Doing the Right Thing: Ella F. Washington, PhD, on Taking The Necessary Journey

Dr. Chris Stout

LinkedIn Top Voice | Best Selling Author | Psychologist | Adventurer | Startup Whisperer | (Accidental) Humanitarian | Éminence Grise

Published Apr 1, 2023

Quiet quitting has become quite topical in the media as of late. But perhaps the real story is quiet FIRING. That refers to an employer who doesn't give raises, or doesn’t provide promotion opportunities. Or they slight team members and actually diminish or stall their employees’ professional growth.

Everyone, both personally and professionally, wants to feel seen, and heard. Some employers struggle to listen in order to learn, and inadvertently cause their staff to shut down. And this can be in spite of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Belonging programs being in place. Harmful inequity, influence, and ignorance can be found in many a boardroom and work setting.

Work should create a space that elevates the minds of the people in it, and collectively supports each person's voice. These are the concepts researched by organizational psychologist and DEI expert, Dr. Ella F. Washington.

Dr. Washington offers a wealth of experience as the Founder and CEO of Ellavate Solutions, serves as a Gallup Senior Scientist studying race, strengths and other DEI workplace topics; and she co-hosts the Gallup's Center of Black Voices Cultural Competence Podcast.

She is also a Professor of Practice at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where she recently received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Georgetown's MBA Class of 2021, and she is the author of "The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion" published by the Harvard Business Review, which we focused on in this episode.

Dr. Washington’s consultation practice has impacted clients in various Fortune 100 companies, financial services, sports and entertainment, oil and gas industries, higher education, and government. Her research and client work focuses on women in the workplace, barriers to inclusion for diverse groups, and working with organizations to build inclusive cultures. She has developed learning workshops, facilitates strategic planning sessions, and conducted inclusiveness audits with executive leadership teams who have goals of intentionally improving diversity and inclusion.

She grew up in a tight-knit family in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Washington attended Spelman College, a historically Black women’s institution in Atlanta, which led to her passion for maximizing the success of women and minorities. After earning her PhD at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, she moved to Washington, DC, where she currently resides. Dr. Washington enjoys being active in her church, giving back to her local community, traveling the world, and staying closely connected with loved ones.

We kicked this episode off with her origin story and what drew her into organizational psychology in general and DEI in particular. Dr. Washington also cohosts a podcast with Camille Lloyd, and she shared some of the topics they cover on the show.

As a segue to her book, she has said that “organizations have largely missed the mark when it comes to creating environments where all employees thrive in an equal and equitable way, because they treat DEI as a ‘program that gets done’ rather than the necessary and difficult journey it is. A truly inclusive workplace requires invention and reinvention, mistakes and humility, adaptation to a changing world, constant self-reflection, and sometimes significant sacrifice.” So, I understand why her book is perfectly titled, The Necessary Journey.

Before we dug into it, I wanted to first share what others have said about it:

Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast WorkLife with Adam Grant, said "An unusually informative, instantly actionable book on how to move from lip service on diversity to the reality of inclusion. Ella Washington is a leading expert on the science and practice of inclusion, and she shows what it takes for workplaces to walk the talk."

Jim Clifton, Chairman and former CEO, Gallup said "I love Washington's challenge to us, which is to take on the issues of DEI ourselves in our own organizations and get on the journey rather than waiting for mandates. Laws can't change feelings, but leaders can. If all of us just got on the journey—starting today—this ugly scourge of a problem could be magically fixed. This book outlines the hard climb to the top—but one you can do—and Ella Washington is your Sherpa."

James D. White, former Chairman and CEO, Jamba Juice and author of Anti-Racist Leadership said "The Necessary Journey is a must-read for any leader interested in building a more inclusive culture. Whether you're just starting out or already on the road, read this book to win hard-earned progress."

And I have to agree, it is not only an engaging read, but as Adam said, it’s also quite actionable, and we discussed what the trigger was for her to write it. While this necessary journey can also be a difficult one, she wrote it can be traversed, and that there's help along the way. As examples, she wrote about the stories of companies she profiled like Slack, PwC, Best Buy, Denny's.

In her chapter on Uncle Nearest, she wrote “intentionality is a virtue.” I asked her to say more about that, as I thought it was such a lovely turn-of-phrase. Similarly, I asked her about the Parity Pledge and what it is and how it came about.

We discussed the transparency of those she interviewed, as they shared not only their successes but also what did not go so well, and to also be humble enough to know they were not there yet. From there, Dr. Washington shared some of those stories and examples.

