| | DECEMBER 20258CANADACANADAIN MY OPINIONHow can I start making an impact on diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization? As a DEI professional, leaders ask me this question frequently. Before leaders can start to impact DEI organization wide, they need to understand and be accountable for how DEI impacts them personally. DEI's power is centered on our personal ability to change. While change is a personal choice, true commitment requires resilience when change becomes uncomfortable. It is critical for leaders to guide employees through new experiences that DEI programs are meant to support. Here are a few possible scenarios and questions you can ask yourself as a leader to better support your employees as you grow together in the DEI space:· Employees may hear details of someone else's lived experiences that are different from their own, which can impact their own experience of stability and how they think things are or should be. What experiences have impacted the way you think? What stories can you share that made you reconsider how things have always been done? How have your perspectives changed throughout your leadership to help support organizational change and what impact has that had on your personal growth?· Partner in exploring the edges of what makes employees uncomfortable. Hold space for conversations about bias (conscious or unconscious) and be willing to discuss your own biases as you identify them. What in your childhood led you to have biases around success? How has the media impacted DIVERSITY EQUITY AND INCLUSION LEADERS ARE THE CATALYSTS FOR CHANGEEmily GambacortaBy Emily Gambacorta, Employee Engagement and Experience, Central Hudson
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