In-house diversity professionals often ask me about how to address resistance to their diversity and inclusion program. These professionals describe managers who give a nod to the diversity program in leadership meetings, while making excuses for not being more actively involved in addressing the issues in their units. Others enthusiastically offer their opinions and suggestions on other topics, but disengage when the diversity goals are covered. A couple of the managers seem to be openly hostile towards the diversity program based on the reasons they give for not supporting it and the aggressive tone of their statements about it. Many managers may not openly show support negative statements about the diversity program, but you can see their faces light up while that “brave” individual speaks her or his mind.
Ironically, very few diversity professionals seeking my opinion voluntarily talk about the managers who support the diversity initiative until I bring it up. Diversity professionals appreciate the white male manager who sticks his neck out in support of the diversity initiative, especially when it is needed. However, these brave individuals tend to be under the radar when diversity professionals talk about diversity work. The devilish forces in the organization that are consumed with undermining the diversity program and its champions tend to consume many diversity professionals to the point of losing objectivity. That is one impact of the work on them.
The point is that diversity professionals must navigate the rugged terrain of uneven support, hostility, and apathy. A diversity professional of color or a woman must be concerned about appearing neutral, yet sensitive to the needs of people of color and women who look to them to make their lives in the organization better. It really takes skill to walk this tightrope. But, where would diversity professionals have learned it? Most of them do not have a degree in diversity leadership, cultural competence, or organizational development. They have learned how to succeed in the diversity business from the School of Hard Knocks. A few can get by with this trial by error training, but most continue to struggle at least in the areas of politics.
One diversity professional I have worked with closely for years continue to have a difficult time raising the bar of expectation with respect to her organization’s diversity program. She is so sensitive to the leadership’s own limitations with respect to openness to cultural diversity that she colludes in their undermining the program to a considerable extent. I probably would be as cautious if I were in her shoes? The only difference is that I have much more experience in navigating cultural politics and strategies to deal with them. She has to worry about not moving things too quickly to avoid making her supervisor too uneasy and getting the expected results. It is a difficult predicament that leaves diversity professionals feeling drained, ineffective, and isolated. Too often their experiences lead to illness and depression.
People need to feel successful. The diversity professional needs to feel that he or she is making a difference and that the organization’s leadership is supportive and willing to provide the authority needed to do the job as best as possible. While a considerable number of diversity professionals are great at navigating organizational politics, even the best can succumb to the pressures of an unsupportive leadership and limited authority.
This article is written to give you some insights into how to navigate the treacherous diversity leadership terrain. Here are the top ten things to try to impart to diversity leaders in my executive coaching work and certification training:
1. Become a cultural diversity leadership expert and actively pursue continuous learning
2. Be clear about your own diversity lenses
3. Take the sting out of the diversity program in your business case
4. Be clear about the diversity and inclusion ROI
5. Have a really clear plan based on the big picture of the organization
6. Get the leadership on the front lines of promoting diversity and inclusion
7. Become part of a diversity professional network
8. Establish allies within your organization
9. Align the steering committee
10. Request the authority needed to do your work effectively
11. Neutralize diversity trouble makers
12. Hold managers accountable
13. Work with unit managers individually
14. Avoid personalizing criticism of the diversity program
15. Pat yourself on the back
The entire summary of the list of items is too lengthy for a single blog, so I will cover three items in five over the next five blog publications.
Become an expert who is actively involved in continuous learning
The most dangerous diversity professional is one who does not know what she or he doesn’t know. There isn’t a lot of room for error in the diversity business. One mistake and you will be treated like a Don Imus. A common negative evaluation of diversity professionals I hear is that they are unaware of personal biases towards white males. I have also noticed that many diversity professionals tend to treat negative evaluations that express this view suspiciously.
They rationalize the comment away by assuming that the participants’ own prejudices and resistance lead them to view the training negatively. Another rationalization is that the participants will “get it” some point in time after the training has ended because they are still processing what they have learned. The problem is that there is no point at which the participants are re-evaluated after then training to support this claim. I try to get diversity professionals to understand that each evaluation offers insight into what they need to learn to make participants’ experiences both interesting and rewarding. They can get great evaluations and push the participants towards higher levels of thinking about cultural diversity. It takes skill and continuous learning.
Developing your expertise will make you more credible, insightful, and valuable to your organization. You don’t need a doctorate. A great toolkit, a wealth of strategic skills, leadership ability, and mediation skills will safeguard you against the toxic aspects of the work. Complete a diversity professional certification course that offers you the practical tools you need to do the work. Avoid the out-dated programs that continue to focus on the basics as though organizations have not grown since the civil rights movement. You need contemporary strategies and sophisticated people skills that will get even the most resistant manager on the diversity bandwagon, or at least neutralize her or his impact on your efforts.
I have met a considerable number of professionals in my training experiences who say that they are always open to learning new things, but remain entrenched in their views about cultural diversity. There is a “yes, but . . . “ response to any suggestion that organizations have made progress beyond raising awareness and that placing blame on white domination is outdated. The white male or female who “gets it” from this perspective is the one who actively pursues social justice for people of color. I have also met a lot of professionals who really understand the importance of making connections with everyone—no matter where they are on the diversity learning curve. High performing diversity professionals are eager to learn how to embrace members of the dominant group without colluding in practices that maintain the status quo.
