FD article – woke organizations are boycotted and suffer financial damage
FD article – woke organizations are boycotted and suffer financial damageThe article ''go woke, go broke'' that recently appeared in the FD refers to the situation in the US. The theory behind this is that the more actively an organization advocates the emancipation of all kinds of marginalized groups, the faster the popularity of the brand and thus the turnover decrease (FD). There is a culture battle in which, on the one hand, customers and employees expect organizations to speak out publicly on social issues. On the other hand, woke a woke attitude or too woke attitude is punished. te woke a woke attitude or too woke attitude is punished.
In the Netherlands, as in the US, organizations are increasingly expected to take a public stand on social issues. See also the many Linkedin posts where organizations profile themselves, well-intentioned or marketing technically "smart" to score. In the US, the right-wing conservative corner speaks out about the woke expressions of companies and calls for boycotts of companies that behave in a woke way. Examples mentioned in the article are the commercial of the Miller Lite beer brand, which celebrates female brewers, a Starbucks commercial featuring a trans actress and an American retailer Target that released a special clothing collection for the LGBTIAQ+ community. The beer brand Bud Light came into the news at the beginning of April through the collaboration with a transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which generated many negative reactions. As a result, parent company AB Inbev's share price came under pressure and sales of Bud Light fell.
These are interesting times for marketing and communications departments in terms of how they deal with sentiment and the relationship with employer branding when it comes to woke ideas or pursuing an inclusive organization. What do you stand for as an organization? What position do you want to take on the playing field? And do you dare to make a statement? The examples mentioned in the US illustrate the search and perhaps the complexity at the moment, which is not always without consequences. Well-intentioned initiatives miss their target when the sentiment at play is not sufficiently taken into account, or when the wrong tone is struck and woke becomes too woke.
From conversations I have with various organizations, it appears that many of them are still searching and have the greatest difficulty in clearly positioning themselves in the field of D&I. The process of change management in particular is not easy and the question is whether organizations follow the right steps and whether the D&I initiators have sufficient decisiveness, knowledge and influencing skills to make an impact and bring about real change.
Change management – how do you deal with resistance to change?
There is now a lot of literature available on step-by-step plans for introducing D&I in the organization. From extensive scientific audits, which produce detailed reports, with a step-by-step description of what the organization in question should focus on, to knowledge platforms with all kinds of tips and tricks. There are success stories, intervention models and various handouts that should all lead to organizations becoming more diverse and inclusive. There is also a lot of research about the stumbling blocks and the different forms of resistance. For example, the subject of D&I is often assigned to an HR employee who has no idea what to do and where to start. Or an inexperienced person is put in the D&I position, who is not capable to really make a real impact. Or the D&I expert is an excuse not to really change at all. Recently I read an interesting article in HBR about resistance that assumes three types of threats (status, merit and morality) that the 'majority group' and the 7-vinkjes (if you want to use that terminology) can experience. When status is threatened, the majority group sees it as a loss when the minority group moves up or makes progress. Merit is about acknowledging that prejudice, discrimination and inequality exist, the majority group and 7 vinkjes admit that their success is not due to themselves (their own merit). A moral threat is when the majority group acknowledges that privilege exists, they admit that the system is unfair, despite their own beliefs in a moral ideal of equality. The HBR article then describes more about the type of response to the forms of resistance mentioned (status – defending, merit – denying and morality – distancing).
"In my opinion, it is very relevant to understand the resistance to the 'woke' movement that is going on."
From my own vision on the subject, I often miss an overarching and integrated vision in organizations. D&I is often taken up as a separate project (such as Recruitment, Employer branding, Anti-bias training) and 'slide into someone's portfolio'. Besides a number of intrinsically motivated supporters, the chance of success is very small to get the large majority on board and to enthuse. The interventions that are used (such as an anti-bias training, or an event aimed at specific target groups) are often well-intentioned, but do not work constructively to get the 'majority' on board.
