3 reasons diversity programs continue to fail (and what do to instead)

Think of a dog in your mind, any dog. Keep that image. Now think of a Chihuahua and a Labrador Retriever. Do those images match your first image of a dog? There’s a parallel with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) here, because so often an organization will state that it wants to become more diverse (the first dog image) without defining what DEIB is or looks like (second dog images).

To help define it, let’s break down why diversity programs fail. The word diversity means many things to many people, but the Webster’s definitions are: “the state of being diverse; variety (eg. there was considerable diversity in the style of the reports)” and “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientation, etc.” 

Now, moving on to program, it is “a set of related measures or activities with a particular long-term aim (e.g. an extensive program of reforms).”