Original article posted @ Forbes by Lu Paulise.
More diversity, equality and inclusion discussions have increased the number of companies observing Juneteenth as a holiday. Now, what are the next steps?
Juneteenth has long been celebrated in the United States to commemorate African American Independence Day. This year, June 19, or Juneteenth is considered a Federal Holiday.
The recent nationwide protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody, have brought conversations about diversity, equality and inclusion to the forefront. It is not solely a human resources task anymore; it is already part of the corporate agenda. Respect should be everyone’s business.
The question is how to move from statements to actions. The real benefits of DEI start when new behaviors are learned, and the company culture changes to prioritize respect over power.
A crisis is when corporate leaders are needed the most. In turn, leaders need to be prepared. These are specific steps you can take to start changing the culture:
1) Acknowledge there is a problem
You may think this is something that is not happening in your company. Or maybe you have worked hard to improve diversity, but employees don’t see any changes in behaviors. Marc Benioff CEO of Salesforce, in his book Trailblazer, talks about how he tried hard to beat bias in Salesforce, but over time the gap persisted. In 2016, only 2% of Salesforce’s employees were African-American. He says, “Equality is a moving target” as everyone has unconscious bias. You need to acknowledge the imbalance and work continuously to address it.
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2) Listen and speak about it
Leaders need to open themselves, listen to employees deeply, learn from them and avoid being defensive to make corrections.
Google is working to increase their Black network of counselors. Many companies encourage employees to join their equality groups or affinity groups that provide a safe space for people to connect around various aspects of their identity where they can have constructive and psychologically safe conversations.
Learning that diversity, inclusion, and equality don’t mean the same is important to identify where the company is lacking more action.
Diverse means that you have the presence of differences of identity (e.g., gender and people of color) throughout your organization, says expert Meg Bolger. Equality is an approach that ensures everyone accesses to the same opportunities. The company has to make sure everyone has the opportunity to grow, contribute, and develop, regardless of their identity.
Finally, inclusion is about people with different identities feeling valued, leveraged, and welcomed in the company.
3) Take action
You can have a diverse team, but that doesn’t mean the members feel psychologically safe to speak up and give their best. You have to build a system that supports and promotes the behaviors required to lead a diverse workforce. Sally Helgesen, cited in Forbes as world’s premier expert on Women’s leadership, highlights “that inclusive behaviors must be demonstrated at the leadership level or they will have no real impact” in the book Leadership in a Time of Crisis.
To retain minorities in the company, DEI needs to be embedded in the entire employee experience: recruiting, hiring, onboarding, engaging, performing, developing and even in the departing process as per Image below.
