White Men Can Jump (into DEI): Strategies to Recruit Allies for Organizational Transformation

Description

For far too long, white men have been centered, advantaged, and treated as the “standard” or “norm” in workplace structures and cultures. This is not surprising, considering that the same forces are at play in the wider systems in which we all work, live, and play. The systemic inequities both perpetuate and are reinforced by assumptions and biases about white men and their expected place at the top of the hierarchy. As DEI work aims to move societies and workplaces forward into a new paradigm where all people are valued and where equity is finally established, how can we engage white men to be allies and even co-conspirators in the effort?

This presentation will explore strategies for calling white men into this work and getting them invested in dismantling the structures that have produced the inequity. We will explore what makes it difficult to get them truly on board, and we will then share strategies for what we (three white men DEI practitioners) have found that works.

Learning Outcomes

• Gain understanding for the way structures and cultures center and advantage white men
• Generate strategies for getting white men invested as allies in organizational transformation
• Build authentic connections as we conceptualize ways of truly working together across difference