Picture this: Your organization prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a few years ago. To meet your strategic goals, you’ve done a lot of work as an association to move the needle forward. Then a member reaches out and asks what’s going on with DEI because they haven’t seen or heard anything.

So, where’s the disconnect? The answer lies with communications.

When driving any initiative, communication is a vital piece of the process in raising awareness of those efforts. However, in today's environment, where DEI efforts are under scrutiny, it’s even more important to make sure your communication plans not only support the efforts, but anticipate any reactions as well.

Let’s explore three ways communications teams can help drive DEI efforts.

Being Part of the Conversation

Most departments within an association often overlook the opportunity to bring in the communications team at the early stages of a project. Communications teams provide additional insight into how an audience may react to an initiative and therefore can frame the messaging in a thoughtful way to avoid any miscommunications or misunderstanding once the initiative has launched. This is especially crucial when working on initiatives surrounding sensitive topics such as DEI.

“We have a culture of collaboration and cross-functional teamwork within our organization, so it’s not difficult to involve other staff in DEI planning and strategy discussions,” says Mike Boa, CAE, chief communications officer at the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). “With DEI considered a communications and engagement activity, communication staff members are naturally involved from the beginning.”

But what if the communications team does not have a direct connection to your organization’s DEI efforts?

Boa says, “If DEI work is siloed in another part of the organization, first understand the work that is taking place — what are the DEI priorities and the tactics to achieve the priorities. Then identify how the work you do could contribute to DEI executing the tactics and be proactive in offering your support.”

Elevating Awareness

Crafting a communications plan that highlights the DEI efforts being made is crucial. If members or the general public that you serve are not aware of what you’re doing, awareness will never grow. Start with creating a plan focused on cross-promoting efforts in existing communications vehicles — such as leveraging standing newsletters, social media series, advertising, etc. From there, you can focus on more targeted efforts. Are there certain audiences that would benefit from knowing about these initiatives? Where do they get their information? Those are the channels that you want to incorporate into your plan.

At the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), we create a communications plan for each initiative, identifying the right audience and cross-promoting information about it in existing communications vehicles.

In addition, it’s beneficial to show your work is successful by sharing stories that resonate with your audiences. “Having data to demonstrate the challenges the organization is facing with respect to diversity is important,” says Boa. “Along with that, it’s important to share stories about successful DEI outcomes.”

Amplifying the Message

An easy way to amplify your message is leveraging internal audiences. Chapters, affiliates, or components — if they exist within your organization — are a great way to filter the message down at the local level. But chapters can also support your efforts by using their own channels to convey your message.

Another audience you can filter down through is your volunteer leadership. At IREM, we send out a bimonthly newsletter on behalf of the CEO to our top volunteer bodies to keep them in the know on important initiatives. Lastly, you can look to partner with other organizations. By collaborating, you can streamline the effort needed to complete a certain initiative and leverage twice as many channels and audiences to amplify your message. As Boa explains, his organization’s board-adopted DEI strategy is intentional at identifying the importance of collaboration. “The CAS pledges to listen to those who best understand the challenges impacting their own communities in developing solutions to increase representation and inclusion, especially through strategic partnerships with other organizations.”