Insights Association IDEA Forum Recap: Get Inspired & Do the Work!
Last week, I had the opportunity and pleasure to participate in the Insights Association’s IDEA Forum on Boosting DEI in Insights. I must admit that I’ve attended a handful of lackluster online conferences over the past 2 years, so I logged in with tempered expectations.
I was blown away by how engaging every single speaker was and how many notes I took during each session. The IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Access) Council did a phenomenal job planning this event. As a follow up to the conference, all attendees were encouraged to identify a couple of the ideas and concepts we learned, take the time to deeply process them, and then get to work.
After experiencing two days of inspirational content and stunningly candid panel conversations, the only hard part of this assignment is deciding on only a few things to focus on next. It was an event that made participants feel called in and charged up to reach our common goal: boosting DEI in insights.
The enthusiasm and support for this work was truly contagious, so I write this recap both as a commitment to doing the work and with hopes that I will help spread this enthusiasm. Here are my two core takeaways / focus areas as a result of this IDEA Forum:
When working on DEI, don’t forget the B: Belonging! This comes to life both in the research we design for consumers and also in our own companies.
Diversity is the starting block, inclusion is the first goal, and belonging is the ultimate objective. To better sum it up, I’ll share two of my favorite quotes from the lively Zoom chat (apologies that I cannot properly credit these quotes, my notetaking skills can be improved):
“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
And, “Belonging is making sure the DJ has music for diverse listeners and reading the room to make sure nobody’s standing on the wall.”
Creating a sense of inclusion and belonging requires Psychological Safety. Psychological Safety is the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. It also includes being supported and acknowledged when you do take a risk.
In our consumer research work, inclusion is more than recruiting the right people and ensuring accessibility, it’s also about asking questions that make people feel seen and represented.
When hiring new team members, rather than hiring for “culture FIT,” shift that perspective to hiring for a “culture ADD.” This also looks like ensuring that we have created a culture of psychological safety and respect. When hiring BIPOC team members, it’s critical to ensure that we are welcoming them into a safe space.
Qual has a huge role to play as we continue to expand the definition of Diversity to include elements beyond traditional social identifiers.
Our industry has made great progress, but the journey is not over. Qualitative research is a critical component to continue making the insights industry more inclusive. We must spend time talking directly to the consumers we hope to include in our work to understand nuances in language they use to talk about themselves and their experience. SEEK’s empathic approach to qual sets us up really well to support this kind of work. We believe that empathy is a critical bias disruptor AND humanity’s greatest problem solving tool. As qualitative researchers, our super powers are our curiosity and our empathy. We want to and are ready to utilize our super powers to boost DEI (and belonging!) in the insights industry.
To wrap this up, I want to quote Bianca Pryor, IDEA Council Chair and Vice President at BET, “We are leaders. Perfection is unattainable, but excellence is not. So take some tools today and apply them.” If you are passionate about this journey, you are not alone. Join us, let’s do this work!
