Written by Leslie Stevens, guest author for the Integral blog and toolkit #4. Leslie is a Masters-in-Residence Scholar at NYU Steinhardt’s Media, Culture and Communication program, DEI researcher, and friend of the firm. 

Diversity now means something completely different than it did a few weeks ago, when most of us still occupied the same physical space every day.

As a researcher, my work focuses on institutional diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Before COVID-19, many organizational definitions of diversity were primarily concerned with representation and visibility of minority groups, namely non-white, non-male and non-heteronormative identities. We must allow this crisis to change us and the way we think about DEI. As we begin to imagine the post-pandemic world, organizations must expand their definitions of DEI to ensure that diversity is prioritized in decision making and communication.

This week’s toolkit offers a conversation guide for people managers and decision-makers to address the ways that DEI shapes strategic decision making, not only during the current crisis but as we begin to think about how COVID-19 will change the way corporate America does diversity.

• How can organizations apply the lessons learned during COVID-19 to reframe their understanding of DEI?
• How can organizations deploy new definitions of DEI to build a more innovative and inclusive recovery and communications plan?

Download Integral’s free Remote Teams Toolkit #4: What COVID-19 can teach us about diversity.

Originally posted on teamintegral.com by Julia Race, Director of Strategy, Integral. The Integral team volunteers their time to expand the careers of fellow communicators as a speaker for ALI Conferences.