Is Diversity a Normal Response? 7 Necessary Steps to Achieve Diversity
Hello
In the 1990’s, Diversity was the cool buzzword to have on the walls of companies, on the painting in offices, or perhaps as one of the principled values on the Careers page of the company website.
The early 2000’s continued to echo the sentiment, but the commitment that was originally ignited seemed to dwindle… Perhaps the need did not seem apparent anymore. After all, there was an increase, regardless of the size, of faces that looked different from the majority.
Diversity began to morph into a broader requirement that no longer meant expanding the opportunities and representation of the community or customer base, or of those who were traditionally exploited and alienated, as initially intended. It began to mean differences, in general. If we have people who are all different in some way, we’re representing diversity, are we not? We have introverts, extroverts, innovators, producers, the left-handed, and the right-handed. And if we are really bold, we’ll focus on gender diversity bringing in more females. However, racial diversity became something passé’, as inappropriate to bring up as it was when it initially became a goal, only decades prior. You better dare not speak of racism if you are so lucky of the selected few to be let in.
Now comes a time when we are all humbled, the United States is humbled, and dare I say the world is humbled. The egregious, pain-staking and monstrous pandemic also known as Covid-19 has given everyone a spanking. Regardless of your privileged position, it has everyone searching for the steering wheel, the continuous strive to regain what we perceived as control. On the best of days, we even aim to grasp an intimate purpose for our lives.
While our wounds were still open, some may have perceived theirs as healing and others with gashes wide open… George Floyd happens. For some, this was the last straw, the last straw of racism that had been detrimentally deadly to their livelihood (figuratively and physically) for a long time. It was others’ last straw because they were already against the wall due to the lasting damage of the pandemic. And some, well for some, their eyes were opened for the first time. Or perhaps it was the first occasion that they had a moment to focus on such ugliness that was nothing short of a re-run for others. Perhaps, it was the explosive cocktail that was created between a massive killing pandemic and a video that would give Freddie Kruger the chills. Whatever the reason, what appears to be a tipping point, the need for diversity, dare I say racial diversity, once again has our attention.
I would like to spend some time focusing on the 7 Steps to Expanding Diversity in your organization. What is not covered in this vlog is Inclusion. Inclusion is very important. I would say a class above Diversity and Diversity is like the pre-requisite. It is definitely the easier to accomplish of the two. Though some may argue the opposite. Ideally, you would commit to taking both “classes” at the same time 😊. I know that some are saying, isn’t diversity hard enough? Yes, if we are honest, it is, in this country. However, diversity is not and never will be sustainable without inclusion. Given the limited time available in this vlog/ blog and kudos to those who are still here, we’re going to focus on company diversity.
Step #1 is to Acknowledge that you don’t know what you don’t know. When I think of the several conversations that I have had with people who work in Talent Acquisition for major companies or professional associations where there is a lack of diverse representation, the main argument is that they can’t seem to find any people of color. Admittedly, I am often thinking, though sometimes not asking, is it that you cannot find people of color or you don’t know what you don’t know?
The truth is that homogeneity is the most basic and easiest way to make decisions. While kindergartners are the most loving and collaborative people among each other. They tend to cling to one another. They bond with each other based upon their common experience, living in a world of unknowns where they know a lot more than people think that they do. One of the first things that they learn is to categorize. They group the round shapes with other round ones, the purples with the purples, and the greens with the greens. Categorization, we learn from an early age, saves us time. As we grow older, we continue to advance the skill of categorization to add efficiencies to our lives. I personally have an occasion-coded closet, that is even further categorized based upon occasion. Even when we are fond of people who are not like ourselves, most of us have learned since Kindergarten to gravitate to those like us (because it's more comfortable) and to categorize.
Given that, consider the context, in which we live. I know that many people reading this blog or listening to the vlog are not in the United States. I am specifically referencing the U.S. and other countries that have been developed on the foundations of racism and racial disparities. If we are humans of human nature and tend to feel more comfortable around those who look like us and it’s our normal tendency to categorize then why would we expect to not have a knee-jerk reaction of hiring those like ourselves? Why would anything more or less be expected? Then you put that in a context of an economically-driven racially disparaging tradition and you have what you have today: A racism pandemic in a world that many ironically deem as “post-racial.”
I am reminded of a time when my church called for everyone to wear blue for an annual occasion. I went shopping at three of my favorite stores and still could not seem to find a blue dress of my liking. Though Interestingly, I found several green dresses that so happens to be my favorite color. I was used to wearing green. Blue was a stretch for me. I rarely, if ever, wore blue. I eventually found a blue dress online, but I lacked a connection to it. I just was not used to wearing it.
