Why the term DEI is problematic

Numerous organizations have adopted the title “global DEI” as they pursue diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work in an effort to create positive impacts, in reality this performative approach to DEI remains surface level while failing to address root issues of domestic systemic inequity. 
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Let’s go back to DEI 101 basics and establish a foundational common understanding. Too often DEI professionals are running on self righteous fumes as they advocate for only one group of minorities such as advocating for a specific race or exclusively LGBTQPIA+ interests. In order to achieve success in DEI work, we must remember that DEI is about empowering the intersectionality of multiple minority identities simultaneously, both marginalized and dominant group members. For the record and please quote me, the purpose of DEI is to increase access for marginalized groups through the equitable support from both dominant group members and marginalized group members. The million dollar question is, why are organizations pursuing global DEI when they have yet to achieve domestic DEI impactfuly?

​“The purpose of DEI is to increase access for marginalized groups through equitable support.”

What to Do if Your Organization is Already on the Global DEI Train

• Change the wording to be accurate 

Words are a source of power that can be leveraged for allyship or oppress others. The practice of mislabeling in DEI perpetuates harm to marginalized groups by creating a DEI industry complex. Consider dropping the term “global” and adopt a targeted domestic DEI approach to increase organizational engagement and yield. 

Even well-known established companies such as Deloitte, Wayfair, and DropBox use the title global DEI, but it does not mean that their DEI staff and the organization as a whole, fully understand the larger impacts of the mislabeling. Oftentimes the global DEI staff are people of global majority (PGM/people of color) who claim to be successfully implementing global DEI work when in reality they are inadvertently exploiting or excluding other PGMs and minority groups. This creates a normalization of well intentioned but harmful DEI work that overlooks the domestic organizational inequities such as ableism, sexism, and regionalism right in our own backyard.

• Set DEI Limits Clearly define the term global DEI for yourself and your organization. 
  1. What does global DEI actually mean in your organization? 
  2. How does it add to the small and large impacts of your organization’s scope of services offered to clients as it increases access for all minorities of the global population? 
  3. How does your organization customize the DEI approach by country and region to be truly equitable in meeting minority needs?

Concisely answering these three questions serve as a baseline measurement tool to establish DEI boundaries or limitations to accurately assess the negative and positive impacts of global DEI work.

If you as the DEI professional or organizational leader are unable to concisely answer these three questions by clearly explaining the findings, I strongly suggest revising and reassessing your organization's strategy and assessment tools related to global DEI.

• Research domestic DEI context 

Allocate DEI resources to better understand and assess the domestic contexts of what your organization’s global DEI means before expanding internationally. When flying on an airplane there is a safety protocol to secure your oxygen mask first before assisting others. This transfers to organizational DEI as well.

1. Whose land does the organizational headquarters occupy and what does the relationship look like with the local Native American community?

If there is no organizational land acknowledgement your organization is erasing the existence of Native Americans while parasitically benefitting off the occupation of stolen land.

1. What percentage of organizational leadership and staff reflect the local demographic diversity and expansive needs of domestic clients?

This is an indicator of the gap between leadership intentions and large scale organizational impact of services and products offered that could be reduced with an effective domestic DEI approach and increase return of investment.

1. How many pipeline programs and partnership programs does your organization actively participate in to increase access for traditionally marginalized local communities?

Pipeline programs feed relevant talent into an organization ensuring organizational legacy founded on flexibility to adapt to the ever changing needs of customers.

1. Is being of service a permanent component in your organization’s DEI strategic plan to support those who will be negatively impacted during the next four years?

Allocation of a DEI budget in perpetuity protects the retention of talented staff, a robust team to meet a large array of organizational needs, and provides quantitative data as evidence for measurable DEI progress for investors and board members.

When an organization has answered these questions with statistical evidence, concise wording, and long term commitment, this is a good indicator that they have built a strong enough DEI foundation domestically to expand their reach via global DEI.
Examples of Global DEI Success and Learning Moments
Example 1: Easily Accessible Definition Misses the Mark

The University of Minnesota (UM) was the first populated result for the Google Search “Global DEI definition. UM defines global DEI as an initiative:

“The Global DEI Initiative provides opportunities to examine the intersection of the goals of increasing intercultural understanding through global education and the goals of creating a culture of belonging in our communities, especially to historically underrepresented, often marginalized people in the U.S.”

