Taking Counsel About Diversity Councils

I always learn something when I teach a session of ORC's seminar, Foundations of Diversity Strategy & Practice, and yesterday was no exception.  My colleague, Mary Martinez, and I spent a typically stimulating day discussing the most effective ways to build and implement diversity strategies that make real change in organizations.   Although Foundations is a workshop for people new to diversity strategy and practice, it so happened that most of the folks in the room had already had considerable experience either as diversity and inclusion leaders or as compliance managers or HR partners who had recently taken on responsibility for D&I.  They were very generous about sharing with one another the issues they were facing and some of the solutions they had implemented.

One item that came up was the challenge of managing various diversity-related bodies that can sometimes step on one another's toes.  Diversity councils, task forces, and employee resource groups often share some of the same members and end up working on similar initiatives,  resulting in overextended employees and/or duplicated efforts.  It falls to the D&I leader to sort out what the responsibilities of each body should be and help them forge supportive bridges with one another so they can work together efficiently.  Sometimes that means the D&I officer has to judge whether all these groups are really necessary or whether maybe they should be disbanded or perhaps reconstituted in another form more fitted to their purpose (especially if the group's purpose has morphed over time).

What has your experience been?  Have you faced any of these problems and if so, how?  What other, alternative means of engaging line executives in diversity efforts have you found to be effective?