So that is a long story made short, but let’s look at how we ended here. There has been a tradition of popular DEI-themed breakfast seminars that Finland’s Diversity Charter has organized a few times a year together with our DEI-partner, Includia Leadership. There has rarely been an empty seat at these events, but we felt there would still be more we could do to support the DEI-scene in Finland. The thing is, people tend to get more out of events, when they themselves feel included. My ex-mother-in-law always said: “if you want to belong, you have to contribute”. She was indeed right.

So this year, the Finnish Diversity Charter donned their imagining hats and started to ideate ways to bring DEI-professionals closer together. You know, not just in the same room, eyes fixed to one presentation or another, but to actually focus on each other’s experiences and views, working together. Several ideas were thrown in the air, but in the end, it was the old faithful that landed in the center – the World Café.

Through the activity, the collective addressed ERGs from the following perspectives:

•        What kind of role could ERGs play in your organization? How could they be linked to DEI-work as a whole?
• ·         What type of limitations/challenges can you identify when founding/running ERGs?
• ·         How to generate pull to the ERGs? How can you support them in your work?

The discussion was lively, happy and real. These DEI-professionals met their allies, forged connections, exchanged ideas together with contact details. And it was clear that all this can be a start of a new way of doing things and a new way of building the DEI-community. In Finland. As in the DEI-work in general, generating knowledge and understanding is best achieved, when more voices are included.