The Totality of a Person’s Experience

Recently, I completed the University of South Florida (USF) DEI Certificate program. If you haven’t heard about it, the USF program was one of the first ones in the United States developed in response to the social upheaval of the early 2020s that was partly related to a lot of hidden tensions rising to the surface as power structures shifted. We started talking openly about things that in the past were left unsaid or discussed in hushed tones privately.

There was additional impact from the Global Pandemic of 2020-21, but these issues were simmering long before that event changed the way many of us thought about the world.

While I was not an “early adopter” of the USF program, I heard many good things about it and I made the commitment near the end of 2022 to register and complete it. Before I took this course, I did not consider myself an expert on DEI in any way, shape, or form, but I did consider myself educated about it. Thus, the course – so I could learn more and deepen my understanding.

As I often say to people when discussing DEI, I remember “back in the 90s” when the nonprofit community first started seriously focusing on the first letter in that acronym: Diversity. We talked about it, created internal statistics about it, sometimes we even had a policy statement. While we didn’t always get it right, we made those first tentative steps to greater understanding of the world around us and specifically, each other.

Next, we focused on Inclusion, the last letter in the acronym. This led us to have “D+I” policies and statements. We talked a lot about inclusion and what that might mean. Still, too many people were left all alone at receptions while everyone talked to the people they already know. PLEASE: if you see someone standing alone at an event, take a moment and say hello and ask if they want to be alone or want to meet people. I do this regularly and I have never once had someone “Greta Garbo” me and say, “I want to be alone.” (I know, she didn’t really say that but everyone thinks she did.)

Inclusion is an important aspect of building diversity because you need to make sure that people with different backgrounds, experiences, and ideas are included. It doesn’t matter if you have a diverse group of people in your organization if they aren’t included in discussions and decision making.

That brings us to Equity, the middle letter in the acronym. Equity is making sure you understand as much as possible about a person’s background, make an effort to learn about their experiences and some of the challenges they have faced in life, and making sure they get what they need, not just what you want to give them. It’s about developing your sensitivity to the fact that people are not the same, and sometimes they have had bad or traumatic experiences that need to be honored and respected. You may not have had a similar experience to someone else, and you may not understand it, but you can learn about it and raise your own awareness.

There’s a saying about “meeting people where they are.” Tom Epperson of the Innerwill Leadership Institute explained it in regard to leadership this way: “When we talk about adaptability and Values Based Leadership, we often say ‘meet people where they are.’ It means diagnosing their values, their style, their needs, and their emotions, and connecting with them in a way that is effective for them.”

I like the phrase “meeting people where they are” because we are all on a journey together through this life and we will sometimes connect along the way. We are all human beings, but we are all unique human beings because we have such different experiences, backgrounds, ideas, beliefs, and education. The Totality of a Person’s Experience is what creates them in this moment right now. Respecting that is the first step to really understanding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In the end, we are all greater than the sum of our parts.