This is one of the biggest issues I’m noticing with marketers and communicators trying to integrate inclusion into their work.

Check out the video and transcript below:

Transcript:
You know, I’m seeing a heavy trend on over-reliance from marketers and communicators, over-reliance on Chief Diversity Officers and ERG groups and DEI marketing work in general. By over-reliance I mean of course you are looking for these individuals in these groups to inform your decision making, but not being able to move ahead and not feeling comfortable and not being able to implement because of this emotional burden or labor that you’ve put on Chief Diversity officers, the ERG groups, etcetera to be that final stamp of approval is kind of the wrong way to approach it. I’ve said this before, but marketers and communicators, it starts with you. And what that means is that you have to build your own intercultural competency beyond the General JEDI Foundations – justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, foundations, teachings, but also how it applies to your day-to-day so you can do your work because inclusive marketing communications is part of your job now and your work. So each person in each department and marketing communications is responsible for their own growth and needs to take accountability and needs that lens to be able to do the work without relying on others for that final output. And that comes with building up your own knowledge and your own intercultural competency to do that. Now there are times this may seem daunting where you know you’re afraid of making a misstep and we always do say consult with those from underrepresented communities and co-create with them but what that also means is building up your own intercultural competency so your relationship with these folks are meaningful relationships and not transactional relationships where you’re looking for a stamp of approval etcetera, but rather you are co-creating and you are adding something to the table as a marketer and a communicator yourself. So building up your intercultural competency is extremely important. I’ve put a link to a post of people that you could follow to help expand your circle of influence and build your intercultural competency. But also you can work with organizations like ourselves, at AndHumanity, where we focus on building intercultural competencies specifically for marketers and communicators through department audits, coaching, training, etcetera.

As mentioned in the video, I’ve shared a link to a previous post I put together that will help with this: https://andhumanity.co/insights/heres-one-of-simplest-first-steps-you-can-take-for-your-inclusive-marketing-and-communications-journey/