Diversity professionals must navigate the rugged terrain of uneven support, hostility, and apathy. Doing their job well takes political savvy that some people are born with, but most of us must find a way to learn it. The human resource officer and organizational development professional typically enjoy comparably little resistance in their work because it is perceived as less political. But, where would diversity professionals have learned the skills needed to manage social politics? Most of them do not have a degree in diversity leadership, cultural competence, or organizational development. Most 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 approach, but most will struggle along unless they take continuous education seriously.
In installment two, I pointed out that you can take the political issues concerning a diversity initiative by linking it to the organization’s purpose and return-on-investment. I emphasized the point that even the most politically savvy diversity professionals succumb to the pressures of nonsupporting leadership and limited authority when it comes to the diversity initiative.
This third article in the series continues the discussion about the top ten things diversity leaders need to know to navigate diversity politics. The full list includes the following:
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 is too lengthy for a single article. I covered the first six items in the first two installments, which can be viewed by following this link. In this installment, I cover diversity politics items 7-9 which are shown above in red font.
Become Part of a Cultural Diversity Professional Network
Too many cultural diversity professionals are isolated. They may be the only in-house expert or consultant on the job. I learned from my mentor, Judith Katz, Ed.D., that we should always find a way to work in partnership with at least one other professional. Our work is too tough and we are under too much scrutiny to work in isolation. Even when you have a staff, this does not always translate into a support system. I know diversity professionals who have acquired their staff by default. One Chinese American human resource officer in a large accounting firm announced that she was ready to quit her job when her boss offered the diversity professional position in order to retain her. She did not have a clue about what the position required. A related point is that the most qualified person for a new diversity resource role is seldom based on cultural competence. How long you have been with the organization typically trumps diversity expertise. Yes, the person knows the organization’s culture, but that does not directly translate into being able to manage social politics.
The in-house diversity expert may be someone who has been hired from the outside as the “new” diversity officer. No matter how much homework you do in making a decision about whether or not to take such a job, inevitably you will find that the place is not as inclusive as you were led to believe. I often hear clients say that while the leader said all the right things to appear sincere about her or his diversity commitment during the job interview, it was absent in everyday reality on the job. In fact, most new hires for a new diversity position feel isolated, lonely, and poorly understood.
A common story I hear from diversity officers is that the first staff member they acquire is someone who is “appointed” by their supervisor. The supervisor protects an employee who has lost her or his position by requesting that the diversity officer accepts the individual. All too often the “new” hire brings with him or her very limited cultural competence and many of the deficits that led to dismissal.
One of the best ways to deal with isolation is to hire a diversity coach. This is someone who is an established expert. The individual basically champions the diversity professional, assist in problem solving, and keep the diversity professional motivated. Most diversity professionals find solace in attending professional conferences. I have personally attended the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) for more than ten years. I am also fortunate enough that they request me to offer a workshop or presentation each year. I have grown fond of professional relationships I have established over the years of attendance—especially exchanging stories. This is one of the conferences that offer me opportunities to refresh my commitment to the profession.
Conferences and seminars are great, but they are for limited time periods. I also recommend an online community for diversity professionals. I conducted a Google search to look for a diversity professional organization I use to belong to, but it appears to be out of existence. The only one I came across was The Diversity Trainer and Professional Network, which DTUI.com sponsors. Click Here to check it out.
Establish Allies Within Your Organization
Allies are people who support your organization’s diversity initiative and you. They can assist you in concrete ways even if they choose to forgo being active members of your diversity steering committee. This is especially important for the diversity professional who has been hired from the outside because these diversity champions know the organization’s culture.
1. Make a list of people in the organization that would support the diversity initiative and recruit them as allies.
2. Set a goal to recruit a specific number of new allies. Then tell them that you need their support and be clear about what you are asking of each individual. For example, wouldn’t a member of the leadership team be a value asset in making certain that the diversity initiative is consistently part of the agenda? Will a long-standing diversity champion go to lunch with you on occasion so that you can use her or his knowledge of the organization in strategy development? How can you partner with the human resource officer to make the diversity initiative part of the solution to a range of HR processes? These are the questions you ask in determining who would be a good ally and how he or she may be supportive.
Branch out and stretch a bit. Most of your potential allies will be obvious to you. But perhaps you have not considered the compliance department or the finance office. The compliance department has a lot of data, for example. They can help you make your case for the strategy you want to sell to the leadership.—especially in terms of talent management and succession planning. The finance department has a clear view about budgetary matters. Learning about how they view organizational processes from a budgetary perspective can provide insight into how to make the best case for your budget.
Align Your Steering Committee
You may have heard me talk about this in the past. Few things bog down a diversity initiative more than diversity steering committee members having different assumptions about why their work is important. If one member, for example, believes that diversity means people look different on the outside, but everyone must buy into the organization’s existing culture while another member believes the culture must change to accommodate different identity groups, you have a potential lack of alignment. Lack of alignment is not due to their differences, but to the potential for conflict. The savvy diversity professional will have the competence needed to harness differences among committee member assumptions in the service of designing and developing the best diversity initiative.
Alignment work involves taking the time needed to learn about different assumptions among team members and understanding the possible consequences for group decision making. Again, the goal is not to get everyone to agree on the same set of assumptions. That is a recipe for disaster. Instead, the focus is on using the differences among team members as microcosm for the larger organization. Working towards becoming a model of cross cultural team work will serve the organization as a whole.
Summary
The cultural diversity professional role is too often political and controversial. Add the limited resources and lack of leadership support and you have a role that requires a considerable amount of endurance and savvy to succeed in the work. Membership in an online diversity 
professional network and conference attendance provide support groups to manage isolation and feeling undervalued. Establishing allies within your organization can also be a source of support, especially when mentoring is involved. You may also consider a diversity coach who will champion you and provide support during the trying periods. While a diversity steering committee may offer some support, it can be a source of stress as well. It is best to align the committee in order to get the most out of it. Otherwise, you will spend a considerable amount of time trying to get the members to agree on goals and objectives. Even if members go along with the proposed goals and objectives, alignment work will make certain that they are on board instead of quietly waiting for opportunities to resist the program’s implementation.
It is not easy being a cultural diversity professional. The tools we provide in this set of lessons can make work life less challenging. I will discuss gaining the authority needed to do your work effectively, neutralizing diversity trouble makers, and holding managers accountable in Part 4 of this lesson.
