Have a D.I.E.T (Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Talk)

Download a free D.I.E.T. Deck at Unstuck Minds/ D.I.E.T. Deck

I’m a 60-year old, white, heterosexual, cisgender male. I’m not apologizing; that’s just how it has turned out for me.

I mention the circumstances of my existence and identity because I want to offer something useful to promote diversity, inclusion and equity on our teams and in our workplaces. I make this offer in spite of my identity and circumstances (or maybe because of my identity and circumstance).

I’m experimenting with a card deck of questions that you can download for free at Unstuck Minds. I’m imagining that a facilitator or team leader would bring people together, shuffle the cards and place them face down on a table. A group of people who want to better understand and appreciate one another would take turns picking a card and reading the question out loud. Any member of the group with a personal experience to share in response to the question speaks up with an answer and/or an example. The leader or facilitator closes out the session by asking for insights.

I have listed the questions below if you’d rather not bother downloading and printing off the questions in the form of cards. I would love to hear what you think of the questions and how you use them. I will happily update the deck based on new questions that people submit or revise questions based on suggested edits. Bookmark this blog post so you can submit new questions in the comments section. Indicate whether you like or dislike the questions so we can decide which new questions get included in an updated deck.

D.I.E.T. Deck Questions

• What do you believe is among the first things people you meet at work notice about you? What would you rather they notice about you?
• In what retail store do you feel most at ease? Why?
• You’re walking into your first meeting with a team of people you’ve never met. The others have been working together for a year. What do you most want the team leader to do to help you feel like you belong?
• What do your co-workers not get about you… that you wish they did?
• What language was spoken in the home you grew up in that is not spoken at work?
• What did a memorable teacher do to make it easier for you to learn when you struggled with a subject or topic?
• Which of your colleagues is worn out by a non-stop series of interactions? How do you know?
• When you board public transportation and walk down an aisle to find a seat, what do you assume the people who are seated think when they notice you?
• What do you wish recent college graduates understood about what it takes to be successful?
• What do you wish people who will be retiring in the next 15-20 years understood about people just entering the workforce?
• How would you feel about being forced to use a bathroom designated for a different gender?
• How important is it for a cafeteria at school or work to accommodate dietary restrictions (e.g. allergies to the presence of certain foods, religious dietary laws, diets based on health or ethics, etc.)?
• What assumptions grant you an unearned advantage over others (e.g. “Tall people are good at basketball,” so you get chosen to play based on your height – Thank you for this example, @Stephanie Walton)?
• What do you need to use that is designed badly for someone like you?
• What do you have in common with someone at work who is very different than you, something you were surprised to discover?
• What’s an example of something in our organization that is rigged against people like you?
• What’s an example of language or jargon used by a group at work that seems designed to exclude others?
• What do you “just deal with” at work, even though it puts you at a disadvantage?
• Bonus Question: What’s the name of the person who cleans the toilets at your workplace? What else do you know about them?