Birthing Change: What to Expect When Finding a DEI Consultant

How many consultants does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. They will re-structure the room until it is brighter.

I always enjoy good consultant humor. In almost 20 years of doing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) work, I have learned to find humor in my work. Taking the work seriously does not mean you cannot see the lighter side of it. Consulting work sometimes gets a bad reputation because it is seen as supplementary to work already underway or because the substantive work is largely done behind closed doors and only emerges after completion.

In actuality, change is not something that happens overnight. It is a gradual, and often painful process that fundamentally alters every aspect of organizational life. In that sense we contend that an appropriate analogy to understand change is a mother birthing change. Yes, much of the work will and must be done by people within the organization, but there is immense value in having an expert with an outside perspective as a partner. The emergent nature of change brings with it a degree of unknown that requires loving care and patience, rather than bullish persistence. Birthing change is done in community with the people who matter the most with a steadfast view of everybody’s future rather than a fiscal bottom-line. A consulting partnership on organizational change is ultimately relational. That partnership is made meaningful by the consultants who commit to making a long-term loving investment in their client’s well-being and movement toward a more just and equitable work environment.

Equity Labs started with the primary goal of filling a knowledge gap within organizations making the pivot toward DEIJ. The fundamental assumption of that project is that organizations and people will take their newly gained knowledge, perspective, and skills and know how to use them in transforming their workplace. In our previous two years of operation, we have seen evidence to suggest that this is true with most of our clients. We have worked with leaders of an organization managing a difficult transition in leadership and watched them learn and then practice trust-building. We have supported environmental advocacy agencies in integrating justice into design processes and witnessed them grapple with it moving forward. We have worked with a national non-profit organization in upskilling their entire ecosystem on DEIJ so that they have a common understanding of key terms and concepts. Our work has always been received with the curiosity and urgency it deserves. What we are noticing as a result is returning clients requesting our partnership in thinking and collaborating with them about components of their work that require more than just knowledge.    

Equity Labs entered the world of DEIJ consulting in August of 2024. We did so at a time in our nation’s history when DEIJ work was being vilified by some politically powerful people and some corners of the media. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) made the decision to drop equity from its policy platforms. The Supreme Court of the United States saw it fit to rule against the use of race in admissions decisions at higher education institutions. The demise of the Chief Diversity Officers from corporate C-suites was spreading. The racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder seemed to be receding from day-today conversations. Our world needed to change. Our workplaces needed to change. A few courageous organizations sought our partnership as they prepared to birth change. At Equity Labs we responded in the only way we knew how, with loving commitment.

Organizations can and should expect their consultants to be honest partners in re-making their organizations in a way that fits their aspirations. Consultation should be more than prescriptive remedies thought up in isolation and implanted into an organization. They should also understand that whatever remedy is thought up in collaboration will represent a change in the way things are done. They should begin with the assumption that change elicits uncertainty at all levels of the organization. It is the role of the consultants to collaboratively balance the opposing tensions of change and stability. At Equity Labs we arrived at the consulting space only after we determined that we had competence and the capacity to do all of this and do all of it well for our clients. 

Our official entry into the consulting world was an intentional and thoughtful process. It was both a reaction to the geopolitics of our time and a business decision to serve a growing need. After nearly two and half years of designing and delivering a comprehensive curriculum on advancing DEIJ outcomes at the organizational level, we have built the capacity to deliver on a consulting promise to our clients.

We humbly submit six factors of what you can and should expect from a consulting firm when you are birthing change within your organization.  

Compassionate Curiosity

We begin with questions. We ask about key players and their stories. We ask about historical and contemporary contextual information that explains the decisions and actions of the key players. We ask questions about the impact or outcomes that brought you to the point of reaching out to us. We try to give as much perspective and dimensionality as we can to the issue(s) or event(s) that lead you to the point of seeking our expertise.