The point is that as your organization changes, you will need to change along with it to remain effective. This is true of any organizational leader. The continued success of the diversity program is directly related to how much you are growing and learning as a professional. America’s 2008 presidential race is a very good example of how the country as a whole has progressed socially, while its leaders lag behind in their ability to manage its diversity. Leaders are so behind that the presence of a white female and an African American male as the most serious contenders for the Democratic party nomination took them by surprise. No wonder America was also surprised. The two candidates and the media stepped all over each other’s multicultural toes because they were unprepared to manage diversity. Diversity leadership requires being ahead of the game which is not possible without continuous learning.
Be clear about your own diversity lenses
Many diversity professionals have been asked to accept the role after success in other areas of their company, such as sales, training, and management. A good proportion of them did not really want the job, but felt that it was a great opportunity to assist the organization in moving forward in this important area. They have been asked by the leadership, so it was especially difficult to turn down the request. Even if they were diversity pioneers and had considerable diversity training, that does not necessarily translate into an ability to lead a diversity initiative.
Our view of cultural diversity has been ingrained in us since birth. It is not easy to unlearn the biases and prejudices we are exposed in a society that gives us the double message of being tolerant in our attitude and exclusive in our behaviors. Liberals tend to bend over backwards for people who are different and too many people of color struggle with their own sense of sense of being treated unfairly. The diversity professional must be clear about any baggage he or she brings to the work.
Diversity professionals must understand the lenses through which they see cultural differences. A social justice set of lenses will have different consequences from an assimilationist worldview. Worldview impacts diversity education objectives, assessment, coaching, and the mission. Integrating the diversity education program into the organization requires understanding how the dominant culture’s lenses are more or less similar to your own as the diversity leader. The more there is a mismatch, the more challenges the professional faces in finding ways to integrate the two. This means that the diversity professional must be able to set aside personal values and beliefs about how the organization should be in order to learn about how to move the organization to higher stages of inclusion.
The diversity steering committee is a great resource for learning how to take multiple points of view. Make certain that your steering committee represent a cross section of the organization and as many different diversity lenses as possible. Developing your ability to embrace even the lenses that oppose your own will be an asset for increasing your diversity leadership effectiveness. Many diversity professionals, for example, make the mistake of avoiding people who overtly take issue with the diversity initiative. In my experience, the people who espouse everyone in the organization should meet “the same criteria” merit lenses express the views others share. If you can get an industrious, good intentioned person with these views on the committee, they often turn into one of your most important allies.
The diversity of lenses poses a challenge however. You will have to align the steering committee to make certain that the different lenses do not undermine decision making and program implementation. This is where your diversity leadership skills come in. Just make certain that you have done the work necessary to truly value the diversity of lenses among your team. Once their on the same page about why the work is important and their different lenses are valuable, you will have a team that helps you communicate the program better and integrate it into the organization more smoothly.
Take the sting out of the diversity program in your business case
The days of lawsuit fears in making a case for diversity programs are all but over in the United States. US Supreme Court decisions that place the burden on the plaintiff in civil rights suits and anti-affirmative action backlash have emboldened organizations in terms of compliance. However, today organizational leaders have a less controversial, potentially more acceptable rationale. The increased diversity in the recruitment pool and succession planning for baby boomer retirement have upstaged diversity programs as a critical talent management resource.
You must have a clear idea about your program’s return on investment (ROI) to make a modern case for diversity and inclusion. Doing so will not only get more people to support the program, especially management, but you will also be able to better articulate budget requests. Instead of making certain that everyone has been exposed to equal opportunity employment rules, the diversity professional must articulate how much the program will increase the talent needed for succession planning and manage its diversity.
You will also need to show how managers will be supported in the development of diversity management skills. Your ability to coach them and cheer their efforts will be a crucial part of the business case. Work with the human resource office, training, and organizational development to develop an integrated approach to succession planning and talent management.
I personally like to engage diversity professionals in considering ways their expertise adds value to the organization. They are stretched to consider what it would take to develop talent management strategies for diversity and inclusion that the other departments will envy. The result is that the diversity office is seen as a critical component in the organization’s efforts to address productivity challenges. In this way, the business case is an opportunity to show how the diversity office plays a crucial role in organizational effectiveness.
In summary, the diversity professional’s job is filled with opportunity and landmines. Continuous learning is critical to stay on top of the fast-moving, ever-changing aspects of diversity work. Understanding your diversity lenses that impact how to do the work and embraces the range of other lenses will increase your capacity to deliver high impact diversity education programs. Your business case for diversity education will be more powerful to the extent that you put time and effort into understanding how the program can add value to the organization’s productivity.
The next installment of this article about Navigating the Landmines of Diversity Leadership will focus on how to (a) Be clear about the diversity and inclusion ROI, (c) Having a really clear plan based on the big picture of the organization, and (c) Getting the leadership on the front lines of promoting diversity and inclusion.
