Keeping Talent of Color and/or Staying In The Game

So, you’ve hired a person of color into your organization, great! And, if you’re person of color in a public media organization, mazel! But tick-tock… How long will they/you stay? Depends. I think keeping talent or staying in the game has to be intentional, so below are my thoughts and ideas.

If you’re a leader who wants to keep talent of color inside their organization:

One. The on-boarding process If you’ve never read the book The First 90 Days read it. It’s chock full of advise. But the title is also very telling. The success of integrating a new employee happens within the first 90 days and what you do, or don’t do in that period will either set this new hire up for success or failure. Here’s a quick checklist to get new employees hitting the ground running. Identify real opportunities in which your employee can contribute to making a difference and how you need them. Saying verus doing is a ratio we all get wrong, so make sure you’re on the right side of the equation.

Two. Create a safe space. If your new employee is entering an environment that is dysfunctional, and yes, every environment is dysfunctional, do not pretend to your new employee that everything is gumdrops and lollipops. I had one leader who brought me into his office on the first day and laid out the weirdness that I was about to walk into, to which I said “Why didn’t you tell me this before I got hired?” But that sincerity was the truth and he was right, things were weird. And that advice allowed me to avoid unnecessary Harikiri. Be real with your employees, and guess what, they’ll be real with you. Stop creating a façade that everything is perfect. Be straight with them, confide in them what you’re battling. Venting, gripping, bitching, moaning, etc: it happens! But I would much rather have my direct report complain to me instead or complaining to others within my organization, or worse yet, bottle it up. If your employee isn’t throwing the occasional tantrum about something, that should tell you something. They’ve checked out, and they’re either going to coast through their role, and/or they’ve seeking a new job. Create a safe place where you can manage your employee’s challenges and issues and have their back when things get stirred by them. Make time for regular weekly one-on-one meetings that are open and as transparent as possible.

Three. Avoid tokenism. If you’re solely hiring people of color because they’re people of color, that’s tokenism. If you’re hiring POC to check a box, that’s tokenism. If you’re hiring people of color because it looks good in a corporate responsibility report or the company photo, that’s tokenism. And if you need that kind of tokenism may I recommend a service to you. If you’re sending out POC out to solely cover colored stories, that’s, well, you get my point. No one wants to be treated like a token, so how do you avoid that? Simple, hire more people of color! If you only have one person on your staff, by definition they are a token, no way around it.

At the first whiff of tokenism dispel it and deal with the issue, openly and transparently. Your company’s hiring practices should be called into the discussion if and when such a situation should arise. You hire people of color based on their qualifications and their work, because they are the best candidates. It’s also extremely helpful if your organization is part of the hiring process. If they’re not the best candidate they shouldn’t be hired. Or, if you plan on hiring a candidate with less qualifications compared to others, because you can see something special that can be cultivated or molded, you must commit to training up that person and directly provide them air cover when folks begin to question the hire. Do not place employees of color in the awkward position of having to defend their own hiring.

Four. Have a respect for difference. Diversity isn’t just about employing people of color, it’s also about employing people who think and act differently as well. But please, don’t freak out when we do act, think, sound, and see things differently. We are not you. What’s the point of hiring for diversity if your goal is to assimilate people of color into your environment? Organizations must acculturate to difference, and that means doing things differently. Also, give people of difference a real seat at the table and get people of color at all levels within your organization involved in the decision making process. Have a ton of Millennials at your organization? Why not setup a Millennial Council? I started the process of setting up a formal employee resource group (ERG) at PRI for Millennials. It was intentional and easy. I’ve heard of other people of color within public media self-organizing their own ERGs. And, if you want to see how easy it was to setup an ERG, check out my email to my boss Kathy Merritt.

Five. Do you have any colored friends? Three quarters of whites don’t have any non-white friends and while that might not sound like a problem, it is, and especially for you. People of color typically have a diversity of friends and relationships, inclusive of whites outside the workplace, and we’re better for it as it makes us more whole. Last year, when I attended Podcast Movement in Ft. Worth, TX, Heben and Tracy from the podcast Another Round did a panel on “How to Diversity” and they offered some great advice. At the end of the presentation a white woman raised her hand and said openly “I don’t have any colored friends.” Within less than a second a black woman said: “I’ll be your friend.” Just like that. Start by being real with yourself. If diversity is truly important to you, get to know people who are diverse outside your work environment, and use that space to ask questions you can’t ask at work. Test your assumptions, your own personal awkwardness, whatever; but get it out before you bring it to work. Invest in relationships with people of color on the outside and you’ll begin to appreciate the dividends inside your workplace. And hey, people of color make great friends!

