How Cronyism Thrives at the IRC Pt. II
(IRC Staff Experience)
It’s well known that for an organization’s Chief Diversity Officer to succeed and have genuine power, that person must report to the CEO [Chief Executive Officer] and be part of senior leadership. So when it was announced that a Chief GEDI Officer [Chief Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer] would be recruited to lead a newly formed GEDI [Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion] Unit, we were hopeful that we would finally have female BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] representation at the highest level of the org [organization].
The CSO [Chief Strategy Officer] and his Strategy Unit were given the task of proposing the structure of this new unit. When the time came to engage the DEI [Diversity, Equality and Inclusion] Council and staff around the org on their proposed visions we were shocked to hear that the reporting line for the Chief GEDI Officer was still up for debate. As news about this spread, there was a lot of staff pushback and outcry. So much so that the CRRD [Crisis Response, Recovery and Development] Women Leaders Group and Diverse Leaders Group submitted a letter to the CSO, David and LB [Leadership Board] calling for the reporting line of the Chief GEDI Officer to be to David and for the role to have membership on the LB. Staff raised the question over and over again in different forums including during all staffs [All Staff Meetings] and on RescueNet [IRC’s intranet].
The Strategy Unit is David’s pet project and has a lot of power so if the CSO really wanted to use his influence to recommend that the reporting line be directly to the CEO — as per findings from the very industry he came from — he could’ve. Instead he made it known that he didn’t think it mattered that much and basically admitted that David would not want someone he doesn’t know or trust reporting to him.
In the end the Chief GEDI Officer was assigned to the COO [Chief Operating Officer] who is one of David’s cronies. I still can’t believe David and the LB so shamelessly ignored staff voices on DEI to continue hoarding power and gatekeep.
**Since the submission of this staff experience the IRC announced that it would recruit an Senior Vice President of People & Culture who the Chief GEDI Officer would report to. That recruitment remains ongoing since September 2021**
