Exploring the paper ‘Slaying the Seven-Headed Dragon: The Quest for Gender Change in Academia‘ – Brink, M.C.L. van den; Benschop, Y.W.M., 2012
Blog five of five, in a series.
Hey, Natalie here; COBE’s Relationship and Engagement manager, here to offer a non-EDI-expert, non-researcher summary of our research-to-social cycle insights.
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Across three blogs based on this cycle’s research paper, Chrissi echoes the findings of Brink, M.C.L. van den and Benschop, Y.W.M and explores how well-meaning EDI efforts often lack impact due to:
1) Lack of contextual understanding
2) Misaligned interventions
3) Poorly executed equality strategies.
The findings of the paper call for rigorous, reflective EDI work which tackles the above three pitfalls:
1) Lack of contextual understanding –> diagnose before prescribing
2) Misaligned interventions –> understand how fairness is perceived
3) Poorly executed equality strategies –> ensure solutions are rooted in the actual cause, not just the visible symptom
What actions can you take to avoid these common pitfalls?
Through our work at COBE, we often speak to leaders of people, change, culture, and research – in academia and elsewhere – who recognise ‘a’ problem and have poured resources into siloed areas in hopes of improvement, but fall short for exactly the reasons outlined above. To keep that holistic, from-the-core, contextual approach that is required for success in the quest for equality, Chrissi refers to her ‘EDI success checklist’ in blog 4 of 5 on this research to social cycle:
- Identify the problem you are addressing.
- Speak with decision makers and marginalised groups to understand the cause of the problem.
- Determine the current perceptions of fairness in the culture you aim to address.
- Identify the EDI maturity level of your organisation.
- Inform marginalised groups of the findings and engage them in designing contextual solutions.
- Conduct a risk assessment of various potential solutions.
- Have clear measures in place to track impact.
What equality initiatives has your organisation taken that really landed? Do you recognise this trope in academia? How do you see gender equality practiced in your workplace?
If you’d like to chat about how to implement our EDI success checklist, get in touch via hello@thecobe.co.uk
