Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work has become an integral part of many workplaces. It generally includes training intended to make a workplace more inclusive and open to diversity in all its forms.
This work is the latest attempt at creating more equitable spaces for people of color, women and others who have often felt excluded. It’s a struggle Deanna Singh knows all-too-well, which is why she wrote Actions Speak Louder: A Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming an Inclusive Workplace, inspired by her own experiences.
She explains, "I was working really hard but was finding that I was coming up against against obstacles that I didn't see many of my peers coming up against. So, whether it was not being able to find mentors, not being recognized in meetings, not having my ideas elevated — or having them just flat out stolen. Just things along my career that were challenges that made it harder to thrive."
Her book gives a step-by-step guide on how to engage with DEI work that can ease these challenges for the next generation of people in the workplace.
DEI work requires a lot of introspection and can involve relearning how to manage our perceptions of other people. But Singh believes it doesn't have to be a painful process and can in part be a celebration of the unique, personal qualities that help make the workplace more diverse and more effective.
"Not to sugar coat it or put rose colored glasses on when we look at those things but this doesn’t have to be something that’s always coming from a place of heaviness, it can also be something that really comes from a place of joy," she explains.
Singh will be at the Milwaukee Public Library’s Centennial Hall on June 6 for an event with Boswell Books and Rooted MKE.