Sure, some may be offended that I dare compare people to dresses and I agree it’s not that simple. Though what is that simple is that we are emotionally driven beings. Oftentimes we believe that we’re making sound objective decisions when we’re doing nothing of the sort. We’re simply responding to what feels the most familiar, the most emotionally comfortable. Some of us call it a gut feeling. Dare we not trust our gut in this modern era of self-actualization?
Even in this proclaimed era of self-actualization, we must be open to learning from others in order to achieve greatness. I don’t know Spanish, so I take Spanish classes. I get help from Spanish friends. I don’t assume that there is no use for Spanish simply because I don’t know how to master the language yet. Let’s not assume that there is no need to attempt diversity, simply because you haven’t yet mastered it. Be open to learning from others even if you have achieved “greatness.”
What many don’t know is that diversity takes significant effort. While I love diverse environments and novel experiences, this is not the norm. Most people of all races prefer what is familiar. Familiar is more comfortable. Comfortable is convenient.
This leads us to #2… Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you are genuinely desiring diversity within your organization, you are going to be uncomfortable at times. You may be uncomfortable when they have personal stories, to which you cannot relate. You might be uncomfortable because they don’t get your jokes. You might be uncomfortable when they disagree with your seasoned and tenured opinion. If you’re at the most elementary stages of racial and cultural diversity you may even be uncomfortable by such superficialities as the difference of the foods that they eat, the difference in their hair, and even their skin. Though if you are genuinely hoping to work in a diverse environment, you will be comfortable with your uncomfortable until you become more comfortable.
The third step (#3), which has been implied already is to not trust your gut. I know this sounds counterintuitive from everything that you have learned regarding how to live and how to make decisions. When building diversity it is selfish and downright dangerous to rely on your gut. In this modern era, thankfully, we have access to more objective tools and data than we ever have in the past. When hiring and promoting, we should use assessments and simulations to help us make objective decisions. Such tools help us to analyze the quality of talent that is not subjectively based, but based on relevant subject matter expertise and performance ability.
Step #4 is to Know Your Community Base. It is important to know your community base for two reasons. Firstly, the more that you know your community base, the more knowledgeable that you will be in how to find attain diverse talent that is not far away. Quite conveniently, a community base can conceivably be global in our modern times. This is most commonly found among higher positions that typically include searches that are global, positions for which we are willing to sponsor relocation. The second important reason to know your community base is because every organization should be an asset to their community. If you are not familiar with your community, the inhabitants of the City in which your organization resides then it will be difficult to understand your community, integrate with the community, and ultimately serve your community. However, knowing your community base will help you to better your community and know the diverse representation that exists within it for your organization to tap into it to obtain the diverse talent resources that exist there.
Step #5 is to Know Your Customer Base. While this is common knowledge in some marketing departments, many organizations can take the opportunity to ensure that their workforce represents their customer base. When a workforce lacks the diversity of thought and perspective they place themselves at a disadvantage in selling to and serving diverse customer audiences.
Step #6 is to Make Diversity a priority. While this sounds like a given in thought, it isn’t always in action. As we know, most of our days are fully occupied with rushing to make deadlines, working positively toward our goals, and placing effort based upon the priorities of our organization. There is never enough time to do everything that we want to do, but we focus on what is prioritized the highest by leadership. We ensure that diversity is a priority by setting direct goals tied to it. In many areas of Talent and HR, we want to move to a more qualitative non-numerical way of measuring performance. However, quantitative measurement is needed when there is a lack of sophistication to do otherwise. Most organizations are not so sophisticated that they are beyond the need to quantitatively measure their diversity progress. Also, quantitative data is still king among the C-Suite layers of the organization. If diversity is a priority then it will be measured. What is a priority is measured and we know what gets measured gets done. For example, in Talent Acquisition, are recruiters rewarded and/or evaluated more highly by providing diversely represented slates? Are there staff members with significant ties of underrepresented communities on the staff in decision-making positions? Are leaders requiring a diverse representation of interviews when hiring? Are there active promotion sponsorship and mentorship programs for underrepresented groups in order to expand diversity in the higher ranks of organizations?
7. Be consistent. As Coach John Wooden said, a character is measured by what we do when no one else is looking. If diversity is a real goal of your organization then you want to institutionalize practices that go beyond public visibility, but communicates to your organization and team members that it is an important value of your organization. The best way to institutionalize diverse efforts is to make them a part of your traditional dashboards. When you measure our quarterly performance, you can measure the hiring and retention of your diverse talent base. In addition to lag measures, you can also use lead measures that proactively link efforts to diverse outcomes including recruitment and internal inclusion efforts.
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Have a great day!
Dr. Lepora