This phenomenon also occurs in organizations. Benjamin Schneider’s Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Modelⁱⁱⁱ states that people are attracted to organizations that are congruent with their values, personalities, and needs; the organization, in turn, is filled with people with attributes that “fit” the organization’s culture; and those individuals who do not fit into the organizational culture leave. The people who remain and make up the organization become increasingly homogeneous. With this cycle, the potential benefits of a diverse organization are lost, and its capacity for innovation is greatly diminished.

It is important to challenge ourselves to think outside the box as we work to shift the paradigms of in-grouping and homogeneity that keep people separate and fearful of difference. We are living in an age of social transformation, and this reality has generated vast opportunities for change. For example, we can challenge the notion that the same-as-me disposition is inevitable human behavior and instead frame it as behavior that was once beneficial to group survival but that no longer serves us as we move toward building beloved and diverse communities of support.

To understand our biases and attitudes and value the experiences and perspectives of others, knowing ourselves is fundamental to the work of DEIB. Self-awareness is the ability to see and understand the things that make us who we are, such as our values, emotions, thoughts, and desires. Self-reflection is the ongoing and honest introspection required to further understand the places in us that act as barriers to fully embracing all manners of differences, identities, and backgrounds of others. This self-work is necessary to having the ability to create spaces in our lives and communities for welcoming difference and understanding and shifting the internal places that keep us from deeply connecting to others who are different from us. And self-acceptance is the first shift that makes the sense of belonging possible. The feeling of acceptance, unity, and solidarity in community with others starts within and includes actively seeking out diverse perspectives and connecting with people who are dissimilar or different from us.

Organizations are increasingly understanding that diversity and inclusion lead to belonging for people and equity for all. Creating an ethos of belonging means actively working toward changing the systemic conditions that disaffirm and devalue differences. Lasting change is built by a commitment to embedding comprehensive learning that focuses on personal action and systemic transformation into an organization’s processes and culture.