The State of Diversity & Inclusion — Insights From Crystal Lynese Walker
This article is part of Hallo’s new State of Diversity and Inclusion Series which will feature interviews with a wide range of professionals and thought leaders to learn more about the state of D&I, the progress made in 2020, and predictions on the trends that will shape 2021.
The following is an interview we recently had with Crystal Lynese Walker, Founder & Principal Consultant, Crystal Clear Consulting & Planning, LLC.
How would you describe the current state of diversity and inclusion in most organizations today?
The current state of D&I in most organizations today is frenzied and under fire. Employees and consumers are demanding more than performative black boxes on social media or a few tokenized members within the organization. The number of job openings for D&I positions has grown exponentially but most organizations don’t know what skills the position needs. I’ve seen some ask for 15 years of experience in a D&I role which is ironic, given that most organizations haven’t had these explicit roles 15 years ago. This is leading to quick changes and decisions rather than developing sustainable strategies.
How has COVID-19 impacted diversity and inclusion initiatives?
Due to the social and political atrocities witnessed as we stayed home, due to COVID-19, people decided that enough was enough. Protests, sit-ins, and other forms of resistance erupted worldwide in ways that we haven’t seen. Conversations that were once deemed unprofessional, such as social and political issues were no longer contained. All of this created an uptick in employee activism, bringing awareness to systemic issues to the workplace and challenging those systems that reside there. Companies and organizations can no longer ignore these issues, and now employees are demanding non-performative diversity and inclusion initiatives and consumers.
What are the most common challenges and roadblocks organizations face when it comes to implementing their diversity and inclusion initiatives?
One of the most common challenges is that organizations are relying on the goodwill of others. They often have employees volunteering to do this work and that approach leads to an unfair disadvantage to BIPOC and women employees who take on the work. In addition, these groups don’t have any real authority or budget to impact change. Secondly, organizations view D&I as a personal value that should be practiced out of the goodness of hearts rather than seeing it as a trackable and measurable KPI that can be attached to professional and organizational performance.
What are 3–5 pieces of advice you have for organizations looking to improve the impact of their D&I strategies?
First, c-suite leadership needs to make this a priority, and if you are a startup you should be considering how diversity and inclusion will fold into your business plan and organizational structure from the beginning. Secondly, internal and external transparency. If your organization has failed to make D&I a priority, acknowledge that and state how it’s failed. Third, develop a D&I office, that includes a c-suite level officer with a full team. This should not be housed in HR but instead, work in tandem in cross-functional ways with all major areas of the organization.
What trends will shape D&I in 2021? How can organizations prepare for these changes?
One of the trends that I see unfolding is the necessity for D&I to become a KPI that is trackable, measurable, and valued at the level of accountability. I often tell my clients, if your DEIB strategy is not attached to an employee and organizational performance, the DEIB strategy is a performance. This work isn’t lofty; there are ways to put strategies and accountability metrics in place and organizations have to be willing to step up and make that change. Consumers and employees know when companies are being performative and in the long run that will hurt the bottom line and the reputation of the company.
