With Diversity and Inclusion Comes Responsibility
NOW THAT WE’RE CLEAR that saying sorry is no longer good enough, let’s talk about what needs to happen so that you aren’t in the position of having to repeat that you’re sorry.
Diversity and Inclusion should be a promise with execution. That means the following:
1. If you say that you’re a fair and just company, and that Diversity and Inclusion is part of your company culture, but it’s on paper only, that’s a promise to no one – it’s only a statement.
2. When you make the promise, what does the promise mean?
3. How are you executing on that promise?
4. Look around your company. How diverse is it?
5. In what departments do you have diverse staff?
6. What type of diversity do you have?
7. Who is responsible for hiring?
8. What’s the background of those doing the hiring?
9. How do they approach hiring?
10. Where are you posting your job listings?
11. Who’s writing the job listings?
12. What wording are you using in the listings?
13. Who’s in the room when people are being interviewed? A diverse team would be nice to see, but only, and I do mean only, if they’re in leadership roles or part of the D&I committee. Do not have someone of color, someone who’s LGBTQ+, a woman, or a disabled person in the interview as props.
14. Don’t place ads for a Head of Diversity and Inclusion if you’re not planning to hire. If months later you still haven’t hired anyone, and the ad is still running, then you’re just pretending to keep your promise.
15. Does your promise include not only hiring for diversity but insuring that you make an effort to be inclusive?
16. Does inclusive mean more than just being in the room?
17. Whose voices are heard in the room?
18. Whose voices are asked to contribute to the conversation?
Ask yourself the above questions because they’re the first step toward your company becoming diverse and inclusive. It sounds simple, but I’ve had CEOs tell me that they just don’t know where to begin or what questions to ask. This is a beginning.
What You Need to Do
Let’s jump ahead. You’re about to hire people who will bring diversity into the company. If the company hasn’t been diverse in the past, do you share your thinking with the present company employees? Do you explain the importance of bringing in different thoughts and outlooks for the success of the company? Do you let them know that the company is changing and growing and that you’re invested in the change and growth?
The answer to the above questions should be obvious – Yes!
Let’s say that you’ve already implemented Diversity and Inclusion in your company, but some employees still feel that they aren’t included or aren’t treated fairly. After many meetings and approval from the board (if that’s what’s needed) you decide to create committees and announce to the company that you’ll make changes.
The question becomes, have you listened to where the disconnect is coming from? Have you taken the time to speak with those in charge, and those not in charge, before you throw committees at the issue? Have you asked how the company can make the issue better? A company survey isn’t the best way to find out what employees are thinking because, no matter what you say to the contrary, employees know that the responses can be tracked to the people who made them. Hold round-tables instead, with an outside consultant and whichever leadership is most appropriate.
All too often, the kneejerk reaction is to promise change, make a half-hearted effort, and then say it didn’t work. If you promise change, then make change. You have to keep making the effort to make change until you find what works.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. Speak to the people who are disconnected and ask them what developments they would like to see to insure that their issues are addressed.
2. Ask the allies, champions, and advocates to oversee departments outside of their own, to be the key point people for those departments so that there’s someone employees can approach. Every situation doesn’t need to go to HR. In most situations an employee just needs someone to walk through an issue with them without judgment.
3. Training videos don’t have the impact that comes from bringing someone in to interact with people. Bring in people who can relate to your staff and company culture, who can make people aware of what’s actually going on.
4. Providing D&I training once a year isn’t helpful. Training should be done before it’s needed, not when it’s mandatory.
5. Trainings and workshops that haven’t been updated to include the faces of today’s workers won’t have the impact that’s needed. Remember that diversity is more than race and gender; it also includes LGBTQ+ and those with disabilities.
6. Bring in people who represent all groups, and make the point that your company wants to invest in creating a series of trainings that speak to the company culture. Then your employees will know that your promise isn’t an empty promise but the foundation of the company.
7. Let employees know when new D&I laws have been passed and that you’ll be updating the company handbook to insure that everyone is aware of the changes.
8. Before jumping into training, have someone come in and do a full D&I company assessment. When I do assessments I start from the moment I walk through the door. I look at when restrooms are cleaned, how the space makes me feel, who the people are, how staff speak to each other, and many other factors. CEOs have been shocked at what my assessments have revealed. After an assessment I determine what direction the company should take and what trainings they should engage in to insure the growth of the company and its employees. This takes up to a month, if not more.
9. Conflict coaching is an option to offer your employees to settle internal issues. Conflict coaching has grown out of mediation, and it’s aimed at working with those on one side of an issue. Often, when I’ve arrived to mediate a case, I’ve found that only one side would show up. Mediators cannot listen to only one side, so all I could do was reschedule. The side that didn’t show up (for whatever reason) was left helpless, frustrated, and deflated. Of course, those who showed up walked out more frustrated then when they walked in. New York State has conducted a pilot program to train certified mediators to be conflict coaches, allowing mediation centers to offer the service when one side doesn’t show up.
