How to Build a Robust DEI+J Communications Strategy
Strategies for authentic and resilient communications in times of sociopolitical flux.
The Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in 2023 sent major ripples through US businesses. This, combined with sociopolitical shifts and ongoing DEI+J pushback, has caused many organizations to change how they communicate about DEI+J initiatives, keep quiet about their work, or hit the pause button.
Yet even before the tumultuous events of 2023, authenticity and transparency in DEI+J communications were key areas of improvement for US businesses. For instance, we often saw organizations overselling progress on DEI+J or emphasizing internal communications over external ones, which remains true today.
To learn more about the state of corporate progress on DEI+J, including internal versus external communications, check out our recent research report. Periods of uncertainty and pushback are an opportunity for your business to showcase its continued commitment to DEI+J and maintain the trust of key stakeholders. Learn why having a well-thought-out DEI+J communications strategy is good for business and how to make your strategy more robust and authentic.
Why Prioritize DEI+J Communications
During times of backlash, it might be tempting to tone down your DEI+J efforts and external communications when, in fact, the opposite is true. Here’s why having a robust DEI+J communications strategy is so critical:
Demonstrated commitment to supporting impacted groups. At its core, DEI+J communications is about consistency. Communicating about the value of your DEI+J initiatives and standing behind your commitments is extremely important to impacted groups, especially when there’s resistance.
And that’s not a small group of people. When you think beyond race and gender and fully consider what DEI+J means, you’ll realize how many people it impacts. So, by advocating for DEI+J in your communications, you’re advocating for nearly everyone. Conversely, walking back on your commitments or not having a clear DEI+J communications strategy impacts a huge slice of your current workforce, potential workforce, suppliers, customers, and more.
Sustained trust and loyalty among key stakeholders. Your communications strategy is an outward expression of your DEI+J initiatives and values – your stakeholders want to see you stay true to them through thick and thin.
In a time when nearly 60% of consumers are more loyal to brands that demonstrate commitment to addressing social inequities, going back on your word or even staying silent about your DEI+J initiatives comes with various negative consequences. The most significant is loss of trust among key stakeholders like employees (current and future), partners, community members, and customers. This degraded loyalty and bad press is detrimental to your reputation, retention, recruitment, and bottom line.
Resilience against social, political, and cultural challenges. Shifting sociopolitical and cultural trends and other unpredictable events are largely outside of your control. Strong, clearly defined policies and values around DEI+J supported by consistent internal and external communications make you more prepared for the inevitable.
For instance, while hesitance to speak publicly during a charged sociopolitical atmosphere is understandable, silence may no longer be an option – a majority of Americans expect businesses to take a stand on social issues like racial discrimination and social justice.
Before You Start: DEI+J Comms Essentials
DEI+J Comms Plan
It may seem obvious, but you need to start with a plan. Your plan should outline how you’ll build DEI+J capacity, what’s included in your internal versus external communications, what channels you’ll use, and your DEI+J calendar.
Leadership Support & Buy-In
Your leaders need to stand behind your communications and follow through on organizational commitments. If your leaders aren’t committed, your employees won’t be either.
Organizational Alignment
Make sure your DEI+J communications align with your overarching business strategy, mission, and values.
Issue Alignment
Agree on what DEI+J topics are most important for your business, especially if your industry has historical inequities. Knowing this will dictate how you communicate.
Regular DEI+J Reporting
Regularly communicate progress on your DEI+J goals internally and externally. Remember to keep messaging centered on impacted groups and consult with them on how to deliver that message.
Employee Engagement
Actively engage your employees and lean on them to help spread DEI+J messaging. Invite diverse voices to the table to share personal stories and spotlight examples of allyship.
Inclusive Language & Images
Ensure your communications are visually accessible and inclusive, using gender-neutral language and avoiding stereotypes. Embed these practices across all mediums (job postings, recruiting, onboarding, internal announcements, etc.)
The Right Tone
Most importantly, be authentic and transparent in your tone. Avoid generic sentiments and loose commitments. Instead, be real about where you are and provide realistic timelines, especially for external communications.
Build a More Resilient DEI+J Communications Strategy
Ready to tap into the benefits of DEI+J communications? Here are 5 tips for making your DEI+J communications strategy more robust, authentic, and resilient to uncertainty:
1- Clearly understand and define what DEI+J means to your business.
