Communicating DEI In The New Trump Administration
Five Steps You Can Take to Navigate the New Landscape of Diversity and Inclusion
President Trump’s Day One Executive Orders on DEI have forced companies to rethink their entire approach to diversity and inclusion. Some have been preparing since the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision. Now others have to respond to the new environment.
For many, there is no easy answer. Stay the course and risk attack by the Trump administration, or boycotts led by Robby Starbuck. Walk away from DEI and risk angering employees, advocacy groups, and customers.
Below are five steps companies can take to find a middle ground. These steps allow them to continue to work towards their goals while mitigating the risk. None is a silver bullet. Any change that companies make to their policies is a news story. Any retrenchment from DEI commitments is likely to create some degree of blowback. But these steps offer a path forward that depoliticizes the issue and creates opportunities to continue the work.
1. Move from acronyms and jargon to plainspoken, descriptive language
Shift: Replace terms like DEI or ESG. Reevaluate the entire DEI lexicon and replace the language with language that can be understood by the average person.
Why: Most people have never heard of these terms. Or, they don’t know what they mean, or have an unfavorable opinion about them. More importantly, the department creating to be more inclusive has built a lexicon of terms that exclude people with highly technical definitions.
Example: Ask five people across your organization (not on the DEI team) to define “equity.” You’ll get many different answers. What’s the difference between DEI, D&I, JEDI, DEIBA? If you know, you are in the distinct minority.
2. Move from morality to materiality in explaining your actions
Shift: Move away from moral language that creates a divide between good and bad, right or wrong. Start connecting your actions to business outcomes.
Example: Don’t say something is “the right thing to do.” Or that your actions demonstrate you are a “force for good.” Stop talking about “fighting for social justice.” Instead, talk about how you are “acting responsibly.” Focus on how “diverse perspectives help us better serve our customers and drive innovation.” Communicate how “employees perform at their best when they work in an environment that welcomes and includes them.”
Why: When you define an action as a moral good, you are defining people who disagree with the action as immoral. On DEI, that can mean half the population. But if your actions create a tangible benefit to your business, both the rationale and the action are less controversial.
3. Move away from coded political terms to universal values
Shift: Move away from politicized terms toward terms that align with universal values that apply to all.
Example: Replace goals like “justice,” “equity,” and “systemic racism” with values like “fairness,” “opportunity,” and “equality.”
Why: These are not apples-to-apples changes, and they do suggest some potentially meaningful tradeoffs. But this shift offers a way to move away from the most controversial aspects and elements of DEI. It enables you to move toward programs and outcomes that have broader support.
4. Replace group-focused language with individual-focused messaging
Shift: Move away from the language of group identity and shift to more inclusive language of individuality.
Example: Instead of saying, “We’re focused on increasing representation for X group,” say, “We’re working to ensure every individual has a fair chance to thrive.” Or ,“We want to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities.”
Why: Identity-based programs are at the center of the anti-woke backlash. That’s because they explicitly privilege certain groups today that have been underrepresented in the past. Messaging that’s individual-focused can help achieve many of the same representational goals. But it does so in ways that are less controversial.
5. Focus on action over advocacy and substance over symbolism
Shift: Highlight what the company is doing and has done rather than what it stands for or believes.
Example: Replace future commitments, symbolic gestures on social media, and public statements with reporting on progress and actions that are connected to business outcomes.
Why: The era of performative DEI is over. Some of the most controversial and troublesome actions have been the least substantive. Companies can demonstrate their continued commitment to diversity and inclusion by walking the walk more than they talk the talk.
Risks: May come across as less passionate or strong to audiences expecting bold leadership.
Our research shows that DEI is poorly understood as a concept and is highly controversial. But all efforts that are part of DEI are not controversial. The five steps outlined above make it possible for companies to frame their efforts in ways that have broad support. And it allows them to continue to work toward many of the goals they seek to achieve.