DEI Reimagined: Leading Beyond the Backlash

Your expert

Dr. Donna de Haan

Dr Donna de Haan , is an inclusion strategist, speaker, and culture builder known for blending emotional intelligence with systems thinking to drive meaningful organisational change. With deep experience working across sectors and leadership levels, Donna challenges the status quo of traditional DEI and empowers teams to co-create inclusive cultures rooted in courage, clarity, and accountability. She brings a grounded, forward-thinking approach to one of the most urgent workplace conversations of our time: how we evolve DEI beyond backlash and toward lasting impact.

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Session Summary

Right now, DEI is under fire, publicly questioned, politically targeted, and often misunderstood across all levels of the workforce. Many employees are unsure where they stand: is DEI still relevant? Is it for 'someone else'? Is it even safe to talk about anymore?

This session invites everyone into the conversation. It helps teams understand why DEI efforts often stall, how we got here, and most importantly, where we go next . Through honest reflection and future-focused thinking, participants will leave feeling more informed, more empowered, and better equipped to contribute to a culture where DEI is everyone’s business.

Interaction

During the expert session, Dr. Donna de Haan engages the audience through methods like live Q&A sessions using the Mentimeter app and interactive polls. These activities inspire reflection and encourage active participation from all attendees.

Key Learnings

1. Understanding Organisational Resistance to Change Even well-intentioned organisations can resist change through invisible systems that protect the status quo. Understanding this 'organisational immune system' helps individuals at all levels see how to push forward — not around, but through — cultural inertia.

2. Moving from Confusion to Clarity This session cuts through the noise around DEI by clearly distinguishing between performative gestures and real, meaningful change. It offers a shared language that empowers people to engage more confidently and constructively.

3. Agency and Responsibility at Every Level DEI is not the job of one team or one title, it’s a shared culture, built from the ground up. Participants will explore how to show up with intention, how to respond to resistance, and how to lead from wherever they are.

Detailed session description

In recent years, DEI has moved from corporate buzzword to political flashpoint. The backlash has been loud, but often, the silence and confusion within organisations has been louder. Many employees feel unsure, disengaged, or quietly fatigued.

This session offers an accessible, honest, and empowering space to make sense of that tension and to transform it into something more productive.

Donna de Haan, an accomplished professional in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) field, initiates a thought-provoking conversation on the current state and future directions of DEI initiatives. Donna shares her insights from her extensive experience, noting that many practitioners have had to defend the importance of DEI following a corporate backlash against these programs.

Donna underlines that it's no longer just about DEI not working for underrepresented groups; instead, the existing systems and ways of working may not be effective for many individuals, leading to widespread feelings of being squeezed, stressed, and trapped in these systems. To tackle this challenge, Donna advocates a shift from merely adding to these systems to reimagining and redesigning them to better serve a diverse range of employees.

Throughout the session, Donna emphasizes the importance of an open mindset and critical thinking when it comes to DEI. She encourages participants to consider the larger picture and understand the context behind DEI efforts.

Donna discusses the concept of individuals feeling like they have to assimilate into organizations rather than being able to belong and be their authentic selves.

Donna introduces the idea of systemic resistance within organizations that she refers to as the organizational immune system. This resistance, often well-intentioned or unconscious, can impede change and make it challenging for equity and inclusion initiatives to succeed.

She advises identifying how this resistance manifests in organizations and figuring out ways to navigate it effectively.

Donna emphasizes that DEI is not a campaign or communications plan but rather a fundamental way of working and leading. She asks participants to share their thoughts on outdated framing versus clear, constructive reframing and encourages those making progress to discuss their experiences.

Donna delves into the topic of accountability in DEI efforts, explaining that awareness is crucial for understanding why certain actions are necessary and what immediate steps can be taken to help achieve DEI goals.

Donna shares valuable insights on creating psychological safety in the workplace, moving away from a 'them and us' narrative, addressing gaps between stated values and actual behaviors, focusing on shared behaviors over personal beliefs, and handling resistance within teams. Throughout the session, Donna addresses questions and comments from participants, encouraging collective responsibility for DEI and emphasizing respect for individual identities in a collaborative work environment.

The expert session concludes with Donna advocating for a reimagining of current systems to better serve diverse employees and promote inclusion.

Before you book

Questions about DEI Reimagined: Leading Beyond the Backlash

Is this for beginners or for people who already know the subject?

No prior knowledge is assumed. It is built for a general working audience, and people who already know the subject get the research and the practical side rather than an introduction. What the hour itself covers: Right now, DEI is under fire, publicly questioned, politically targeted, and often misunderstood across all levels of the workforce. Many employees are unsure where they stand: is DEI still relevant?

Is this session interactive, or do people just watch?

It is interactive, and the block higher up on this page says exactly how for this session. Nobody has to speak up who does not want to: the chat and the polls carry most of it, and the questions can come in anonymously.

How long does it take, and what do we have to prepare?

It runs 45 min / 15 min: the talk, then live questions. All you do is pick a date. We brief Dr., produce the session, host and moderate it, run the Q&A, and send you the report within an hour of the end.

Who can join, and where does it run?

A team, a department, an employee network or every single employee at once, with no cap and no per-seat price. It runs inside your own Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Meet, or on a branded page we build. No integration, no login, no company device or e-mail.

Can our global colleagues follow it?

The session is delivered in English. You can add high accuracy live subtitles in 8, 16 or 24 languages, so everyone follows in their own. That is a paid option, priced by the number of languages you need.

Will our IT department have a problem with this?

No, and that is by design. There is nothing to install, nothing to integrate and no connection to your systems, so there is nothing for IT to validate: we join your own Teams, Zoom or Meet as a guest speaker, or we host a page and your people open a link. No software, no accounts, and no data of yours that we can reach. It is why hundreds of companies, among them some of the largest technology and financial firms in the world, were able to start within a day.

How does this work under GDPR?

We never receive or hold personal data about your employees. Because the session runs in your own environment, attendance and identity stay with you, and what we report back is aggregated: numbers, ratings and survey answers, not people. That is also why IT approval usually takes minutes rather than weeks.

What do we get afterwards?

You keep the recording and can share it internally. You also get attendance over time, participant ratings for the content and the speaker, the survey answers, and the topics your people asked for next.