In other words, UM along with numerous academic institutions and professional organizations use the term global DEI as a gimmick hook. In this specific marketing for student enrollment, the title mentions “global” but contradicts itself by specifically mentioning “marginalized people in the U.S.”

This example is confusing and communicates contradictory messages via a catch all framing with the purpose to entice students to apply to their DEI program by stretching the definition beyond domestic. The important question to ask is, how does this global DEI initiative specifically and methodically cover planetary wide DEI while also comprehensively addressing U.S.A DEI in the short duration of this academic program?

This practice of stretching DEI titles to cover more scope of work transfers to professional and non-profit organizations. Oftentimes organizations claim to be global DEI practitioners without strategic plans, measurement tools, and experienced DEI professionals to implement the work. The impact is loss of faith, wasting of resources, and low project completion rates when the work delivered fails to meet standards set by an overly ambitious and inaccurate title. Too often DEI professionals are basing their work projections on feelings, inspirational stories, and trendy DEI best practices instead of conducting DEI research, partnering with minority communities, and investing in professional DEI development of leaders/staff.

Resources offered on the UM’s Global DEI Initiative page site the following resources by subject. 

3 Equity education, 2 Black man, *2 Global, 1 English language learners , *1 Gender , *1 Justice, *1 Religion

*Note that some resources have subject overlap based on title

From a numbers perspective, only two resource titles pertain to global DEI. This should make a qualified DEI professional critically consider the value of this programming when the initiative title is “Global DEI” and only 25% of the resources offered explicitly relate to global application. At the time of writing this article I reached out to the provided contact on the UM website requesting curriculum information and the contact reported the global initiative has not made much progress in the last few years and there are no additional global DEI resources to be provided. 

Giving credit where it is due, UM is on trend for featuring the most popular national DEI areas of interest; justice, black men, equity, and education. From a domestic DEI standpoint these subjects are a good starting point for beginning level DEI but require a wider scope to address the complexities of global DEI inequities and domestic DEI at an intermediate and advanced level. 

As a DEI consultant, this approach offers nothing new to the fast evolving advancements in the realm of DEI work as it remains surface level and is missing a plan of measurable action/adoption. 

Granting UM the benefit of doubt, we can believe that this list of resources was curated to be especially relevant to the students and faculty demographics in Michigan interested in the four DEI topics mentioned above. 

UM could increase the impact and reach of this global DEI initiative by self-assessing the lack of representation or the silences that have been directly impacted since the inception of the university.

• Where are the resources about Native Americans whose land the university occupies?

 

• What steps have been taken by the university to increase accessibility for people with disabilities (wheelchair users, visual & hearing impairment, neurodivergence. etc.)?

Is UM’s global initiative program and faculty equipped and trained to support an intersectional identity, such as a trangender indigenous queer woman with ADHD, on campus and on international study abroad programs?

The impact is loss of faith, inefficient use of resources, and low project completion rates when the work delivered fails to meet standards set by an overly ambitious and inaccurate global DEI title. 


Example 2: United Nations Sets Global DEI Standard

The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) defines their definition of globally practiced DEI as “discrimination in employment and occupation refers to any distinction, exclusion or preference which has the effect of placing certain individuals in a position of exclusion or disadvantage in the labour market or the workplace because of their race, colour, religion, sex, disability, political opinion, national extraction, social origin or any other attribute which bears no relation to the job to be performed.” By definition  the UNGC supports the accessible participation of all individuals and their access to business regardless of their protected characteristics. 

The key factor that differentiates global DEI and national DEI are the achievement of impacts. The UNGC specifically states the outcomes of global DEI are “Inequality threatens long-term social and economic development, jeopardizes social cohesion, harms poverty reduction and causes disparities in opportunities and outcomes, impeding economic efficiency.” In other words, the UNGC strives to address large-scale systemic oppression and end discrimination in business that impedes the growth of international markets, cultural unity, reduce societal economic gaps, and expand opportunities with measurable change for minority groups. 

These outcomes act as guides to increase the best usage of resources for business from a global DEI centered approach. If your organization is not actively practicing these five global DEI tenets then I highly recommend reconsidering the public marketing of global DEI by your organization. The positive impacts of accurate wording on titles creates reasonable expectation management, achievable project standards, and increased success for work completion and stakeholder buy-in.