Set a clear definition of what DEI+J entails and share this consistently and frequently across all your communications materials. This helps your employees and other key stakeholders understand the scope of DEI+J and allows you to respond quickly and definitively if you do experience retaliation.
Keep in mind that true DEI+J is more than race and gender. Limiting your understanding of DEI+J to these groups excludes other equally important stakeholders from your initiatives. Some DEI+J categories you might not be considering include veteran status, religion, immigration status, LGBTQ+ affiliation, age, and disability.
If you’re sticking to a narrower definition of DEI+J, be aware of how that might impact your business and surrounding communities.
2- Listen to your key stakeholders to learn where they stand on DEI+J and get to the root of any pushback.
Although it’s been proven time and time again that DEI+J is good for business and society, many DEI+J issues have become politicized. That means it’s critical to communicate across sociopolitical lines while being clear on the impact and purpose of these communications, such as ensuring employee safety. To do this, you first need to understand who you’re talking to.
For instance, imposing big changes or taking strong stances on certain DEI+J topics may be polarizing to your employees if you don't take time to appreciate their point of view. What issues do folks care about? Where do they stand on your current DEI+J initiatives? If there’s pushback, where’s it coming from and why do they feel that way? Where are they getting their information? There’s often a core reason for pushback, and it might not be what you think.
“Business tells us what they need, and we do it.”
Also, keep in mind that everyone is dealing with a lot – economically, socio-politically, and with an endless stream of bad news in the media – so it can be hard to get people’s attention on issues affecting other groups.
As you gather stakeholder perspectives and tailor your communications strategy, provide straightforward information and human stories about the real-world impacts of your DEI+J initiatives and the personal and professional challenges folks face across demographic lines. And highlight the interconnectedness of it all – everyone benefits, directly and indirectly, from robust and authentic DEI+J.
3- Be proactive about where your business stands on hot-button DEI+J issues and communicate that thoroughly.
Target’s recent decision to pull some of its LGBTQ-themed merchandise, a reactive response to pushback from a small, vocal group, landed them in hot water with many employees and customers. Once trust is lost, it’s hard to rebuild, so set yourself up for success by creating a communications plan for emerging hot-button issues ahead of time.
It might feel risky to openly have a stance on sensitive issues, but the more you take a back seat, the more likely you’ll find yourself in a corner, forced to make a reactive response. Some sensitive sociopolitical topics that warrant a proactive perspective include reproductive rights, climate justice, police violence against Black communities, and hate crimes (such as the violence against Asian Americans seen during COVID-19 or the rise of threats and hate crimes against Jews and Muslims due to the Israel-Hamas war).
4- Link your DEI+J teams with your crisis response or PR teams.
Too often, DEI+J and crisis response or PR teams operate in siloes. If you don't approach your crisis response planning with a DEI+J lens from the get-go, you may find yourself scrambling to respond promptly if an issue does come up. For instance, with no DEI+J input, your PR team’s response to an issue may come off wrong (making things worse, not better) or even contradict your internal DEI+J policies and values.
Instead, make sure your DEI+J team has a seat at the table when response plans are developed. This will save you time and energy down the road.
5- Authentically communicate about stalled or lackluster progress toward goals.
There’s no organization doing DEI+J perfectly. And while consumers reward brands that authentically champion DEI+J values and take a stand on social issues, they don’t expect perfection. In fact, they appreciate your honesty and would much rather hear why you’re not meeting your goals than be sold on a false sense of progress.
As part of your annual, public-facing DEI+J reporting, provide readers with a clear snapshot of your progress. If you haven’t met or aren’t on track to meet a particular goal, first admit that. Then share why that’s the case and, most importantly, what steps you’re taking to improve short- and long-term.
Corporate DEI+J is at a critical moment. A clear and authentic communications strategy is essential to keeping the momentum going. And, when it comes to external communications, be prepared, be brave, and stick to your values in the face of sociopolitical rifts.
Point B has helped organizations of all sizes build people-focused DEI+J programs and communications strategies that go beyond numbers and statistics. Get in touch with us if you’d like help developing a clear stance on sensitive issues or uplifting diverse voices in your communications.
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