How To Gain Experience as a DEI Practitioner

Gaining experience as a DEI practitioner comes from taking action that has the potential to create transformation.

Looking Back

I was on a walk with a friend recently, and we began chatting about our experiences in leading race-focused work. My friend has been doing anti-racism work since the 1990s, both as an activist and inside organizations. As we walked, we swapped stories about times we got it right (by creating sustainable change) and cringed at moments when we got it wrong, like when training sessions blow up. I have never thought about "the how" underlying my experience, so it was an interesting question.

My friend is an activist and organizer at heart, and my path started inside organizations. As we shared our different experiences over time and in various settings, we kept coming back to the same question, “How did you learn that?” We each pondered the question for a few minutes before answering and moving on in the discussion.

Yet, I am still deeply intrigued by the question.

There are no guarantees of success

As I think more about it, the things that I believe are fundamental for moving an organization forward in its racial equity journey, I learned through action, by trying through learned experience.

I know it sounds simple, but I recognize it’s not.

To be clear, I am not talking about checking boxes. I don’t believe in “just doing something.” that is not connected to your organizational mission and values. What I mean is more like experimenting. You may succeed. You may fail. You’ll never know until you try. That’s how I learned. For example, in training sessions, there are specific small group exercises that I no longer use because experience has taught me not everyone connects to the question in the same way. I would not have known that had I not tried.

Journeys

I started my journey in this space in 2008. There wasn’t a DEI infrastructure to tap into, only people who dared to raise hard questions inside their respective places of influence -- inside philanthropies, nonprofits, and other organizations. Of course, I had mentors. But one of the things my friend and I had in common across our respective experiences is that we tried no matter what space we were in. Sometimes successfully. Other times not.

Today, I want to encourage you to try that new way of working that has been on your mind for a minute now. There is no other way to know if it will work for you. And, maybe it won’t work, but maybe it will.

There can be great insight on the other side of analysis paralysis, but you must push through to get there.

I think we, as DEI practitioners, can create an opportunity to explore how we learn and ask ourselves why this particular journey is important to our growth.

Resources

How to Plan Your Personal DEI Growth Journey (Podcast Ep 002) 

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