What does Equity have to do with it?
Hi! Dr. Lepora here!
I am excited to continue our conversation about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This is about what does equity has to do with it? I decided to create this video because many leaders were reaching out asking “What is Equity?” I applaud them for asking the question because a lot of people are simply throwing out buzzwords... “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a great thing...”
This is due to all the atrocious things that have been receiving higher levels of exposure in the news within the past year and more. For me, it is very important to understand the difference between these concepts because it requires different tools and steps to reach each of them as goals.
First and foremost, it requires an appreciation of these three elements individually, respectively in order to make a difference. Awareness is the first phase, as we know in any healthy Transformation, Appreciation is the second phase. If people are not aware of what it is, they cannot appreciate it. If they can't appreciate it, then they really cannot do anything about it in an intentional way.
Let us talk about the different definitions of all three and not just equity to provide clarity. Diversity is pretty much a diverse number, a number being the operative word of people within your organization within your environment. Diversity is purely talking about numbers. For example, whether you have, 10% African-American, 20% Indian, or 5% Native American or whatever diverse category you want to use. We are talking about numbers when we are talking about diversity. So, when you're talking about increasing diversity within your organization, you are talking about increasing the variety numerically of these respective represented groups. Sometimes within diversity, organizations want to specifically target certain groups to expand that number within the organization.
Why do they do that? They do it for various reasons.
It may more reflect their customer base.
It may be the area of representation that is specifically lacking within their organization.
Fundamentally, diversity means those numbers that are represented within your organization of the variety of categories that are represented from the majority as well as those of the minority.
Now, let us get into Inclusion. Inclusion is a more commonly understood definition as well, like diversity. It is talking about being inclusive within your organization. When we hear Inclusion, what we are assuming is that refers to being inclusive of everyone there. What does that mean? When you have an inclusive environment, it is a welcoming environment. It is not only welcoming inside the door of your organization but inside of the respective areas of your organization as well. So that means you put into financial decision-making. At the lunchroom, for example, is a welcoming environment. It is when there are project teams being developed that have a large impact on the rollout of your organization. It is inclusive of all the different people within your organization.
It is inclusive of ideas. If there is a discussion of decisions that are going to be made and there is a staff meeting, an inclusive environment would be inclusive of the ideas that are within that room. An inclusive environment is inviting of what these different ideas may represent.
An inclusive environment is warm and connected. It is the opposite of what you would think of when you would think of a very cliquish environment, where everyone has their little segments, little corners, and you really cannot penetrate those barriers, those barricades within each clique.
An inclusive environment is more collaborative, where people are welcome and warm to her. It is a very specific culture, and you know it when you see it. It's not one that typically happens without intention because it is intentionally going to make an effort to be inclusive of all those people who are different. It is counter-intuitive from our instinct, oftentimes to categorize ourselves. That is the essence of what Inclusion is and what it looks like.
So now, Let's talk about Equity.
When I get into Equity, I want to start by saying what it is not. I think this is very important because equity sounds like Equality. Obviously, there are similarities there. Though there is a specific difference that exists.
With Equality, we are talking about people being equal obviously, people being treated equally.
For example, in kindergarten, oftentimes we have children, we want to make sure that when we give one kid a banana, the other one gets a banana. That is equality.
Now, we will fast forward to a more adult scenario. If we have two project managers, we want to ensure that they are paid equally for doing the same work. That is dealing with equality, a very important concept, and a component of equity. Equity is taking it another step. What equity is saying specifically is that for us to ensure equality within our environment, we must make equitable efforts. What does that mean? That means if we have an organization and I am just using this randomly, not that it is a common scenario at all. If we have an organization, Let us say, for example, on the leadership board, it is 97% European-American or White and 3% others, what we would want to say with that regard is, how do we make a more equitable environment on that leadership board? Well, one might say, “Let's just simply be fair in our promotions, in our succession planning, and treat everyone equally, and then they will rise in a distributed way to the top.”
Proponents of an equitable environment would say they will never be able to be equal if they are not making equitable efforts. That basically means supporting these underrepresented groups, these diverse groups that some call minority groups in a specific way. It means giving them extra attention effort to help them become equal. So, it is not equal treatment. It is equitable treatment. It is extra attention, extra efforts for those targeted underrepresented groups to create an equal scenario, an equal situation. Those organizations and individuals realize that it is going to be extremely hard to systemically change a cycle, where 90%+ of the organization leadership is of one category. They take necessary steps to expedite the potential of equality or to even make it realistic. They put into place efforts that increase equity, which makes it more equitable.
What can those efforts look like? How can they manifest? They can look like sponsorship programs where there are specific executives, sponsors who are assigned to specific underrepresented groups as mentors, which are remarkably like sponsors? It can look like leadership programs that are specifically targeting underrepresented groups. It can look like slates that are ensuring an ample and abundant level of diversity to ensure that representation exists on specific levels.
But what is Equity? It is very intentional. It is an effort, the opposite of equal in order to get the outcome of equality or something that makes more sense. To get to something that is more evenly distributed regarding whatever your population and/or goals are.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, because I'd love to discuss this. And please do share it with anyone who you believe would benefit from this information.
Have a wonderful day.
Dr. Lepora
