Why won’t you DEI?
How do you make people change their attitudes and behaviours without them ending up resenting you?…
More in Common released an interesting report on Saturday, on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, whether people really are fed up of it, and how we can communicate it in a way that works.
Campaign design is the art of pairing human experience with data, and my friends at More in Common are positively ‘Heston Blumenthal’ in how they do just that.
‘Finding a Balance - How to ensure Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is for everyone’ had my lips smacking as I devoured the report on the train this morning. EDI is a topic that pervades a lot of our communications work and is a dynamic that flavours daily life for a lot of my friends and loved-ones.
Bitter and sweet.
It’s often communicated badly, can ironically divide people rather than include them, and it’s the subject of noisy, often dehumanising, op-ed columns and X-rants. Today’s report shows that 73% of the UK feel that people are often or sometimes made to feel stupid for not understanding the latest way to talk about diversity issues.
But the research - done in partnership with Oxford University - offers helpful proof that there is still an appetite for DEI (thank God, we’re not yet so inhumane) and there is indeed a way to do it well (sweet relief!).
In summary, here’s what I’ve taken from it:
How to communicate DEI badly:
Be unbothered - it’s just a tick-box exercise after all
Be impractical and don’t think about context - don’t tailor DEI activities to your specific job or institution, or anything relevant to people’s everyday experiences
Rant at people and punish them for being wrong - use aggressive and polarising language that creates an 'us vs them' dynamic
How to communicate DEI successfully:
Listen to people, understand real-world experiences and share stories - ground DEI comms in the context of people's everyday lives and work
Be honest, human and curious - encourage a culture of curiosity and agree a way of responding to mistakes graciously that doesn’t involve public shaming
Focus on the whole - Celebrate everyone’s uniqueness and show how DEI benefits us all
Focus on shared values - Link DEI to fairness, merit, and reducing barriers to opportunity
Reading this report this morning was another reminder that real life is so much more hopeful than X-life. Thanks More in Common!
I also feel emboldened in our mission to keep making public communication more human and to continue to follow our campaign design habits: understand what people really want; communicate locally; tell stories.
If you’re struggling to DEI successfully, let’s chat…
Read More in Common’s report here: moreincommon.org.uk/our-work/research/finding-a-balance/