Do we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable?
More often than not, as we begin our work with clients to transform their organisational culture, we encounter difficult challenges and pushback along the way. The nature and the extent of pushback varies from company to company - but the fiercest reactions tend to occur at a particular stage of the project; when we are presenting the data we have collected and analysed, back to the senior leadership team - before making recommendations on next steps.
Invariably, leaders feel embarrassed and surprised by many of the findings, and their discomfort is palpable. Whether by citing other companies in their space to benchmark themselves against (‘we may have issues but our competitors are worse’), or by interrogating the veracity of our methods (*pointedly* - ‘why did you ask about X instead of Y?’), there is a strong desire to find some way to somehow ‘make the numbers look better’.
It might seem odd - paradoxical even - that the people who reach out to us, in full knowledge that they need outside help with their DEI, are often the same people that struggle to absorb the cold hard data when presented with it. But it’s human nature to seek out information that validates and reinforces our sense of self; we wish to be known and understood by others according to our already established beliefs about ourselves. When we receive information that threatens to contradict our positive view of ourselves, it can be deeply unsettling, and trigger our defence mechanisms. So it’s no wonder that, when receiving data that diverges from the picture they have built of their company culture, leaders will often tie themselves in knots to defend, contradict, and deny. Abstractly knowing that there might be some improvements you need to make, and being faced with the sobering data on where the issues actually are, can be two different things.
So how do companies get here in the first place? Do we simply sleepwalk into having glaring blindspots when it comes to DEI?
Frequently, our organisations are built - at least in the early stages - by hiring people from within our existing networks. On paper, it’s a practical strategy; we want trusted allies who we can rely on, and who preferably already understand our cultural shorthand. We assume they will be able to - as the saying goes - ‘hit the ground running’. But when we consider that an overwhelming majority of venture-backed startup founders are white (in the US, Black founders receive just 1% of VC funding, whilst the situation in the UK is even more bleak), and that 75% of white people have all-white networks - it’s not hard to see how so many companies fail to embed diversity as they grow.
With inclusion, the situation becomes ever foggier. Inclusion itself is actually rather invisible, and tricky to pin down. It is, in essence, the absence of exclusion. So - those people in an organisation who have been hired through personal networks, and who share similar backgrounds and life experiences, often feel a strong sense of inclusion and belonging. It’s easy enough, if you belong to this ‘in-group’, to assume that your experience is simply the status quo, and felt by others across the business. Add to the mix a lack of broader understanding regarding the deep societal barriers that those from historically marginalised backgrounds face (outside of the workplace, as well as within it), and the result can be a pervasive naïvety across the company.
So it’s sadly common for companies to lack diversity, and for certain people (typically those from historically marginalised groups) to feel excluded. A huge amount of the work we do with organisations entails holding their hands through the discomfort as they wrestle with some of the difficult-to-digest truths about their systemic issues - truths that they may previously have been in deep denial about. The work to build a culture that welcomes critical feedback and leans into vulnerability therefore entails a necessary component of every project.
One common saying when it comes to DEI is that companies ‘need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable’, which, whilst true in many ways, makes DEI work sound rather unappealing - like an endless root canal. It’s no-doubt tempting to throw in the towel when the alternative sounds a lot like perpetual discomfort. But moving through our defensiveness and sitting with our discomfort is just one small part of the larger journey to becoming a truly inclusive organisation. There will always, of course, be some pain along the way; that’s simply a reality of any transformational work. But if we can have the resilience to engage with our current pitfalls, listen deeply to the candid feedback we receive, and commit to nurturing a culture of openness and authenticity, the reward - for our people and our organisation as a whole - is more than worth it.