Here are my recommendations for people of color to stay in the game:

One. Shore yourself up mentally and physically. Being a person of color in an environment that isn’t very diverse is mentally and physically taxing. I spoke to someone the other day that recently told me how the stress of being a POC in public media was literally making them physically sick. Whether you realize it or not, you are the physical embodiment of change within public media related to diversity and you’re carrying the burden of extra body armor in fighting the good fight. So, you need to take care of yourself. Believe you me, I’m not the perfect specimen of health but I do know the impact of food, sleep, and talk therapy. (See number three below for more on this.) At my heaviest I once weighed 331 pounds. Today, I weigh 264 pounds but I still have more weight to lose. Being a POC we have the great honor of riding alongside with the trifecta of early death: diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Please, take care of yourself. And while I’m not saying we all should become vegans, I have seen the impact of eating plant-strong. We need to treat ourselves like super athletes and take care of ourselves first, and that’s not being selfish, if we expect at having the opportunity to change public media for the better. If you’re interested in becoming more plant-strong send me a tweet!

Two. Walk the floor, everyday. I learned this skill from one of my former bosses Jim McCann, the founder and CEO of 1–800-FLOWERS. Jim knew his staff intimately, not only their work lives but their personal lives. Jim wasn’t prodding; he was genuinely interested in his people as a leader. He would always start a conversation with me saying “How’s everything going Drew?” and what he wanted to hear more than anything else was about me, and my family. If you don’t like walking the floor bring in something to share for everyone and send out a company wide email saying that they’re at your desk. People will run for food, candy, maybe even carrots, and while they’re at your desk chat about anything besides work. And if you’re remote employee, drop an email; pick up the phone, or the next time you’re in the office setup lunch, dinner, or a drink. I find creating relationships like this is invaluable and worth every bill I pick up. Walk the floor, even if your own leadership doesn’t.

Three. Create a personal board of directors. While having a mentor is important, I think you should have several mentors, your own personal board of directors, and for me a therapeutic sounding board. You’re going to need several people, at several levels above and below you, to help guide you through your journey, even if that journey takes you outside public media and back again. Choose a board chair, someone who can be your final influence maker. For me that’s my wife, and she’s been right most of the time on everything. OK, she’s been right all of the time. What I love about Angela is that she’ll tell me exactly what she believes and then she’ll let me go and let me be me. We all need a person like that in our lives, mine just happens to be my spouse. And one other thing — this must be reciprocated. If someone asks you to be a mentor, or asks for advice/help make the time and join their personal board. Stop with the “I’m too busy” line. You should be honored that someone is seeking your help. We need to help each other and be more mindful about all the challenges we face. As people of color we’re all in this together, fighting the good fight.

Four. Respect the challenge you’re up against. There will be conflict. It’s inherent to change. And change takes time. Hearing that how does it make you feel? I’m impatient as you are, so rather than be impatient, remove that energy from the change equation and focus on what you can actually do to make change, and where your energy matters the most. To me that’s in my work, where I can be 100%. Part of this might feel selfish, but by advancing yourself, you advance the mission of public media and all your brothers and sisters behind you and in front of you. People of color at the highest levels in public media are dealing with the very same challenges and issues that your or I are facing, so know that you’re not alone in the battle. I love seeing the conversations on the Journalists of Color in Public Media Facebook page. It’s an open but private space (private in a social media sense) where you can lay out questions, ideas, and be open. This issue or diversity is made better because of you, and I hope that we can all draw energy from one another as we progress through public media. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to as a result of my last post on hiring, but it’s inspiring and humbling.

Five. Take accountability. I’ve finally come to a point in my career that I’m done blaming white people for this diversity problem. Blame does nothing but rob my energy from being able to focus on what really matters, creating something intentionally better. The system of public media is about to hit its 50th anniversary next year with the signing of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. In the act it tells us some very important things, and while I won’t bother you with all of it I would suggest you read it. One item in particular strikes me:

6. it is in the public interest to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities;

If you believe that public media delivers upon the above referenced section 100%, then I guess our job is done. But, I don’t believe that we’re doing a good enough job to reach unserved and undeserved audiences, especially minorities. So, the mission in front of me is simple. I must ultimately fulfill public media’s mandate, to serve the unserved and underserved by taking creative risks because if I don’t, who will?

Most of this is common sense, not just for people of color, but wouldn’t be nice if we could keep more diverse folks?