As listeners and readers know, I always like to nerd-out with authors as to book structure and design. She used a format to provide a framework for thinking about where these companies are on their journeys, and where the reader and their company may be as well. She then shared how she came up with that approach. Along these lines, I especially liked the design of her book’s appendices and the Spheres of Influence model as applied to DEI and the associated company profiles at the endings of their chapters. We also delved in to how she developed that idea.

Dr. Washington also writes about the concept of a workplace utopia and how to create a DEI environment where everyone can thrive, regardless of their identity, beliefs, or abilities, so I had to ask, "What does a workplace utopia look like to you?” and I love her answer.

We also covered her three foundational DEI steps: purpose, pitfalls (you’re not always going to get it right – be honest about your mistakes), progress (metrics – what does progress look like and are we tracking towards it?).

I think, that historically, people have been excluded from company social collectives because of race, gender, sexual orientation, different ability, mental health status, religion, and more. And while a large portion of inclusive responsibility is on the shoulders of those who develop and enforce company hiring practices, inclusion and exclusion happen at the social-interpersonal level. So, from the inclusion aspect of DEI initiatives it seems to me that nurturing acceptance and confidence in an employee is measured by psychological safety in that a given environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, vulnerability, and failure, and can serve as a metric by which we measure inclusion. Dr. Washington wrote that “humanity creates momentum, metrics create progress” and she discussed vis-à-vis inclusion’s measurement.

I received a bulk-email from the Illinois State Treasurer, with the subject line, “Diversity and Transparency Are Good for Business.” And in the message, he noted that a report done by McKinsey & Co found “that companies with the highest levels of gender diversity outperformed by 25 percent (in terms of profitability) and that corporations with diverse boards outperformed homogenous boards. When people from different backgrounds make decisions together, they are less prone to group-think, and they are less likely to miss opportunities in different sectors. This leads to better decision-making, which leads to higher profits.”

He went on to say he brought together a group of institutional investors from the public and private sectors to encourage business leaders to consider increasing corporate board diversity—asking Russell 3000 companies to disclose corporate board diversity data, and now more than 2200 companies disclose the data, up from 292 companies two years ago. And he believes that more shareholders now consider this data in making their investment decisions with a recognition that diversity increases profitability. I asked if she sees this happing in other states as well.

While inclusivity is paramount, I read in Fountains’ book, Ending Checkbox Diversity, that some companies experience a double-edged sword in that: “It is common for the code of conduct to also include language around communications standards or ‘bringing your whole self to work’... Instead of specifically defining issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion within the code of conduct, this language creates the expectation for all employees to be treated with dignity and respect and for all employees to bring their whole selves to work—including racist employees.” That is a challenge.

In her book DEI Deconstructed, Lily Zheng says, “In a culture with high failure avoidance, few people are comfortable taking risks of their own volition and often make ‘safe’ decisions that are unlikely to fail.” And along those same lines, Jennifer Brown said in her book, How to Be an Inclusive Leader: “…full human potential and creativity can only be unleashed when we feel like we belong, when we have psychological safety and trust with our colleagues, and when our capabilities aren’t doubted or downplayed because of biases about us.”

Esther Armah wrote in her book Emotional Justice, about the choice to stay silent in the face of racism: “This notion of choice—of what you choose and what you don’t—it is at the heart of resistance negotiation. Because you’re also really negotiating with your own comfort, you’re negotiating with your own instinct to choose safety rather than struggle. And you’re negotiating with your instinct to stay silent.”

In my research on this topic, I found that in 2021, cases of antisemitic incidents in the United States alone rose by 34 percent over the prior year, marking the highest year on record, and early data indicates that 2022 will set a sorry new record.

In my area of expertise, healthcare and medicine, I’ve read about researchers like Dr. Kim Templeton who is working nationally on curricular changes in medicine, specifically to increase education in sex and gender-based medicine, micro-aggressions in clinical practice and from patients, provider burnout and other issues that can differentially impact women-physicians. Dr. Washington shared what her thoughts are in terms of dealing with these issues and things like moral injury, which I found so valuable in the context of her mother’s experience as a nurse.

Relatedly, in my monthly LinkedIn Newsletter, Tools for Change, I post links to DiversityMD.com a Job Board, Online Community, and Information Resource, that I highly recommend.

We wrapped up with Dr. Washington’s crystal ball predictions for the future of DEI, what’s next for workplaces.

Dr. Washington’s work is an inspiration – as a leader, founder, and as a person. We all need to step it up, seek justice, and get on the journey to make our world a better place. I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

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