How the Great Resignation Will Impact DEI
Millions of employees have walked out of their glass and concrete corporate doors, pledging never to return. According to the Labor Department, over four million members of the workforce quit in April alone; a part of a movement equal parts labor and existential christened the “Great Resignation.” As hundreds of companies scramble to fill open positions, they have been met with another recruitment hurdle: their diversity and inclusion efforts. Without a clear understanding of what creates the limitations and difficulties, the national momentum championing diversity and equity may lose a bit of its steam, challenging any progress made and bringing many efforts back to square one. What’s driving this mass exit? Unfortunately for many companies, the pandemic, although very sad and tragic in its destruction, created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for everyone: the time to think and reflect. The world moves at a breakneck speed, and the daily language is “go, go, go” doesn’t allow for the essential human introspection of “Does this make me happy?” “Does this even make sense?” And the time given by the world collectively being granted the chance to sit with themselves and think; people are taking this opportunity and running with it. If a company is unable or unwilling to pivot and be flexible, they’ll feel the brunt of the deflation from this modern workplace exodus and may never achieve the innovative and diverse team they may have been working so hard to build. Why is diversity so difficult to maintain right now? In a stunning new report from the academic publishing giant Wiley, for industries like the tech industry, the constant struggle with inclusion, equity, and diversity is one of the main contributing factors to their talent taking this opportunity to leave and never come back. According to the survey of more than 2,000 employees, 50% said they had left or wanted to resign from their IT or tech job because the culture of the company was unfriendly or made them feel not so comfortable, with 68% of respondents believing this was due to their ethnicity, gender, socio-economic background, or neurodevelopmental condition. Why don’t they want to return? For people from diverse communities, the pandemic was more than a health epidemic; it was an extinct-level collision of race, gender, and sexual orientation disparity and discrimination with a public health crisis. As tragic as this pandemic has been, not being in a workplace that is uncomfortable, unwelcoming, and littered with microaggressions and glass ceilings has been a bit of a relief for many people. Looking Ahead Leaders today have it tough with so many competing priorities. You have to work on retaining your workforce, cultivating a hybrid culture, improving the productivity and profitability of your business, AND pursuing DEI goals, all at the same time. The key here is to stay flexible and focused; make sure you look at this from longer-term play. As the saying goes, focus on DEI to being a marathon and not a sprint. Although it’s a crazy time – don’t rush your hiring process. Outsource or delegate a focused recruiting and onboarding strategy (if possible). Cast a wide net in diverse recruitment. Expand the ideas and framing of what “diversity.” means Have straightforward yet realistic expectations and requirements. Above all – be flexible. Old methods may not work in a modern and chaotic context. Although our way of life has been challenged, we can use this as an excellent opportunity to change methods, strategies and do what we’ve always said we wanted to do – think outside the box.
How to Demonstrate Cross-Cultural Competence on Your Team
If you’re in a leadership position, you may wonder, “How do I demonstrate that I understand my team? Displaying cross-cultural competence to your team is vital in inspiring confidence, trust, and feelings of psychological safety. Through cross-cultural competence may appear intimidating at first, if you maintain openness and mutual awareness, you’ll send a direct message to your team that they have strong, inclusive leadership. What does it mean to have cross-cultural competence? The original definition was first used by Terry Cross, founder of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Cross-cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural competence situations. Though cultural knowledge is an excellent skill to acquire and exercise, it’s better to first focus on internal non-tangible aspects of cross-cultural competence to have a concrete foundation that will ensure success. 3 Essential Components to Cross-cultural Competence Open-mindedness. The ability to think outside of your own culture, experience, and perspective is golden. Transcending ethnocentricity to exhibit cultural humility is the key that opens the doors to being approachable, receptive, and teachable. If you are sincere and earnest in your efforts and are open to ideas foreign to your worldview, and are willing to listen, you’ll be primed for success. Self-awareness. To best understand and connect with others, we must turn the mirror around and look at ourselves. The key in any DEI initiative will be a self-evaluation to reflect on any biases and blindspots because, to improve and build, we must understand what’s lacking and weak. Self-awareness is emotionally taxing at times because it requires self-reflection, introspection, and, above all, honesty, but doing so will not only make you a strong leader but a stronger person. Empathy about the World Around You. Recognizing the world is filled with people, cultures, and worldviews that may be completely different and opposite of yours, BUT understanding that these views and experiences are all valid and worthy of consideration. Then, when you recognize this and work towards understanding these different views, we begin to exhibit empathy. A quote attributed to Socrates, called the Socratic Paradox, “I know that I know nothing.” This humility creates an endless opportunity to learn more, understand more, and connect better. Cross-cultural competence doesn’t only apply to facts and knowledge but is a starting point of understanding. As challenging as it may appear, don’t try too hard. Learning, having new experiences, and being excited to connect with others is fantastic, but don’t fall into the trap of being the “overzealous ally” where you become too comfortable and end up operating under assumptions, stereotypes, and end up crossing lines and causing offense. Being open and mutually aware of yourself and others will not only demonstrate cross-cultural competence but will create an environment of respect and one where everyone knows they can be themselves and express themselves.
