Anniversaries get us thinking about how things used to be and the times when D&I teams enjoyed a largely untroubled existence in a corner of an HR organisational chart.

Life was planned – key dates were circled on the diversity calendar well in advance and the allocation of budgets for various staff networks slotted nicely into the annual planning process.

There was control – you must do your D&I training. No ifs, no buts.

Can you name the nine protected characteristics? No? Please try again.

And there was cover – the 2010 Equality Act a legal bouncer at the D&I door should it be needed.

Then things started to change.

Academics and business leads began scrutinising the value of D&I training. Elsewhere, people became familiar with ‘political correctness’ – a mere appetiser to today’s ‘go woke go broke’ main meal.

And the changes have kept on coming.

If D&I were a commercial company, then it may well have used a ‘PESTLE analysis’, a business tool to anticipate shifts in the Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental landscape.

Well PESTLE, for ‘D&I plc’ you had us at Political, things are moving fast with #Technological and the Supreme Court ruling has left our Legal bouncer spinning.

So what now?

In order to face the public, ‘D&I’ should first take a look in the mirror. Our language hasn’t always been the easiest to understand. We spoke of BME, then BAME and now neither. We have to explain that the T is something different to the LGB. (Allow our friends in finance some smugness here – their EBITDA has stood the test of time and at least it’s all about accounting). If you need a glossary to be understood, you’re on the back foot.

There will be challenges.

In organisations, D&I has always wanted to be treated as part of business and not separate to it. Well for this to happen, D&I needs to do business. Passion for the cause will need to make room for pragmatism. Values to stand alongside value for money.

D&I will have to meet people where they are, in their minds and on their phones. The pace is quicker, attention spans shorter. And when we do meet, we need to be prepared to find many different motivations and opinions. There will be emotions to manage, skills to develop and positions to be understood.

There is fear out there. Especially amongst leaders. Fear of not knowing what to do. Fear of getting it wrong. We see this with our clients everyday – in executive coaching, in workshops, in strategic advisory discussions.

Many leaders find themselves centre stage and blinking in the D&I spotlight. Oh for the days of only having to talk about the gender pay gap. Now in a town hall meeting, they may get asked their stance on anything from provision of toilets to what is happening in Gaza.

The CRED event ended with a message of hope that it will all be okay. And it will – the skills, knowledge and learning experiences coming our way will give us much to celebrate in anniversary events to come.

Delta is already equipping our clients with the skills to disrupt inequities in everyday processes, the knowledge to better understand the experiences of others, and providing personal experience of the power of an inclusive environment. Making everyday inclusion relatable and achievable is something our clients value.

We continue to apply our expertise as both academic researchers and leadership & inclusion practitioners and have recently developed two new products: Delta Lens and Delta Lens 360°, tools designed to help leaders lead their teams and their organisations inclusively.

If you would like to know more about how Delta is supporting clients in the current landscape including building Inclusive Leadership capabilities using our new Delta Lens and Lens 360° psychometric tools, please do get in touch info@deltaalphapsi.com