Opportunity doesn’t knock very often when you’re young, black, and gay. In fact, most of us bend and twist to get into opportunity’s way. Even if you’re like me and conventionally masculine-presenting, educated, and theoretically “sought after,” the ugly fact is that the modern workplace is still made of hostility for queer individuals.
Last year, in the middle of our collective COVID-19 fight, the State of the LGBTQ Community 2020 study showed 77 percent of LGBTQ individuals have had their psychological wellbeing impacted by workplace discrimination. In addition, data showed 50 percent of us have made employment decisions to avoid discrimination and have had our authentic identity impact our ability to be hired.
You read that correctly – just hired. And, for those of us who’ve successfully navigated the gauntlet, the struggles continue beyond the offer letter. Once “inside,” we are met with diversity statements and programs that lack real teeth.
Fatigued by empowerment speak, we work every day threatened and afraid to authentically show who we are to those around us tell us they care.
Our combined truth is that today, in many cases, both paradigms are very real – the well-intended leader whose growing diversity efforts are missing the point and the fearful, skeptical employee who distrusts their employer’s commitment to making inclusive change.
So, from a queer leader who’s been both nervous and fearful of violence at the office party and at the helm of leadership groups determined to see change, here are the difference-making moves every inclusive organization must make. This is what it looks like to reach beyond headlines and improve the work experiences of the silently fearful changemakers that are fueling your organizations.
1. Get Real and Get Personal
The off-rhythm national data around LGTBQ experiences isn’t enough to help craft support for any organization. At the end of the day, data is story. Those stories get washed out when they are viewed at the highest trend levels and grouped by the thousands and millions.
Leaders who are serious need to know what’s happening in their organizations, on their zooms, and with their employees. From surveys to actual individual listening, real inclusion is built by real connection and personal relationship. To foster it, you have to know what’s happening at home.
2. Enable More than You Empower
After 70 years of diversity “talk,” data shows employees need more than conversation. The tired “empowerment” narrative hasn’t produced real change – mainly because it comes from safely guarded seats.
In reality, empowerment is a short-sighted effort to lend a little power or room – for a task, for a month, on a billboard, or for some “prioritized” campaign. And yes, these things are a start, but they fall far-short of producing enduring impact.
To shift the paradigm, executives need to enable – meaning they surrender the authority to determine the size and shape of change.
If you want inclusion, those most affected must be moved from passive bystanders to your key decision makers.
People don’t need your permission to do what they are endowed to do. What people need is for those classical power holders and their norms to be moved out of progress’ way.
Your real diversity program isn’t a C-suite idea or response to a headline or survey. Your queer people, colleagues with different abilities, and people of color are already taking care of each other.
They do it at lunch, via covert looks in meetings, at happy hours, and hundreds of other secretly executed ways.
When they are enabled, they can make real progress and bring their generations-old innovations and new ideas to the forefront. That only happens when organizations take risks and let those in need decide the shape of change.
3. Resource the Revolution
Whether a new product or existing focus, every priority’s significance can be measured by the quantity of time, money, and person-power it receives. While this seems like a no-brainer, it is often forgotten when companies address D&I.
The inspiration behind PRIDE months and diversity hires often fizzles out in a few years for most organizations. In fact, the average diversity officer tenure is about two years – enough time for the shininess to fade and make room for a new person and program. When we truly “get it right,” we will see these commitments matched with measurable goals, robust teams, and long-term resources to fuel the revolution.
4. Start with Transparency
Lastly, the old American leadership archetype was built on the ideals of a perfect white-male unicorn who is always ahead and out front. The last 20 years of business, however, have been humbling for those who grew up under the old guard. Now, innovators come in many shades, leaders are open about divorce, and meetings are led in sweatshirts. The new, real currencies that pay for employee loyalty are transparency and change.
From online articles to experiences like mine, the combination of C-suite influence and transparency are proving to be the start of every transformation. My experiences and work today are living proof.
During my tenure at Chemonics, we were acknowledged as a Best Place to Work by organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and Inclusion Works. While I’m excited about the awards, I’m more excited about the work at every level that started with a brave leadership moment.
When I told our CEO Jamey Butcher we needed an assessment that would publicly give us a failing grade, I didn’t expect to hear “Let’s do it and share it.” This “stop and pause” moments for me was the start of real change— change you could feel in the room.
Jamey’s willingness to be transparent was one of the first planks on our bridge to moving from failing to becoming a “best place.”
I hope that the combination of my story and the transparent truth-telling of readers like you, will do more than result in shares, but that these tips will help reduce the numbers of “me’s” who have suffered silently in work cultures that only mention diversity.
Diversity and inclusion challenges require solutions bigger than a month of events or social media shares. To be effective, our statements and banners must be followed with a shift toward structural changes, employee enablement, and transformation decisions that demonstrate a serious commitment to diversity and inclusion.
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