My job as a conflict coach is not to tell the party what to do but to help them see their options if the other side doesn’t want to change. I help them see how to deal with their feelings and move forward.
Sometimes employees leave a meeting or a job because they were frustrated from not being heard or appreciated. Meeting with a conflict coach may allow them to see the situation in a different light and may show them how they also have to change if they want others to change.
Diversity and Inclusion is a two-way street. Each side needs to make an effort to understand the other.
Allow me to share a personal story where D&I promises turned into a problem.
I was living and dancing in Paris, France (in my first career I was a professional ballet dancer). When I started, I danced for TV, film, and commercials. There were two other dancers of color at the time, but they were French; I was the only American black woman. I was the only black dancer on a popular TV variety show. The other dancers had issues with me being hired and being the lead dancer and dance assistant. In my mind that was their issue, not mine.
I knew what I needed for the show in regard to wardrobe – a dark brown or black wig and makeup to match my skin tone. I was told that the makeup artist would have what I needed; the wig was essential.
The day came for the final dress rehearsal. I went to pick up my wig and, guess what, there was no wig for me. They had decided, without speaking to me, that they just didn’t have time to pick up the darker wig. We’d been rehearsing this show for two weeks, and the contract had been signed in advance. I had taken it upon myself, with the help of a French-speaking friend, to introduce myself to wardrobe, hair, and make-up in advance so that they would know that I was there (just in case my contract agreements hadn’t made it to the folks who do the work). I was told oops, sorry, it just didn’t happen. But sorry wasn’t good enough. I picked up my dance bag and found the choreographer. I told him that he just lost his lead dancer because a promise wasn’t kept. I had done my part to insure that wardrobe knew I was there and what I needed, and they decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
My allies, champions, and advocates came through in ways that I never expected. I knew that the choreographer would stand up for me since he pushed to get me hired on a show where there were only white dancers, and he created dance segments for me. But I had no idea that the star of the show had been watching rehearsals, heard what happened, and demanded that I not only have the wigs that I needed but that I would have my own hair and makeup team so that wouldn’t happen again.
That was a promise that turned into a problem that turned into a solution that I hope stuck for any person of color who worked there after I left. I also hope that the story lives on for anyone from a diverse culture who works there so that they know they can stand up! They may be surprised how many people are in their corner.
Promises and problems go beyond the walls of the traditional workplace. The people running a church wanted to open their congregation to those outside their community, so they placed an ad asking for blacks or people of color to join them. The ad said that they would be paid in doughnuts and that they could take whatever was left after the coffee hour. Seriously, I haven’t made this up.
• Solution 1: If you want to diversify your church, speak with someone in charge at a house of worship of a different faith. Attend one of their services and invite them to attend one of yours. This is a way to build trust, to learn about other faiths, and to bring people together.
• Solution 2: Invite someone to be a guest preacher or speaker.
Someone who was partially hearing impaired needed a piece of equipment that would make voices clear when he used the phone. The company he worked for provided the equipment for him (which makes sense since that would make him a better employee). Everything was great until the company was sold and he was told that the equipment was no longer going to be available. He was given the option to stay, but without the equipment he needed to do his job. Someone in the company, sadly, thought this was OK.
Then there are the difficulties that disabled people have when they fly. They make prior arrangements and are promised that what they need will be there when they need it. In one case a man was forced to crawl across the tarmac, up the stairs, and down the aisle of the plane because the promised equipment wasn’t there. He had to repeat the process in reverse when the plane landed. In another case a woman’s wheelchair was stored with the luggage and was broken during the flight. She had to sue to try to be reimbursed for the value of the chair.
This story has happened to different people at different companies.
One employee did great work, was loyal, and was praised by her company. But she noticed that other employees were doing the same job but were paid more. She requested a meeting and was told that the others got paid more because they had degrees. So, she decided to get a degree, and after she got it she asked for a second meeting to discuss a raise or promotion. No raise, no promotion. So, she decided to leave. At the third meeting the company wanted to know, Why are you leaving the company?
Why are you leaving the company? Companies lose out when they lose good people. They lose good people when they don’t let those people move up the ladder, just because their color, disability, or sexual preference doesn’t fit the company culture.
If you hear that there’s a D&I issue in your company, don’t brush it under the table. Communication is key. Whether the issue is regarding race, gender, or someone being made to feel unwelcome, it needs to be addressed. You need to take the time, and face being uncomfortable to solve the problem.
Diversity is not a simple calculus, it’s a social exercise. It’s an exercise on how to best harvest the value of differences in lived experiences, ethnicity, gender, religion, geography, age, socio-economic status, etc…. and convert it into more impactful and more valuable (tangible or intangible) deliverables for the clients. Inclusion is about equality in power and not demographic integration that mainly defines diversity.
— Biophara consultant
See something, say something, do something!
If not you, then who?
