Sometimes when we are working to enhance diversity and inclusion, it seems like nothing seems to be enough — no matter what we do. We can't see any change happening, especially on the larger scale. That's called "diversity fatigue," or "diversity burnout."
Diversity fatigue is mostly relevant to diversity & inclusion (D&I) professionals, who might be fighting to change an old or traditional organizational culture, or trying to go beyond "just the legal requirements."
But diversity burnout is not just an issue for D&I professionals. Many of us fighting for our rights, or as allies, might also have experienced the lack of results for our efforts. In the workplace, this can be because of a break in the communication chain or because the organization is focused on diversity simply as numbers.
One crucial cause for this is a manager's and the leaderships' lack of commitment to the initiatives and the failure to apply D&I practices to daily working life. When the initiatives and possible required changes are seen to be applied "from the outside," meaning by the D&I professional rather than by the organization's management, the changes might seem forced, unnatural, and considered "not my problem."
Diversity fatigue might also be an issue even if an organization is seemingly doing great with its D&I initiatives. In that case, the issues often arise from the lower levels of the corporate ladder. While the values and policies might seem good on paper, employees still feel discriminated against, excluded and report no sense of belonging.
Diversity itself does very little for sustainable change if not paired with inclusion.
Separating these two and only focusing on diversity is often the leading case for diversity fatigue. Through facilitating real communication that also goes bottom-up, and understanding differences in background and experiences, we can work towards a sustainable culture of diversity and inclusion.
Yvener Duroseau is the author of Alike Regardless, which challenges humankind’s internalized division. It issues a call to arms to readers to recognize humanity’s beauty and uniqueness and take off the blinders of bigotry and hate. It will be published Aug. 26.