Let’s talk less about the validity of existing DEI certifications and focus more on DEI competency because that is the real issue.
Let’s talk less about DEI certifications and focus more on DEI competency and skill because that is the real issue, and what organisations and recruiters are really trying to ascertain. My research with organizations and recruiters is showing that the interest in competency and certifiable experience is growing, not declining.
Quite frankly, a lot of the echo chamber discussions I see about whether DEI certifications are needed inadvertently highlight the need for them. It appears to me that this back and forth over whether certifications and/or specific qualifications are required is often a smoke screen distraction from the real issue, which is HOW we identify COMPETENT DEI service providers and potential DEI role holders. Just to be clear this conversation is not just for external independent consultants, competency is required for in-house role holders as well.
Recruiters and organisations are interested in competence
Recruiters and organizations are asking for consultancies, firms and practitioners to demonstrate evidence of competence - and who can blame them? They may not have the right language (yet) or quite know where to start but its a valid enquiry. Lived experience, passion, effort and enthusiasm are not core competencies or skills in any profession let alone the DEI industry - and neither should they be. Recruiting anyone into a role is not cheap and I’ve spoken to organizations spending upwards of 10k to recruit per role and therefore notwithstanding the internal issues which may exist and the lack organisational design which gives a DEI role holder the best chance of success, competency is a valid concern.
I believe what would be helpful is if we applied more critical thinking to this subject, listened to the experiences of organisations who have not gotten what they paid for* and carefully considered the consequences of not focusing on competency and standards.
Any responsible buyer wants to know what they are getting and whether quality delivery is guaranteed. Organisations should be able to ask about competence, experience and expertise as a standard. Anyone who actually does this work also knows that whoever your main stakeholder is, often has to justify or demonstrate that their chosen DEI provider is qualified, has verifiable experience and can deliver. They also have to get the budget to work with said provider as well and so being able to demonstrate the above (which are also business transformations) is important. I talk about this reality on my podcast all the time. It's naive to think that your identity and lived experience is enough to get hired or paid in this work.
New and aspiring DEI practitioners.
There are individuals who have never worked in a corporate environment before and therefore have no experience of a certain kind of workplace and the reality of organizatonal change (and how it commonly works). DEI practitioners in the workplace do not work in a silo - you have to understand organisations, how they work and how to navigate them. In fact, a good proportion of those who apply for the DEI Pro Academy are new to the workplace and/or DEI work altogether and this number is rising. The number 1 thing they say during the application interview is that although they have an interest in this work, they want to be competent and are actively seeking a programme to join to help with this.
A number of individuals from marginalized and minority groups are selected or volunteered to do workplace DEI just because of their identity. They feel uncomfortable about this and out of those who genuinely want to transition into a DEI role or become a consultant the majority of them want to undergo some type of formal training which enables them to be competent in the work. So it isn’t only firms who are interested in competency - so are those in the industry who care about how this work is done, the impact it has on organisations and how our industry is perceived.
Activism
There are also individuals who are currently community activists, social media activists and come from a social justice background. Can having a social justice background help in workplace DEI? Sometimes. It depends. Maybe. Is workplace DEI mainly about or based on social justice? No, not most of the time for some very good reasons that those of us who do workplace DEI know all too well.
Furthermore, there are some methods and rationale typical of activists that do not translate in practice when used within organisations and end up alienating the very stakeholders who need to be influenced (and hold the budget). Yes, we can use tools and ways of doing things which can be ‘disruptive’ in a positive way but its very rare that actual ‘disruption’ of the activist kind creates enough psychological safety for senior leaders, CEOs and board member to come to the table to explore their approach to DEI in the workplace. Say what you like about their fragility but this is the reality.
What can we learn from other unregulated industries?
You only have to look at the coaching industry to see what happens when there is no regulation or even moderation at all. Rogue actors cause harm and maybe we need to be reminded of that more often in this industry - there are no points for being Batman or Superman (or any other superhero) - we don’t need lone DEI superheros - we need competent practitioners. Less than 2% of the coaching industry is accredited - what that means in practice is that hardly any coaches have been through a moderated or even vaguely peer supervised learning or training programme before working with real paying clients.
As someone who has completed many of these types of programmes over the years, there are still models, types and frames of coaching for example that make me feel very uncomfortable knowing that people are practicing without supervision because of the potential harm it can cause to coachees. How much more so in workplace DEI? You have to have more than an opinion or a hunch as a DEI Practitioner when working with organizations. You can't lick your finger and put it up in the air to find a range of solutions which *may* work because of your identity and lived experience. And you can't build a whole organizational strategy, not even a team strategy, based on an opinion or singular experience.
