Mobilizing for Diversity

The following post has been co-authored by my peer. Obinna Oraka and me. It is part of a series focused on Mobilizers. Check out the other posts in the series Lessons for Mobilizers, From Idea to Impact: Sandcastle Building for Mobilizers, Light Your Fire: 5 Secret Superpowers of Mobilizers and When Mobilizers Go Bad, Extending a Virtual Hand 

A global reckoning is happening around us.   

The Black Lives Matter movement has transcended the streets and moved into corporate boardrooms. Over the last month, many motivated employees have asked how to mobilize for diversity in their organizations. Over the past two years, Obinna Oraka and I have been fortunate to be leaders in the Black Inclusion Group and Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIBs) council. Together, we have shared some of our learnings on how we championed diversity in our organization.  

Claim your story: Whether you are starting an Employee Resource Group from scratch or expanding your organization's partnership, the work that you are embarking on will be rewarding and challenging. "Wherever you are on this journey, take the time to articulate what is your why, what is your story? Reflect, write, and practice it. In addition to giving us clarity on our purpose, sharing your story with co-workers shifts the conversation from an event occurring in a distant city to the reality of a teammate, colleague, and friend. It will make the discussion and the following implications more real.   

It's a little bit of courage, mixed with strong communication: As mobilizers in this space, you are called upon to speak truth to power. The work of DIBs requires leaders to recognize their privileges and understand that the system they are part of or built needs change. In the beginning, it can be a daunting position to be in. Both of us in at times have wondered if speaking our truth could come at a cost. We have realized that the first conversation is 20% courage and 80% strong communication.  

• Finding courage: When in doubt, reflect on your story and why you are doing this. For me [Obinna], it is creating space for more people who look like me at the company. For a long time, I didn't have a LinkedIn Profile picture because I thought it would hurt my chances of getting callbacks. When I decided to pivot to tech sales, I didn't have the right network to get me a seat at the table. It wasn't until I expanded my network through a DIBs Open House at LinkedIn, that I finally got an interview. My courage came from my own experience and wanting a different one for those who look like me? [I also updated my LinkedIn profile picture].  
• Know your audience: Start by asking yourself who am I trying to influence, and why should they care about my idea. Your ideas are more likely to get buy-in if it is already tied to an organization's existing priority. Articulate that problem statement and how your initiative ties to it.   
• Show don't just tell: DIBs begins with individuals coming to terms with their biases. However, most of us see don't see ourselves as being biased. We learned early on that it was far more effective to facilitate the revelation of biases we hold vs. telling others they have biases. The latter can result in defensiveness while the former can enable ownership. A simple exercise I [Sana] have conducted can be helpful in these scenarios. Ask your audience to close their eyes and visualize they are taking a trip to another city for a conference. Ask folks to imagine 3 situations – 1. Getting on the plane and the pilot greeting them. 2. Going to dinner and noticing the couple behind them celebrating their anniversary. 3. Picturing, the latest greatest's tech company CEO on stage speaking. After getting folks to open their eyes, ask if the pilot they visualized was black if the couple was a same sex couple and if the CEO was a woman. The answers will help guide a discussion around the biases we hold and how they manifest at work.  

Not your new year's resolution: Now, you have gotten a commitment and you are probably wondering how we hold others accountable to follow through? Conventional wisdom will lead you to focus on goals; however, we know goals without a system is why so many new year's resolutions go unfulfilled. How often your leadership team discusses DIBs is an excellent leading indicator of their commitment. Here are two things you can do to set yourself up for success to ensure these conversations occur:   

1. Role of executive sponsor: Make an explicit request from your executive sponsor to hold their teams accountable. Be specific about your request, what is the frequency and format of the follow-ups?  
2. Visible accountability: Create regular cadences where leaders must discuss progress and roadblocks with one another. This can be a monthly standing item for their meetings.   

[In]It Together: Most strategic corporate initiatives start at the top and die in the middle. If you want DIBs to be a living and breathing initiative, we must create an ecosystem of diverse stakeholders. The stakeholders shouldn't be limited to internal partners, BIG Canada partnered with the Black Professionals in Tech Network, because we realized we needed expertise and scale to achieve our vision. What would a winning coalition need? Individuals with relationships, Doers who can project manage, access to budget, etc. Identify the need and invite those stakeholders in. Remember, you should be able to connect the program to what matters to those individuals. Another reason you want a coalition of stakeholders is that progress is not linear. There will be a time when you want to give up, in those moments you want to look left and right to see who is in your team and lift you up.  

Finally, Margaret mead once said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Today, you are signing up to be one of those committed citizens, honor your experience, find your courage, know you are not alone, and the world is yours to change.