10 Reasons Why DEI Efforts Fail (And How To Make Them Succeed)

Many companies begin their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts with the best of intentions. They want to make sure their employees feel involved and supported, that the company has diverse points of view at the table, and that customers feel represented in their marketing. But this does not always mean that these efforts will be successful.

To shed some light on why that is, the members of Council for Young Entrepreneurs share their insights on why many companies’ DEI efforts fail and what leaders can do to ensure they actually succeed.

1. Unconscious bias was never addressed

Leaders must recognize that unconscious bias can lead to systemic barriers and, as a result, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts fail. To combat unconscious bias, consider diversifying hiring practices, implementing anonymous resume reviews, and unconscious bias training for employees at all levels. These strategies can increase awareness and understanding of biases and help reduce their impact on hiring and promotion decisions. Ultimately, addressing unconscious bias requires a sustained commitment of leadership and a willingness to challenge the status quo. By prioritizing DEI efforts, allocating adequate resources and implementing best practices to reduce unconscious bias, leaders can create a more equitable and inclusive workplace for all employees. – Devesh Dwivedi, Devesh Dwivedi

2. There was a lack of commitment to the program

A big reason why DEI efforts fail is a lack of commitment to the program. For a DEI program to succeed, leadership must be committed to implementation from start to finish. Leadership should create an implementation plan, complete with specific success indicators, team touchpoints, and more. All in all, for DEI efforts to thrive, a specific and trackable plan must be followed. – Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.

3. Barriers to success are never resolved

Hiring people from different cultural backgrounds won’t magically change your organization’s culture overnight. An inclusive culture and diversity from head to toe takes time and effort. Achieving diversity is a good step, but do all your employees feel welcome and involved? Everyone has different barriers to success. As an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to identify those barriers and work on ways to solve them. This happens when you create a safe space in your organization where everyone can express their needs clearly and without feeling embarrassed or judged. Talk to your employees, explain to them the benefits of a diverse work culture and create a long-term strategy to achieve it. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital day

4. The effort was treated as a ‘check-box exercise’

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts can fail for a variety of reasons, despite good intentions. One reason is that DEI is often treated as a check-box exercise without leaders recognizing the need for a fundamental culture change. Also, DEI initiatives cannot include all groups and may focus on superficial changes without addressing systemic issues. Leaders should approach DEI as a long-term cultural change, not a quick fix, and invest in the necessary resources, such as hiring diversity officers, providing training, and creating inclusive policies. Leaders should approach DEI as a long-term cultural shift, invest in the necessary resources and infrastructure, engage and involve all stakeholders, prioritize fostering a culture of psychological safety, and be accountable and transparent. – Tonya Bruce, Lead Beautiful, Inc.

5. The company did not understand the true importance of DEI

I think DEI initiatives often fail because companies don’t fully understand the importance of these efforts or how to make them successful. Leaders must begin by examining their own organizations and understanding the underlying systems that maintain the status quo of inequality. Once they have this understanding, they can begin implementing change within their organization by setting goals and objectives and also by focusing on the core values ​​that will guide DEI efforts. At the same time, leaders must also understand that this is an ongoing process and not a one-time initiative. It can take time to get things right and it’s worth it. So leaders need to keep trying and making improvements and eventually they will reach their DEI goals. – Syed Balky, WPB Beginner

6. Management didn’t take the time to listen

At its core, a DEI effort fails because there is not enough listening from leadership. If you want to involve more people, you also have to be willing to listen and learn. Leaders must be willing to listen to different perspectives and viewpoints. It is also important to consider different communication styles. This means learning to listen actively and without judgment. It also means that leaders must be prepared to acknowledge and address their own biases, as these can often lead to unintentional homogenisation in the workplace. – Blair Williams, MemberPress

7. Employees resist the change

Even when planned with the best of intentions, DEI efforts often fail due to resistance from the team, especially the perpetrators of said issues themselves. These people are said to be the beneficiaries of the current system. So it is natural for them to revolt if they are afraid of losing their privileges or authority. In situations like these, leaders have no choice but to face the issue head-on and be open about it in discussions. You may see some abrupt departures and even have to make some hard decisions yourself, but doing the right thing – and compared to what you’ll achieve – is a small price to pay. – Chris Closowski, Simple digital downloads

8. The root causes of problems have never been identified

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts often fail, even when the companies plan with the best of intentions. There could be a number of reasons for this result. But I believe most important of all is a company’s inability to identify the root causes of its DEI problems. For things to work, companies will need to be a bit more proactive than reactive when it comes to addressing DEI issues. The best way to ensure success here is to build a dedicated team that focuses specifically on DEI matters and gains a deep understanding of the issues in the business. The core responsibility of this team would be to investigate any intentional or unintentional biases in the company and come up with effective remedies that suffice. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable shapes

9. There were no clear goals or success indicators

Despite leaders’ best efforts, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts often fail due to a lack of accountability and a lack of evaluation of effort against outcome. Without clear goals and appropriate indicators to help assess your efforts, it will not be possible for you to know whether or not you are moving in the right direction. DEI is a complex business, so you can’t just come up with a strategy and expect it to work. It takes trial and error until you come up with a flawless plan to achieve the set goals. This requires you to assign responsibilities, establish clear assessment guidelines and hold key stakeholders accountable for DEI initiatives. – Jared Achison, WPForms

10. There was too much focus on the ‘rules’

The problem is that not everything can be planned and executed purely by rules. Inclusion and equality come from the grassroots, as ultimately it is your employees who need to work together and socialize openly and without prejudice. So it is ultimately about the corporate culture that you build as a leader. Building such an inclusive and equitable culture includes employee training, orientation, collaborative interactions, and rewarding each team member for working with each other without prejudice. Of course, you should also apply hiring rules and organizational structures that eliminate any form of discrimination by management in the long term. In short, a synergistic combination of regulatory and cultural approaches will create an environment where diversity thrives. – Vikas Agrawal, Infobrandz