How are others focusing on competency as DEI practitioners?
I’ve spoken to and recorded conversations with around 100 DEI professionals around the world and although passion and lived experience may have been a driver for starting this work, it most certainly is not what allows them to be competent and keep practicing. Passion and lived experience alone does not mean longevity, sustainability and competency. You only have to read the countless posts on Linkedin from DEI people about the burnout and exhaustion they experience. I have some thoughts on some of the reasons why this is but that’s a whole different article. Not one of those DEI professionals I spoke to cited passion and lived experience as a competence. Your lived experience means that you *might* know and accept that discrimination, prejudice and equality exists - but it has no bearing on how an entire organisation should approach DEI.
‘Our lived experiences make us experts. I don’t need a peer review or a certification to tell me what’s what’ - comment quoted from a thread discussing this topic.
Newsflash for those who don’t know already, marginalized groups and those with lived experience of discrimiation or any kind of prejudice also have unhealthy, inappropriate and harmful views, habits, customs and ways of treating other human beings. Do they have the moral ground all of the time? Are they automatically equipped, experienced and qualified to do workplace DEI because of lived experience? The answer is no. I’ve also talked about whether white people (mostly white women) should be doing diversity, equity and inclusion work and also whether black and brown people are exempt from attending anti-racism training in the workplace on the podcast in great detail - no group or individual is exempt from having to think about competency in this work.
Given the agreed importance of this work we cannot have rogue lone practitioners in or out of the workplace who are never moderated in any kind of way. The thread I saw this morning had countless opinions, passion and lived experiences - what does all of this equate to for an organisation? What is the ROI on that as an organisational strategy for the individual employees?
Different Learning Styles
There were some valid points about how important style of learning is and I certainly agree that the format and structure of learning in the DEI space needs to be far more varied and consider neurodiversity. Does a certification or programme need to include a written exam for example? No. There are multiple other ways to learn, be moderated and supervised in this work which is embracing different learning styles and needs.
Is this gatekeeping?
Is talking about standards, professionalism and certifications a form of gatekeeping? Yes to a certain extent it is. But there’s nothing wrong with that when we consider the alternative. Workplace DEI requires specific competencies and skills. Your identity and lived experience is NOT an expertise or competency in workplace DEI. If you are a content creator, a speaker or any other professional who likes talking about diversity, that’s fine. But that does not mean you should be employed or hired by an organisation to consult, train or coach.
As for the discussion of removing individualism from this work, I refer back to my earlier point about people wanting to be lone rangers and heroes in this work. Innovation is one thing but individualism? Again, organisations do not need individualism - they need non politicised evidence and research based expertise.
Should DEI training be low cost and free?
Lastly, I will comment on the argument that training, learning and education for workplace DEI practitioners should be free or low cost because some are from marginlized groups. This is absurd. Wanting this education and training to be free or low cost even though you intend on monetising these skills as an independent or in house role holder is incongruent especially given the fact that i have seen the same people argue that salaries for DEI roles should be 100k + (even though they are only bring lived experience and their identity to the table).
Acquiring and maintaining competence requires investment of time and money. I myself have spent a lot of money on ensuring I am a competent DEI practitioner. Despite that, for years I coached and trained people for free because I felt it was the right thing to do (it was my weak spot) even though those same people were monetizing what they had learned from my programme. Furthermore, there are practical costs involved in creating and delivering training and coaching which need to be covered. I’m running the first in-person DEI competency training of 2022 later this year and I can tell you the cost of bringing world class practitioners, clinicians and experts into one room (same applies for virtual events as well) is not cheap. So no, it cannot and will not be a free event. In any case, how you spend your money is your choice but there is nothing wrong with DEI practitioners expecting to be paid for sharing their expertise (especially when attendees are then going on to monetise what they’ve learned).
I talk about DEI competency and skill in further detail on the ‘Confessions of a DEI practitioner’ podcast every single week. You can listen to it on itunes and spotify.
Listen to the Confessions of A DEI Practitioner Podcast . The Confessions of a DEI Practitioner podcast is an open conversation and critical analysis of the state of the DEI industry, led by those actually doing the work with organisations. We also speak openly about the skills, competencies and qualities required by those doing this work.
Linkedin Thread Sources Referred To:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6929891542253867008/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-white-connections-linkedin-dylan-gerrity/
