5 Ways Leaders Can Support Historically Underrepresented Groups in the Workplace - [Infographic]
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Some like to believe that the hiring system is broken.
It is not.
It is working very well. The hiring system is doing precisely what it was designed to do centuries ago. It was designed to preserve access to the best positions for white, heterosexual, non-disabled, cis-gender males and exclude everyone else. And through long-standing policies, practices and behaviors, the hiring system has been preserved. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has moved the needle forward, there is still a lot of work to do to reach equity in historically underrepresented populations' recruiting experience.
Until we reach radical equity in recruiting, marginalized communities will need your support.
They do not need handouts.
They do not need special treatment.
They do not even require you to bend the rules in their favor.
Populations that are historically underrepresented in the workplace need you to see the bias, disrupt the bias, and eliminate the bias. Helping them to win does not mean giving them an advantage. It means removing the obstacle course that creates inequity and disadvantage.
"Helping them to WIN does not mean giving them an advantage. It means removing the obstacle course that creates inequity and disadvantage."
- Jenn Tardy
On your roadmap to increasing diversity, here are 5 ways you can support historically underrepresented populations:
#1: First, do no harm. These words are a part of the original Hippocratic oath taken by physicians. Leaders, managers, and everyone at an organization can benefit from following these words. Make it a priority to mitigate potential psychological harm, damage, or injury to employees due to unconscious bias. The experience you create can be damaging and lethal if you are not careful. Hold yourself accountable for learning about prejudice and how it manifests within each of your roles as a hiring professional, while on-boarding and managing, and even as you consider the promotional process. Minoritized communities can hope to work in a bias-free company, but you can help make it a reality. Remember, employees do not leave good companies; they tend to leave bad managers and leaders.
#2: Hire (+ promote) based on the value an employee brings, not because of how they identify—that is illegal. How historically underrepresented individuals identify creates value because it increases the diversity of thought or spectrum of perspective in your organization. Focus on spectrum of perspective. The more diverse your organization is, the more blind spots you will cover. Acknowledge that a person’s lived experience is shaped by how they identify and brings its own level of intelligence. That is priceless.
#3: Create an inclusive environment. Every company has a culture which is an ideal it aspires to reach. On the road to the ideal culture, your organization cultivates specific environments. Think of your culture as your intent, but the environment as the impact or outcome. Your company may have good intent (i.e., culture), but how are employees presently impacted (i.e., environment), especially employees who identify uniquely to white, heterosexual, able-bodied, cis-gender, and male. Is your company, business unit, and department ready for increased diversity? Does it have a culture of inclusion and belonging to ensure that as you increase diversity, you increase retention of those who have been hired. Gain perspective and empathy from employees. Build psychological safety. Remember that although you may have good intentions, your employees may be impacted differently by your leadership style. Learn to actively listen and believe them the first time. It is not up to you to determine if an experience is valid or not.
#4: Edify and position people well inside the organization. Minoritized individuals are not people hired into your organization because they are a woman, or are Black, or any other self-identifying features. They are hired because they bring tremendous value to the role (i.e., by way of their knowledge, skills, and abilities) and great value to the company (i.e. by way of their perspective due to their lived experiences). Make sure the company knows exactly the value they bring and how their lived experiences increase the spectrum of perspective for the organization, thereby giving the organization a competitive advantage. This is very important because without credibility, and with so many preconceived notions on how diversity played into the role of hiring, it will be hard for your team to take them seriously. When you edify a new employee properly, your team will start to listen to them. In addition, position them for the level of power and authority their position requires. Expect success. Ensure people are empowered to have a voice and amplify voices.
#5: Share the career success playbook. What are the unwritten rules to getting ahead on your team, within the department, and within the organization? Do you have to enter exclusive networking circles? Do you have to have a particular look or presence? Do you have to say or not say certain things? What do you have to do and who do you have to be to win the most influence and access the most coveted roles within your organization? If you do not know the answer to that, look and see who holds those roles today and learn more about how they got there. Acknowledge that there are unwritten rules for success at your workplace. Then have that conversation with historically underrepresented individuals. Unveil the political game. Whether they elect to play the game or not is up to them, but at least they know about it. And if they do want to play the game, let them know what you plan to do to enable them to navigate it effectively. In other words, create equity in opportunity and promotion by sharing the unwritten rules to succeed with all employees or dismantle them completely, so no one has access because not everyone has access.
We did not simply wake up one day to a bias infused obstacle course baked into the hiring system. And we will not get out of it overnight either. It takes building trust and dismantling the policies, practices and behaviors that continue to lack support and create an obstacle course for marginalized individuals in and outside of your organization. It’s your turn to create radical equity in recruiting!
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Join the conversation in the comments. What are other actions you think leaders can take to support historically underrepresented populations in the workplace?
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