In a recent episode of Transform Your Workplace, Dr. Sandra Upton, Founder and Chief DEI Strategist of Upton Consulting Group, unpacks key insights from her newly released book, Make it Last: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI Work. The discussion highlights DEI challenges like organizational complacency and inadequate communication. Dr. Upton also stresses the importance of data-driven strategies and prioritizing mental health in navigating the complexities of DEI work. With practical advice and actionable steps, Dr. Upton offers a comprehensive guide for organizations seeking to create lasting and meaningful change.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Dr. Sandra Upton is the Founder and Chief DEI Strategist of Upton Consulting Group (UCG), a firm specializing in providing proven strategies for building inclusive organizational cultures. She is also the author of Make it Last: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI Work, a recently published book offering guidance in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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DEI: NOT A “ZERO-SUM GAME”
In her recently released book, Make it Last, Dr. Sandra Upton asserts that fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce is not “a zero-sum game.” She highlights the misconception that progress in DEI means that one loses while another gains. After all, this assumption contradicts the essence of DEI initiatives. When executed effectively, Sandra explains, these efforts result in collective success rather than individual victories or defeats.
Recent backlash surrounding DEI work is, according to our guest, due to widespread misinformation and political influences. So what do we do to get back on track? We must dispel these myths and educate individuals on the true objectives of DEI efforts. When we approach “this important work” with integrity and diligence, we foster a culture of shared success and advancement. In other words, “we’re all successful.”
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Treating Water
“A big part of why I wrote the book is because I see that organizations are just going through the motions. Even if they are well intended, you can still be going through the motions. You can be doing what I call activity-based DEI where you’re just doing a bunch of different things — it doesn’t mean that they’re bad things, but the question is, are those decisions that you’re making related to your actions? Are they data-driven? Are they outcome-driven? Are they moving you in a direction where the needle is really moving and you can anticipate real transformation?”
Some DEI Challenges
“I think part of the roadblock is organizations think they’re farther along than they are, and so they skip steps, and then they wonder why the work isn’t sticking or lasting. And then when they really see how much work is involved, you also discover that they’re not as serious as they claimed, right? Because it then requires a significant commitment from the top to the bottom across the organization. So I think those are the things that I see — organizations think they’re farther along, and so they think they can skip around. And we know that you cannot miss steps and think you’re going to create real transformation. And also, again, you’ve still got to do the work at every step of the process.”
An Honest Assessment
“We talk about this idea of assessing your current state and being honest, and I encourage organizations that there’s no shame in being at step one. What’s helpful is just acknowledging that and then building from there versus pretending or assuming that you’re farther along and skipping those steps. And so I talk about that at the very beginning of the book — to take some time, and I give them ways to think about, to process that, and to say, ‘Are you at step one?’ And part of the challenging question that I ask after that question is, ‘Okay, what’s your evidence? So if you really believe you’re at step four in the process, what is your evidence to confirm that that’s true?’”
Prioritizing Mental Health
“I suggest, especially those who are, again, the strategic leaders in the work, that before you finalize or update or revise your strategy or create your strategy for how you’re going to move the organization forward, to literally develop a formal strategy for protecting your mental health. And I talk about the importance of internal strategies and external strategies. So simple, common examples of external strategies would be things like getting your rest and exercising and eating healthy and doing things that you love, having a wonderful community of friends, but also mentors and sponsors, even external to the organization. […] And then internally, one of the really important things that you should do, especially if you are the Lone Ranger in the work in terms of providing that strategic leadership is establishing boundaries and clear expectations.”
Lasting Change
“Based on the research around change management, we know what’s required to make the change last. And so if you want to do things that make you feel good or feel like [you’re] making progress, understand that, again, if you skip those steps, that work is going to be limited and it won’t be sustainable. […] So people want to jump straight to the strategy and not think about buy-in, not think about how they’re going to organize the work, and then when they are done with the strategy, they do an awful job of communicating it, and things fall apart.”
Open Lines of Communication
“When you talk about some of the barriers and biggest issues, I cannot tell you how many organizations I have worked with that have, again, done a pretty decent job of putting together a strategy, but they’ve done a horrible job of communicating it. And they get so frustrated because let’s say they do an employee engagement survey or a pulse survey or something related to DEI, and then it comes back and employees are like, ‘We have a DEI council? I didn’t even know we had one. Oh, we’re doing that? I had no clue.”
“[…] And so it’s this constant stream of communication. You cannot over-communicate. It has to come from those who are providing strategic leadership as well as from the top, and so that can include a whole host of things. And that communication not only includes putting the information out there, but creating a feedback loop to get people’s input on a regular basis.”
The Data and Metrics
“So go back to your data, right? And what data is the loudest around these issues? And you start there, so you don’t feel like you have to do everything at once. But you then identify, I always recommend, maybe two to three areas of focus and then build out an actual strategy for each of those things. Again, it’s […] getting focused on those areas. Once you determine what those areas are, prioritize what actions need to be connected to that. And then from there, it’s incredibly important if you’re going to, again, create the real change, every action that you determine must have a metric tied to it.”
LEARN MORE
Find out more about the work that Dr. Sandra Upton does by going to her website, Upton Consulting Group, or grab a copy of her book, Make it Last: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI Work, wherever books are sold.