S06 EP03: How Organizations Can Do the Work
This episode, Rianka and Katie are talking about how organizations can really do the work, a topic they have truly been talking about since 2018.
Four years since that first episode aired, so much has changed in the world. Has the workplace effectively kept pace?
Unfortunately, it’s easier to talk about what hasn’t changed. So many employees have been stretched by their own mental stressors including caregiving duties, concerned with both environmental and racial traumas. They are sick.
Although the changes on the ground have been dramatic, our leaders have not implemented it on a larger level. Rather, check-the-box actions are easier: hire for diversity, alone. The two ask: could that actually be more harmful?
Katie explains that when you focus efforts solely on recruiting, it places the fix solely on the backs of BIPOC employees. Instead, they need to look inward, to understand the underlying homogeneity.
A universal design theory that comes out of architecture says you should design for those who have the least access, you’ll make the space better for everyone (wheelchairs in bathrooms, for example); Katie shares that we can extend this practice this to the workplace, by placing the most marginalized person at the center of your policies. Rianka shares an example from the American Disability Act’s mandate to include ramps for people in wheelchairs on sidewalks that has helped everyone.
Katie shares that not only should we be doing this work because it's the right thing to do, but that everyone (including white people) also benefit greatly from the advancements.
Katie and Rianka also shared that the “race to the top” mentality is not universal - and understanding the curated paths of what people want and need, and responding in kind, are important ways to support them.
In short, the best way that organizations can do the work? Simply listen, and respond.
What you’ll learn:
What has, and hasn’t changed, in workplace DEI practices over the last four years
A universal design theory that can help improve workplace policy effortlessly
Why employees are not always in a race to the top
Facilitator Questions:
Be clear about where your racial bias is showing up - how are you signaling to others that you are a safe person to trust with your career?
Consider if you have friends, professional colleagues, others in your community who are different and diverse from you?
How does your definition of the company culture vary from that of your colleagues?
Think: how are you working to invest in, and grow the careers of, your current BIPOC team members?
Is your organization listening to its employees? And, have you responded in kind?