Abstract:
The article asserts the need for organizations to adopt intentional and transformative Global Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging, Equity, and Access (GIDBEA) practices, to ensure their future readiness. The research developed reaffirms the benefits of GIDBEA strategies in identifying gap areas and navigating crises, by providing insights on how to successfully embed a ‘new different’ GIDBEA strategy into organizational frameworks.
By drawing trends across the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic and other previous health and economic crises, it is indicated what is described as the “normality of disruption” and the need to move away from the idea of a ‘new normal’ to a new different. The new different acknowledges that the ‘normal’ or the status quo was often challenging for many. The impact and importance of the disruptions that individuals, communities, nations, etc., all have and will face together, is also recognized. The new different emphasizes organizational transformation through co-creation, sustainability, adaptivity, resilience, and design thinking. By implementing a design thinking model, GIDBEA proactively engages mistakes while promoting innovation through dissent and disruption. As a result, disruptions are not considered episodic crises but as recurring, expected, and presenting opportunities. Furthermore, it is argued that GIDBEA expertise is essential for remaining agile, innovative, and providing strategic organizational architecture to prepare and innovate for these disruptions. However, it is necessary to consider that GIDBEA practice can be limited due to the failure of organizations and leaders to frame it as an asset and develop strategic plans to leverage it in the same way they do other critical functional business units. Therefore, unless prioritized and conducted intentionally, GIDBEA work will not achieve its promised bonuses and transformative potential.
The article offers readers insights and tools to assess existing GIDBEA within their organization. Using metaphors of “construction” and “architecture,” it illustrates how reimaging organizational architectures and constructing initiatives focused on GIDBEA are fundamental to resiliency, organizational sustainability, and the ability to thrive through shifting landscapes.
