABC’s Code of Ethics. I consider communicators to be the conscience of our organizations, and I know I’m not alone in this thinking. I’m realizing, though, that we can’t just be the conscience of our organizations, we have to lead our organizations to be their own conscience. It is good, of course, that communicators internalize these values, but we have to push our organizations to do the same.

Being “woke” is fantastic, but it doesn’t go far enough. “Being sensitive to others’ cultural values and beliefs”, as IABC’s ethics code says, can no longer be the DEI bar. We need to evolve from feelings to actions. As a profession, could we commit to not just empathizing with the injustices around us, but advocating against them? To take on the responsibility of standing up and speaking out for DEI? And could we put this commitment in writing?

Initiate + educate + implement

Remember that old nugget from the 1970s, ‘the personal is political’? The phrase is interpreted widely, but I take it to mean that if it’s happening to me then very likely it’s happening society-wide. That the challenge I’m experiencing is rarely an isolated case, it’s a symptom of the existing social or political system. Well, sometimes the “non-personal” is political too.

If you’re similar to me — a university-educated, heterosexual, white woman born into a middle-class household — you may never have had to change your name to get hired or hide your relationship to rent an apartment. Just because those things never happened to me personally doesn’t mean they don’t happen. As a communicator and a human, it’s my responsibility to listen, learn, and believe that these injustices exist.

Communicators, especially those of us with an internal communications role, can and should spearhead DEI-related conversations and education opportunities. We don’t have to wait until we have a DEI policy or committee. We can and definitely should ask for help and involve people with lived experiences. And, when we do, we must compensate them. It’s cringe-worthy to ask an expert to speak about, say, marginalization, and not value them enough to pay them. But we should not expect or wait for these same people to kickstart our learning. It doesn’t feel right to put the weight of teaching onto the very people who are experiencing the harm. From the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, Black Lives Matter Demands, Canadian Women Foundation’s Resetting Normal report, and hundreds of others, facts about the issues and what can be done are widely available to all of us.

As we’re learning, we need to implement. Change doesn’t happen without action. It feels disingenuous to spend a day learning about inclusive language if we’re not going to revise our style guide to reflect it. Add preferred pronouns to your e-signature template, make washrooms gender neutral, designate prayer and smudging rooms, etc. Push to have what you’re hearing and learning to be incorporated into your organization.

Advocate for policies that “walk the talk”

Our workplaces are part of a larger ecosystem. Their policies and practices affect us as employees and as humans and impact our society and economy.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has become pretty familiar to us now. So too has the research on the systemic factors that can lead to poverty, homelessness, addiction, incarceration, etc. Issues that we know disproportionately affect Black people, People of Colour, Indigenous Peoples, the LGBTQ2+ community, and people living with disabilities, addiction, and mental health issues.

As the informed conscience of our organizations, it behoves us to do everything within our power to persuade and advocate for human resource policies that promote DEI. What’s the cost of living in your community, and do your workplace’s salaries cover it? Are all staff eligible for paid sick time, or do they have to choose between getting paid or coming into work ill? What about flex time so a parent can juggle childcare and his career? Is a salary range included in your job postings (a DEI best practice that’s gaining momentum)? Has a blind hiring practice been considered to reduce unconscious bias (something that exists in all of us)? There are many examples of policies and practices that walk the DEI talk; which one could you focus on first?

As communicators, we have the knowledge, skills, and respect to change minds and behaviours. I can’t think of a more important or urgent focus right now than helping to lead our workplaces and our country to be a more tangibly diverse, equitable, and inclusive place for everyone.