WIBF Awards Alumni Roundtable: Inclusion without DEI Programmes

Traditional DEI initiatives - training sessions, networking breakfasts, awareness campaigns - are everywhere. But do they work? According to Harvard Business Review’s "Achieve DEI Goals Without DEI Programs" by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, the real drivers of inclusion aren’t “programmes” at all, but high-performance management practices: structured interviews, skills-based hiring, formal mentorship, clear career paths, and predictable scheduling.

In this interactive 45-minute roundtable, we’ll reflect on how these practices show up - or fail to - within our own workplaces, share examples from across industries, and explore whether performance-focused practices can truly replace explicit DEI initiatives.