There’s no quick fix for diversity

Companies need to look beyond individual hirings of Black people to build true inclusion.

US tech firms have pledged to engage in anti-racist behaviours

Many months have passed since the murder of ­George Floyd and many US tech firms have since published statements in response to anti-black violence, and leaders have offered pledges to engage in anti-racist behaviours and listed related actions.

But despite companies’ pledges to change the workplace, 42 per cent of US black women report feeling uncomfortable sharing their thoughts on racial inequity and 22 per cent feel they can’t talk about the impact events have on them or the people in their communities.

Organisations have been asked to stop expecting their black employees to solve the problem or educate their colleagues. Backlash against organisations’ anti-racism efforts is causing some to retreat. So now what?

At the VMware Women’s Leadership Lab, we’ve worked with hundreds of managers seeking to demonstrate how much they value diversity and inclusion in their organisations. We’ve found that many organisations are prioritising the hiring of “diverse” applicants to increase the representation of black employees.

But simply hiring new talent won’t create a culture where black women and other people of colour actually feel included. As recent high-profile cases have demonstrated, even when highly respected experts are hired to speak up, leaders are more likely to point fingers at them than make changes. Seeking a quick fix for issues of racial equity in this way is not only ineffective, it also comes with unconsidered costs.

Company leaders who are serious about making good on their pledges of anti-racism should instead shift the target of change — stop looking for an individual to solve your racial equity challenges and instead create conditions for BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of colour) employees to thrive.

Resist the quick fix

Many organisations that have made their first step toward racial equity to find “diverse” talent don’t realise the problematic framing of this approach. It’s partly a problem of terminology. The term diverse is often used as shorthand for under-represented populations. But lumping a wide range of people into the category erases the racial, gender and disability characteristics leaders want to value.

When leaders see their team as a diverse group or portfolio, they’re more likely to see and value the additive contribution of individuals instead of essentialising differences.

Last, and possibly most problematic, using the term diverse can obscure talent instead of bringing it to the foreground. As Bianca Reed illustrates, the problem follows candidates into the workplace. A “diverse” candidate becomes a “diversity hire” and fellow employees are more likely to see the new employee’s difference and less likely to see their actual talents.

Diversity without “othering”

You won’t make progress on racial equity until you get the language and focus right. The following strategies can help leaders actually foster inclusion in their organisations.

Start with education
To frame the target of change so that it doesn’t inadvertently reinforce barriers, you must first understand racial inequity, why it persists and why terms such as “diverse candidate” can be counter productive. Once you’ve done some research, you can get to work on the language of inclusion.

Talk with specificity
You may feel more comfortable using umbrella terms such as diversity instead of talking about specific identities. You may also feel unsure of the right thing to say. For example, should you say African American, black or BIPOC? When should you use Asian American or Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander? And what about LGBTQIA+, queer or sexual orientation? The thing is, these terms are more than categories — they reflect who people are, so as you learn how people see themselves, you’ll also learn to see them more clearly. And because people evolve, how they define themselves and their groups may also evolve.

Take time to lean into what matters to others; instead of looking for a “fix”, take the opportunity to focus on creating space for people to thrive.

Try to approach this journey with cultural humility instead of focusing on your discomfort. You may find that not only are you gaining skills in the language of inclusion but that you’re indeed fostering belonging.

Measure more categories
This idea isn’t new; the US Census created standards in 1997 to manage written responses to race data collected in the census, which includes five, not one, categories of race. Some organisations point to the difficulty of gathering such data, especially in light of global regulations around reporting of race and ethnicity, for example. Others hide small numbers that could identify individuals. Yet, despite these challenges, showing data from more categories, not fewer, is inclusive and warrants exploration. Take, for example, this announcement of Stanford’s incoming MBA class. Stanford Graduate School of Business leaders heard from students they wanted more of their identities represented, not fewer, so the creative director created new visualisations to include the specific intersecting identities of multiracial students.

One organisation shared the difficulty of showing progress in including under-represented groups when they’re not able to lump them together under the title “diverse.” By lumping everyone together, the organisation is implying, if unintentionally, that the addition of an Asian woman replaces the loss of a black man, for example. This can run counter to the organisation’s goal to attract, retain and promote diversity, and it risks making some people less important than others.

Every person’s story is unique and important. Orienting around specific identities instead can move the organisation — and how it measures success — toward inclusion, not away from it.

Name and value inclusion
You can attract, retain and promote people based on their competencies with inclusion and the language of diversity. For example, a growing number of universities now include a diversity statement in their applications for faculty positions.

This not only signals the importance of diversity, but it also sets an expectation that both the interviewer and the candidate be competent in the language of diversity and inclusion. You can take this idea and adapt it to your process. In the interview, ask how the applicant has contributed to diversity and inclusion in their past roles.

While practising the language of inclusion may seem like additional work on top of an already full workload, consider the cost of not doing so, especially to your colleagues of colour. Getting the language right is essential and can open the door to fostering a rich and diverse world of inclusion in which every person is seen and valued.

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Lori Nishiura Mackenzie works at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Melissa V. Abad is a sociologist at the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab.
Copyright 2021 Harvard Business Review/Distributed by NYTimes Syndicate