If we look at the people in organizations, they can be split into five categories, see the model below:
As in the book 'de meeste mensen deugen', I assume that most people have no active resistance to the ideas of an inclusive organization. The figure above shows that the large majority is expectantly positive. However, the people in the fifth category can ensure, through interventions that are (too) woke, that the large group in the second and third categories drops out and ends up in active resistance. For example, I have heard examples of managers, after a workshop on unconscious bias, being cornered in such a way that they develop an aversion to the subject of D&I. Although these managers had a moderately positive attitude towards the subject at the start and were willing to be further enthused, the opposite is being achieved and they will soon no longer feel compelled to invest time and money in D&I. This is an example that happens of course much more often. Another example is that in conversations with D&I ambassadors (unfortunately they are not always experts) I notice that they reason from a victim role or simply do not have the ability to take an overarching perspective. They expect empathy from the 'majority', but mainly create resistance and allergy to the subject through interventions that are introduced from a specific 'target group'. Unfortunately, the way these proponents position the subject and their negative view of the change process becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fortunately, I also have conversations with organizations that are on the right track, with experts and intrinsically motivated people who persevere to make the desired change a success.
How do you deal with resistance to change?
Agility, or an organization's ability to change, is a crucial characteristic that allows organizations to differentiate themselves from the competition and to meet the ever-changing demands of the environment. In the world of psychological assessments, agility has also been a trend for a while to test managers. If organizations have set themselves the goal of becoming more inclusive, one can speak of a transition that affects all layers of the organization. Starting from the basic principles of change management, the question is how the subject of DIE&B is positioned to make the transition succeed and whether the right steps are being followed. Change is naturally accompanied by resistance and the subject of DIE&B is a sensitive subject and the sentiment in society and the organization is an essential factor to take into account.
Of course, a lot of research has been done on change and resistance. Actually, these two are inextricably linked and part of a natural process. Humans are creatures of habit and basically do not like to change (with exceptions). There are all kinds of reasons why resistance can arise, such as unclear motivation or a lack of vision, previous negative experiences, or lack of good exemplary behavior. On the other hand, there are change models that focus on the process of removing resistance. A number of essential steps are reflected in this:
- As an initiator, focus on creating understanding for the change
- invest time and explanation to talk to people
- involve people in the process of decision-making or providing input in the change process – let intrinsically motivated people join the “movement”
- encourage and use role models – leaders or other influencers who show good exemplary behavior.
McKinsey's model is based on four building blocks for change.
People change when their leaders lead by example, when they understand why the change is necessary, when the systems and processes in the organization support the desired change, and when employees have the opportunity and the skills to demonstrate the desired behavior.
Kotter's 8 step model
Below we explain a number of basic steps of Kotter's 8-step model in relation to steering the desired change to become more inclusive as an organization.
Step 1; creating a sense of urgency. Is there an understanding of the need for change? Are the intended benefits clear to everyone?
DIE&B: The urgency and necessity; a business case (shortage on the labor market, more innovation, absenteeism, social safety), demographic developments, market changes, continuous need for innovation and labor market developments, an outdated leadership profile, sentiment in society, generational differences, etc. There are many motives to come up with a strong and credible story, why it is important for your organization to work on an inclusive organization.
How is the theme positioned in your organization? Is D&I still seen as a standalone project, or is the subject already integrated with the strategic goals of the organization?
Step 2. Form a leading coalition. You can think in hierarchical form. Which leaders are suitable to drive this change? In the context of DIE&B, it is by definition about inclusive leaders and ambassadors of an inclusive organization. In a non-hierarchical sense, it can also be about people with a major social impact in the organization – the influencers! The employees who are passionate, intrinsically motivated and willing to take a pioneering role.
“A D&I program can only succeed if the leaders have the right motivation and skills”
DIE&B: Who are the early adopters, the intrinsically motivated people who have influence and have natural leadership to make an impact. Form a sounding board group in which ideas are generated and tested for feasibility and effectiveness. It is important that ideas that are too woke, or ideas that have the opposite effect, are stopped in time. These ideas lead to more resistance, which hinders the change process. A risk of a sounding board group with too many like-minded people is that people reinforce each other in the ideas that are created and there is insufficient critical opposition. An advice is to make a decision protocol in which a number of standard steps are followed to test new ideas.
Step 3. Develop a vision, in which the desired future is clearly formulated, goals are set and there is a concrete strategy on how to achieve this vision.
DIE&B: Form an overarching vision that focuses on talent, innovation and a safe culture, among other things, and integrate these inclusive values with the core values of the organization.
