Posts in Organizational Change
Alzheimer’s Society Case Study: Making Equitable Process Innovations, Inside and Out

Alzheimer’s Society, a UK charity, underwent transformative changes to enhance racial and ethnic inclusion. Fueled by Equity Sequence® training and prompted by global events like the George Floyd protests, the organization adapted its outreach processes and internal hiring strategies. Recognizing disparities in dementia-related services, they embraced innovative approaches, seeking feedback, and fostering inclusivity. This case study showcases their commitment to dismantling barriers, internally and externally, ultimately working towards a more equitable and accessible future for individuals affected by dementia.

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Next-level diversity-washing: whose agenda is your organization really advancing?

To democracy and social justice watchers, observing this business-as-usual behavior is like watching corporate giants sleepwalk toward the edge of a cliff, dragging with them our hopes for more a democratic, inclusive society—and for more democratic, inclusive organizations—tethered as we all are to their outsized power and influence.

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At its root, DEI work is, or should be, in my view, a moral endeavor. Its aim should be to nudge, cajole, demand, sometimes even shame an organization into acting on the basis of moral instead of business imperatives. But insofar as business is about making money, generating profit, and maximizing gain—essentially selfish endeavors—its deepest motivation is not to act morally or care about moral choices.

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From Bedtime Chats to Business Strategy: How One Leader Is Fuelling Equitable Change

“Of all the things I’ve seen,” Jeff said, “Equity Sequence™ is the most effective way of asking a group of leaders who aren’t truly representative or reflective of the customer base to try and make decisions that are.”

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Jeff Dodds, Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Media is making it his mission to accelerate equitable change with a seismic push.

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Metrics, benchmarking, and indexing, oh my!

So what will all of our questions actually give us? Beautiful graphics and visuals representing analytics that are “hit-and-miss” and rife with bias themselves? “Hit-and-miss” like the effectiveness of so many “gold standard” D&I interventions - namely, unconscious bias training, among others?

How can we prevent metrics, benchmarking, and indexing from becoming the new tick-box risk-mitigation exercise - part of the window-dressing of “woke” organizations?

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The Disability Community: organizing for voice, rights, equity and inclusion

At the end of the day, regardless of the word(s) we use to identify ourselves or the diversity of our experiences as disabled people, we need solidarity and intersectionality in a broader collective pursuit of equality hand-in-hand with others engaged in the same pursuit - women, people of colour, Indigenous folks, immigrants, the elderly, the LGBTQ community, and so on. What we’re all after is an equal opportunity to reach our full potential.

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Reckoning with inequality in the context of “diversity, inclusion & belonging”

We owe it to the world we’re designing, whether we know it or not, to finally confront the fact that the vast majority of our organizations and institutions have inequality baked in.
Inequality in the NDA.
Black folks know this. Other marginalized and underrepresented groups know this.
It f*cking sucks.
And it is the motherlode of opportunities for reform, for (r)evolution, for re-design, for co-creation.

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Stop making 'the business case' for equity, diversity and inclusion

So, if all it took was the business case. If leaders make their decisions based on ROI and fiduciary responsibility and market value and all the rest of it, why isn’t John the CEO and all the other “John-the-CEOs” pound their fist on the table and declare: “If we don’t have 50/50 gender representation across the ranks of our organization… if we don’t hire and promote all people - regardless of race, gender, etc. - at equal rates… if we don’t create a culture of anti-sexism, anti-racism and so-on… Then people at this company don’t have an equal opportunity to succeed and achieve their full potential. Then - godammit - neither can this company! And that’s not okay!”

Why don’t they?

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