It’s easy to feel like your actions won’t move the needle when you consider the global action the Black Lives Matter movement has already sparked. In various cities across the world, thousands of people have risked their lives rallying in major cities such as Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, Seoul, and London, UK. There have also been mega donations (Michael Jordan’s $100m BLM pledge) and social media advocacy from all the major brands and influencers. But while these are crucial, donating thousands of dollars, marching on the streets, or sharing messages of solidarity online are not the only ways to effect change in the battle against systemic racism and oppression. Your actions matter too, and you can start today within your sphere of influence — the workplace.
For many talented individuals, diversity and inclusion challenges at work have limited them from fulfilling their potential — just check out these shocking stats by Harvard Business Review. Through your position, you can challenge the status quo, empower others, and make an impact within your organization through these four steps:
Educate yourself — To take any meaningful action, you must first empower yourself with knowledge. In addition to last week’s suggestion, there are extensive resource banks of podcasts, reading lists, and documentaries to identify with the affected groups at work. Try out the Black Lives Matter ways to help guide as a starting point.
Listen with empathy: Within an organization, it’s easy to be limited by blind spots that don’t foster inclusive environments. To address these gaps, Quartz at work highlights the need to create safe “affinity spaces” for employees from marginalized groups to raise issues they may not feel comfortable exploring in general spaces. Volunteer for committees that set up these spaces or be the senior leadership member that listens with empathy to understand and take the appropriate action against issues that come up.
Take action towards a diverse culture: Now you are armed with enough information to make some critical decisions. Based on your position within an organization, there are a few ways you can take decisive action to start the real culture shift. According to Forbes, your diversity and integration (D &I) lead is just as crucial as your CEO, so instead of just focusing on hiring initiatives, develop a holistic D &I strategy. As part of senior leadership, you can:
- Check the diversity of your company’s board and leadership and recruit experienced people of colour to fill in the gaps.
- Make pay bands more transparent around compensation, health insurance, and other benefits to reduce any racial/ inequality gaps that exist.
- Develop a recruitment strategy that ensures both full-time staff and interns are hired from diverse backgrounds and institutions.
- Support diverse suppliers and business partners.
As Managers -
- Mentor and hire people from diverse backgrounds.
- Create a culture where people feel comfortable speaking out against anti-racial behaviour and policies.
- Ensure the work of people of colour is recognized and amplified when necessary. Make sure they feel seen and heard.
These solutions are not the end of the line but are starting points that can inspire real change.
Start with The Room-
Organizations around the world have taken a stand at the workplace. At least 40 global companies have shown support both through donations and revamping their Diversity and Inclusion strategies in their workplaces. This type of global collective action is proof that there is strength in numbers.
At The Room, we are a community of doers. We are those managers, board members, or CEOs that tip the scale at our respective organizations. We cannot wait to do this in the future but must start today by:
- Committing to mentor someone from a different background from you
- Hiring interns or full-time staff from the diverse institutions in our network
- Hiring diverse teams from our global talent pool
- Recruiting well represented diversified boards
These are only a few things you can do through our global community in the Room to spark immediate impact. As Doers, we can accelerate the inclusion, potential, and life goals of others today.