Our method of seeking information is based on the foundations of storytelling. We fundamentally believe that people’s stories are some of the greatest gifts anybody can share. It is part of the building blocks of their identity, and it is something that should be received with compassion and curiosity.

Content Expertise in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice

Our people are experienced practitioners with decades of work in DEIJ advocacy and support. We are also humbled by the continuous evolution of new theory and practice in the DEIJ space. We recognize that what is considered good and wise is too often gate-kept by elite organizations with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.  We are continuous and adventurous learners eagerly consuming both the most contemporary academic research and the young wisdom emerging through fast media. More importantly, we are critical in our reading and consumption of both. That means we look at the information with an eye toward equity and justice. We evaluate each truth claim for its theoretical merits and social impact on people.

We are also humble enough to know that we may not know everything important to your organization. To that end, we are avid researchers. We will find the knowledge that we need to serve your needs and put our criticality to work by filtering the best information relevant to your context.

Process Expertise in Policy and Program Design

We recognize that organizational culture is maintained through a collection of formal policies, programs, and informal practices. Process expertise allows us to understand the design process of any formal programs or policies and the methods that led to any informal practices taking root within an organization. Understanding processes serve as an important contingent knowledge that we like to reveal to our clients so that they may adjust as necessary in the future.

Guided by the principles of design justice, we will harness the local talent, know-how, and creativity to design elements necessary to move your organization in the direction you have chosen. At the center of design justice is the practice of considering the disparate human and environmental impact on every step of the design and implementation process. Doing so allows us to examine if any program or policy we design will have a differential impact on historically marginalized people.

Perspective Taking on Power and Positionality

We fundamentally believe that power is always at play in an organization. This includes power embedded in hierarchical positions and power located in dominant and non-dominant identities and ideologies. Here we lean into the dialogic tradition and practice multi-partiality as a method for always creating space for those who live in the margins to regain their power.

Speaking truth to power is a responsibility we take seriously. Our commitment to our clients is to always speak honestly and appropriately about our observations, critiques, and recommendations. We assume that if we get to the point of working with you, we have come to a degree of alignment on how we understand your organization and your priorities. Every decision we make thereafter will be in the service of your organization and that includes speaking hard truths.

Holding Change Anxiety with Compassion

People react to change differently. While change represents adventure and excitement for some it represents anxiety and fear-inducing disruption to others. This is true of those in client-facing roles and those in the C-suite. Our goal is to hold all these emotions and everything in between with the compassion they deserve.

Often, resistance to change is rooted in a rational reaction to upcoming uncertainty. We cannot remove the inevitable uncertainty that comes with a change in the organization. We can commit to listening and validating the fears and anxieties people are experiencing and build structures within the change process to constantly pay attention to the temperature of those who must live with the change.

Storytelling Internally and Externally

Storying your change initiatives is just as important as designing them and implementing them. In well-functioning organizations, there is an inherent trust that leadership cares about their people. The first questions that follow a negative experience are often “why?” going straight to the motive of the decision-makers. Storytelling internally and externally about upcoming changes is a way of answering these questions before they arise. They are also a way of affirming the trust placed in decision-makers. Communicating the motive and mechanisms behind change initiatives and inviting critique is an important part of creating sustainable change.

A consulting-client partnership is one that is purpose-driven. There is an outcome the client is seeking, and the consulting firm is obligated to move the organization toward it. DEIJ consulting is a little different in that organizations do not necessarily know precisely what their aspirations are. Under those circumstances, the relationship between the client and consultant takes on an added sense of importance. Our consulting promise to our clients is to lovingly and relationally participate in a process that sees your people as partners in creation to the degree that you see fit. We do not promise certainty, but we commit to good faith efforts in preparing you for emergent issues and building creative contingencies for what may arise. We understand that consulting contracts are limited in scope, but we commit to our full-hearted effort to care for the organization and the people who make it work during our time together.

Afterall, when you are birthing change, you want a trusted partner. Not someone who will simply rearrange a room.

Learn more about Equity Labs Consulting Services