Why Hiring a Chief Diversity Officer is Not Enough to Solve Your Diversity Issues – and What to do instead
When we discuss the issues surrounding diversity, inclusion, systems, and structures, we are including everyone in our organizations, communities, and society, so we cannot depend on one person to correct all those issues either. This is what is being asked when an organization believes hiring a Chief Diversity Officer will solve their “diversity issues.” Apart from the apparent reason why one CDO cannot solve all your issues, here are three critical factors that need to be considered. Three reasons why it takes more than a Chief Diversity Officer to solve your diversity issues: Reason #1: They become a mascot. When all the organization’s issues are left to one person, it becomes easy to make them the mascot of diversity for your company: a smiling face but with someone completely different on the inside. Unless organizational changes have occurred, or are occurring, the same issues that the organization experienced will recur eventually. It takes company culture, leadership support, and accountability to effect sustainable change. One person may launch fantastic initiatives, but without everyone, those initiatives will crumble over time, leaving the environment back at square one, if not worse. Also, it is common for organizations to hire a CDO as a reaction to a public misstep. At this point, the CDO is then tasked with putting out fires and becoming the representative (the mascot) for a renewed and improved organization. Since there is not much follow-up or accountability, it is easy to say, “With our new CDO, we’re a diverse and inclusive organization.” Without sustained structural support, the CDO becomes a shadow virtue signaler leaving the organization still susceptible to missteps, blind spots, and more severe fumbles. What to do instead: Make sure you have a clear understanding of what outcomes you are seeking to achieve with an individual and creating a role that allows the individual to be successful. Ensure that CDOs are set up for success. This means making sure they report directly to the CEO with a dotted line partnership with HR. This means ensuring that the CDO has allocated a budget to execute strategic goals and priorities. This means that the CDO has the authority to make key decisions and partner with other leaders within the organization. It also means providing the CDO with options to either hire staff or hire external consultants to support their work. Reason #2: a misunderstanding of the scope of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Viewing diversity issues as something a person occupying a singular role can fix demonstrates that the organization does not fully grasp the task at hand. Improving the diversity and inclusiveness of the organization is serious work that takes dedication, expertise, and, most importantly, an engaged supporting cast invested in bringing new ideas and initiatives to life. What to do instead: Take the time to educate yourself and other leaders on the scope of the CDO’s role but also the DEI strategy that is being put into place. Understand the complexities of the efforts but also the level of adoption it will take an organization to make based on its current state. Reason #3: not allowing the officer to do their job. The concepts that constitute diversity and inclusion, or “social justice,” matters tend to be heavy and complex at times and require honesty and openness from the team as a whole and separate support from leadership. Without it, the CDO may not receive the proper structural support and resources needed to do their job and may be forced to introduce new ideas and concepts to an unresponsive and uncooperative crowd, the team. When leadership does not understand the scope or nature of the work, they tend to present hesitation when the work is being done. A common complaint among CDOs of color is that when the heavy concepts are discussed, they are asked to temper the subject matter because it creates discomfort. This goes against the very work they were hired to do and brings us back to leadership not fully grasping the scope of the work. Understandably, some organizations are unaware of the weight this work can carry. Still, it would be counterintuitive to assume that the weight that created the trauma, pain, and disparity would somehow be lightened when addressing these issues. One officer is not a system, an infrastructure, or a self-contained checks, balances, and accountability mechanism. And all of these are needed to ensure the success of an implemented diversity and inclusion initiative. Many diversity initiatives fail because organizations place such a heavy responsibility on the back of one person instead of a concerted effort from the leadership and staff alike. One set of hands is not made to carry such weight. What to do instead: To make real progress, DEI must be viewed as a team sport that might be led by a CDO, enabled by HR, but ultimately is the responsibility of every leader at an organization. allow the CDO to do their job. And be willing to back them up, particularly at times when the company needs to take a stance. Understand that backing up the CDO may ultimately mean changing the way you do things internally. It also may mean that you have to hold your leadership team accountable to stop behaviors that are no longer positively serving the company towards its ideal vision of inclusion.