Step 4. Communicate the vision across the entire organization. Nowadays there are so many means of communication and new technologies that can be used. However, the tone of voice is very important and should be carefully considered.
DIE&B: Work together with managers, internal influencers and the marketing department on a communication plan and associated employer branding. What is the type of communication that suits the organization, bring a message that everyone can identify with and that everyone can support. Avoid a target group approach, because this by definition leads to resistance from groups that feel left out. A target group approach can only work if there is a clear overarching vision and support among employees to contribute their own ideas about the D&I theme.
Step 5. Remove obstacles. Identify and remove obstacles that could impede change. These can be barriers such as outdated processes, resistance to change, lack of resources or insufficient skills. It is important to proactively address barriers to ensure smooth progress of the change.
It is sometimes said that looking ahead is governing. The change manager who wants to make the organization more diverse and inclusive must be a jack-of-all-trades. Someone who can think strategically, is able to make an impact at the highest level, and then be able to translate it into a plan of action and its implementation at the underlying layers in the organization. Removing 'obstacles' is therefore easier said than done and should not be underestimated. Mapping processes, systems, structures and culture is a complicated and lengthy process, let alone making changes. In this blog I want to focus mainly on the resistance that exists among people and how to influence this in a positive way.
Step 6. Generate short-term successes: Create and celebrate short-term successes and milestones to increase the confidence and motivation of those involved. This helps demonstrate the viability and benefits of the change and creates a positive dynamic in the change process.
DIEB: Take a top-down and bottom-up approach. Find the 'low hanging fruit' and try to achieve the first visible results. At the same time, include management in a clear overarching vision. Use the data to arrive at a substantiated business case and a measurable strategy, which includes clear KPIs, so that successes become visible.
Step 7. Keep the pace up: Don't let effort and energy slacken. Keep the momentum going by making continuous progress, learning from challenges and successes and sticking to the vision and strategy.
DIEB - In the book 'De inclusie marathon' it is mainly about the fact that becoming an inclusive organization takes time and is compared to running a marathon. It is therefore very important to keep the enthusiasm and fun in the process. Essential skills of a good manager include daring to make decisions and bringing the right people together (Gallup).
Step 8. Embed the change in the culture: To achieve sustainable change, the new approach must be embedded in the culture of the organization. This includes reinforcing new norms, values and behaviors that correspond to the desired change.
DIEB – there is now a lot of information to be found about the characteristics of an inclusive culture. From Gallup, there are three essential qualities that characterize an inclusive culture; dealing with each other honestly and respectfully, appreciating people for their qualities and the belief among employees that managers make the right decisions with regard to ethical and integrity issues. These important values and new behaviors should be incorporated into the policies, processes and systems and of course the people within the organization.
By following these 8 steps, Kotter's model enables organizations to manage change effectively and in a structured way and increase the chance of success. It emphasizes the importance of involvement, communication and creating a sense of urgency.
Hoe creëer je een positieve mindset in het veranderproces?
As with all change processes and certainly with the subject of DIE&B, it is important to tell a positive message that is positive for everyone. Not from one target group, or from an unfair battle that is going on, but an overarching story that everyone in the organization can agree with. This is the vision and the coat rack on which everything that follows can be hung. The knowledge through research in the field of DIE&B and the expertise of organizational psychology offers angles to add value from the content (apart from the sentiment) in order to grow as an organization and as the people within. This means that the desired change is disconnected from the emotion. Not that the emotion doesn't matter, on the contrary. But the emotion and sentiment are uncontrollable and ensure that the process of positive change and winning over the majority stagnates and one ends up in a passive state.
In summary, it is important that D&I is about everyone feeling heard, seen and valued. That D&I contributes to a better organization that is more competitive, offers better services and where it feels good to work, because you are seen as a person and you can develop yourself. DIE&B also means a mirror to yourself and acknowledging that everyone looks at the world from their own point of view, where one person is used to looking in the mirror now and then and another has never done this. As an organization, focus on a learning culture and create a working environment in which development is facilitated and managers set a good example and are able to develop their employees.
It is important to oversee the change process surrounding D&I, so that people can work prepared and anticipate in time to all obstacles and forms of resistance that will appear.
Hopefully this blog provides starting points and inspiration to take future steps on the D&I journey!
