About our guest author: Melody Starya Mobley’s experiences as the first black woman serving as a forester for the USDA are remarkable: both for the firsts she embodies and for the years of abuse and oppression she experienced within that system.
Now, Melody shares her personal stories to create positive change for groups historically excluded from accessing American natural spaces.
With the few federal protections that exist currently being stripped away, it’s more important than ever for stories like these to be told. To read more of Melody’s writing, visit her website.
Image credit: Kirth Bobb
The necessity of DEI
Many agencies and organizations are dismissing their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies because they’re afraid of losing funding and favor, which is understandable, but I wish they instead had the guts to push back. An excellent DEI policy helps attract, engage, and retain the best talent for an organization—and helps us all work to solve our biggest problems.
DEI is a necessary practice used to recognize, value, and respect differences among people, ensure fair opportunities for everyone, and foster a work environment where all feel and are welcome, valued, and respected. In my opinion, an ideal organizational DEI policy should, at a minimum, include the following.
A DEI policy should include these 7 things
1. Provide a clear statement by leadership that the organization is firmly committed to fostering and maintaining DEI.
It must be a clear statement of vision and values that outlines the organization’s plan to build a diverse and inclusive community where everyone feels valued and respected because of their race, gender, creed, ability, religion, ethnicity, accessibility, background, identity, or other unique characteristics.
2. Include specific, measurable accomplishment goals—including responsibility for recruiting underrepresented groups to the workforce.
Leadership and employees with hiring authority should set and work toward regularly measured objectives, with clear metrics to track progress and adjust as needed. The whole organization should have performance evaluation criteria that assess work toward achieving DEI pay and leadership equity. This goes beyond counting numbers; it’s about building diverse teams where all can contribute and demonstrate their high skills.
3. Build inclusive recruitment and hiring policies.
Diverse hiring panels are critical to ensure underrepresented candidates are fairly considered alongside white males—and panel members must be given an equal voice to highlight characteristics that might otherwise be overlooked. Target outreach to underrepresented communities and organizations to increase the candidate pool, and write job and position descriptions that focus on essential, critical skills rather than nice-to-haves.
4. Design recruitment practices that attract highly qualified, diverse talent.
Use inclusive communication strategies. Include the DEI policy statement in job descriptions. When possible, use diverse employees on the recruitment team. Be honest and upfront about the organization’s strong desire to achieve a diverse workforce. Make sure position and job descriptions are succinct and restricted to critical skills. Always hire based on ability.
5. Provide safe, transparent reporting mechanisms for violations and concerns.
Develop a precise, easy-to-navigate system. Ensure the confidentiality of the reporters—not the employees who are found guilty of DEI violations. Develop and consistently implement a system to hold violators accountable and ensure reporters are not negatively impacted for speaking up.
6. Implement regular training and education to address and help eradicate unconscious bias.
Having a workforce well-trained in biases will help develop an inclusive work culture where every employee can thrive—the training must be mandatory for all employees but especially leadership, supervisors, and those with hiring authority. It is the best way to identify and address unconscious biases in the organization’s decision-making processes.
7. Regularly monitor and review all DEI activities to ensure continuous progress.
Incorporate DEI in performance evaluations and provide specific constructive feedback to employees. Leadership should undergo monthly reviews including violations and concerns. Other employees, at a minimum, should receive quarterly DEI reviews; if their evaluation is negative, they should not earn exemplary performance ratings, and the complaints should figure strongly when evaluating for rewards. This demonstrates to employees how seriously organizational leaders regard DEI.
DEI makes our organizations better
As organizations continue to embrace DEI principles, they foster an environment where every individual’s voice is heard, valued, respected, and incorporated, creating the best possible outcomes.
Where these policies exist, employee collaboration is enhanced, and the team can work together toward optimal productivity and a safe work environment.
Read more of Melody’s writings
on her website.