Example 3: DEI Research Informed 

In my experience as a DEI professional with a master’s in Diversity and Inclusion, I define global DEI as the geographic and cultural work informed by DEI principles to address international systems of oppression. When implemented effectively, global DEI increases access for minorities with active allyship from majority group members and collaboration with other minorities. In simple terms, global DEI is a more customized approach compared to DEI because every aspect of the work is influenced by the geographic and cultural nuances of equitable support for minorities on a massive planetary scale. 

For example, it is standard protocol for myself to conduct new DEI research studies with every client to identify both my client’s wishes and the local minority community needs. One hundred percent of the time the leader’s perception of stakeholders’ needs does not align with the actual stakeholder needs. This gap in knowledge is due to power dynamics informed by education, professional mentorship, economic status, and citizenship. Those four factors inform leader identity and values creating unconscious biases that inform organizational culture.

To counter leader bias and exclusive organizational culture data serves as evidence to assess the spectrum of impacts that limit access and create barriers internally and externally for the organization. The value of hiring qualified DEI consultants is to obtain DEI specific data to reduce the risk of failure and increase organizational gains. 

There are a number of standard leadership tools and DEI best practices that are applicable to most USA organizations, however targeted DEI research provides critical insights relevant to specific industry and local community needs that vary with every organization. Customization is an integral component of global DEI that must be built into standard operating protocols, policies, and services/products provided. 

On the most basic level many international organizations that claim global DEI lack diverse linguistic support on their homepage to reflect their clients while continuing to hire leadership who think, talk, work, and look the same. 

It is a false advertisement for organizations to offer global DEI when they fail to acknowledge the stolen land of indigenous people their brick and mortar locations occupy or offer comprehensive gender affirming healthcare in the USA despite international satellite locations.

Too often on professional platforms I see organizations promoting their global DEI initiatives, programming, and staff that lack concise focus and direction when they unsuccessfully implement a cookie cutter approach to DEI. This practice often consists of a plug and play DEI model that worked well with one site or team but remains surface level and ineffectual at creating large scale organizational allyship. 

“Global DEI is informed by DEI principles, geographic location, and culture specific. Global DEI strives to break down international systems of oppression by increasing access for marginalized communities with active allyship from majority group members and other marginalized groups.”

The need to customize DEI and go deeper to address the root issues of discrimination force organizational leaders to recognize the codependence of allyship and power. Plaut et. al describes this organizational diversity resistance as a “co-existence of these dueling realities - the view that diversity initiatives give special treatment…versus the sentiment that not enough has been done to ensure these groups’ equitable treatment and inclusion - and explore their interconnection.” 

As a DEI professional I have clearly identified who I can help and how I can help. As a consultant if I oversell a service that I cannot deliver that hurts my professional credibility and I would lose clients. This transfers to organizations and leaders who say they practice global DEI but when it comes to services offered for their globally diverse clients, the gap in global DEI will cost an organization customer loyalty and organizational growth in the long run. Without the element of customization global DEI is an empty promise for the outsiders looking in and business as usual for the privileged few.

Takeaways

• Use accurate wording to create reasonable expectations that increase the success rate of organizational DEI projects and ROI
• Use DEI specific research to increase gains and reduce risk with leadership decision making
• Use a DEI informed measurement tool to assess the impacts of domestic DEI before expanding to global DEI or risk causing exponential harm on already marginalized communities
• Reach out to the DEI professional community for best practices, conferences, and consultants to obtain nuanced DEI strategies, tools, and skills

Not sure where to start? Reach out to Step Up Step Back for a free 30 minute first time consultation www.susbdei.com.
References
University of Minnesota. Global, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Initiative. Global Programs and Strategy Alliance. https://global.umn.edu/global-dei#:~:text=The%20Global%20DEI%20Initiative%20provides,marginalized%20people%20in%20the%20U.S. 

United Nations Global Compact. Take Action. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). https://unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/dei 

Plaut, V., Romano, C., Hurd, K., Goldstein, E. (2020). Diversity Resistance Redux. Diversity Resistance in Organizations. Routledge 92nd ed.). 103-118.

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