44. The Secrets to Creating & Sustaining Systemic Change with Allison Avery from Dow Jones

Inclusion Works

In this episode, we speak to Allison Avery, the Vice President of Inclusion and Community at Dow Jones, about how to create and sustain impact in DEI. Allison tells us that DEI practitioners need to borrow change management techniques and process improvement models like Six Sigma and Lean to create effective DEI strategy, programming and outcomes. She cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stacey Abrams as inspiration for this work given their approach of consistent, sustained effort to make systemic change over the long-term. Allison believes we too often fall victim to a “get change fast” fixation, which doesn’t sustain deep, systemic change and often results in diversity fatigue. We also discuss how learning & development fits into DEI strategy, and some tips and tricks to measure change.

Prosci’s ADKAR change management model - https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model

Hive Learning’s report on Diversity Fatigue - https://www.hivelearning.com/site/inclusion-works-frontline/

Connect with Allison on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-f-avery-she-her-98a94413