I want to mention that the use of the term, diverse hire, does not in any way equate with “lowering the bar”. It’s about the hiring and creating an inclusive environment for people from all backgrounds, particularly underrepresented groups.
Thinking beyond hiring: Setting your diverse hires up for success
It dawned on me the other day that several of my friends who might be considered diverse hires were struggling in their new jobs. I realized that in my past, I have also struggled when starting a new job. So I started asking my friends about their experiences to see if they were similar to mine. After sharing our stories it seemed that our experiences had a common theme: a mishandling of that critical moment when you bring someone onto a job (or onboarding) that resulted in discouragement, self-doubt and in some cases disillusionment and attrition.
So I put out a call on Twitter for other diverse hires to share their onboarding experiences, good and bad. What came back was a flood of stories with a few common themes: the bad experiences were so detrimental, in that they triggered deep-rooted fears and anxieties, while the good built trust and confidence. So what made the difference? What made one experience harder for diverse hires to succeed while another experience was so successful?
And let’s get this out of the way — yes, this could be read as advice for all hires. But it’s not. A lot of people have made a big deal about hiring people from diverse backgrounds (even going so far as publishing diversity numbers) but not as much about helping them succeed. So now that we’ve moved past the hiring stage, it’s time to focus on the onboarding and tracking towards their success.
Lessons
Here are a few of the lessons learned from all of us who contributed to the discussion, as well as practices that managers should be following to set their new hires up for success. Some of these may sound like no-brainers, but because these considerations were lacking during the onboarding of so many people I spoke with (and to me) they are worth sharing. These lessons are directed at hiring managers.
Letting your new hire know what is expected of them
As simple as this sounds, just letting a new hire know what your (and your team’s) expectations are of them will go a long way. When you let a new hire know the expectations it helps them more quickly adapt to the culture of a team and sets the bar for performance right away. Withholding that information leaves the new hire wondering if they are living up to the expectations and introduces the risk of a new hire pushing way harder than they need to and burning out. (Or the opposite: it introduces the risk of possibly not pushing hard enough and reinforcing stereotypes people in the company might already might have.)
Introducing the new hire to the team and evangelizing their role
Hiring managers can forget to properly introduce their new hires and inform others what their essential domain of ownership or contribution is. Without this proper introduction, the onus is on the new hire to walk around and assert their role or do the old “wait to be recognized by their peers” routine. Hiring managers should make it clear from the first day what responsibilities they have handed to this person and what sort of collaboration they expect from the team now that the new hire is there. This is especially important if the person was hired for a leadership role. The opposite, and I have seen this first-hand, is to make the new hire fend for themselves.
I have even seen cases where the new hire was brought in to replace someone that hadn’t been told. Without a proper introduction this new hire was expected to “win over” the person they were replacing. Adding competition to onboarding is a recipe for disaster. So make the environment welcoming and let everyone on the team know what this new hire means to you.
Giving a new hire the runway to do things their way
Hiring people is tough, competition is fierce, and the perfect fit is hard to find. So when you finally find that person you want to hire, don’t hover over them trying to turn them into clones of yourself. “Diversity” includes diverse approaches, so honor that and make some room in your ways of thinking about how things should get done. It’s alright to have criteria to evaluate performance (and you should share that criteria publicly) but how someone meets those criteria should be totally up to them. You can suggest, but don’t micromanage.
Asking about personal preferences from the start
This one may take many people by surprise, but when you think about team outings or company events you are going to have, don’t just assume that everyone on the team will want to eat and drink the same things. There are some cultures that aren’t comfortable with consumption of alcohol, or having specific types of meat around, or there are some foods that others may not have been exposed to and providing it as the only option will make them feel alienated or leave them with nothing to eat. Inclusion means caring about these small details and remembering them when creating time for the team to be together.
Another example of attention to the small details is being considerate of people with different body types when generating team clothing. Don’t just buy extra men’s S and call that the women’s clothing. Don’t make having to fit into the team schwag an anxiety inducing event for people.
Give a new hire information about the culture and situation of the team they are joining
This one no one seems to do, but it makes such a big difference. This essentially means, “let someone know if they are walking into a situation where there was previously some drama”. This is especially important if the new hire is a manager. Are they being expected to turn around, course correct, or toe the line on a team? Don’t make the new hire go around digging for information. Provide it for them so they are better prepared to do their job really well right away — it’s in your team’s best interest.
These things are true for any new hire. Why care about diverse hires in particular?
Well, what do all of these themes have in common? Why would making people aware of the expectations or introducing them to others or asking about their preferences be so important?
Because they convey an understanding of, and a sensitivity to, situations and environments that could trigger imposter syndrome. And an understanding that we all come from different backgrounds and therefore experience the workplace differently.
Why should I care about imposter syndrome?
Many studies have shown that people from diverse backgrounds are prone to imposter syndrome — much more than their white male counterparts. Even leaders in the people of color (POC) community are susceptible to self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy (myself included). So why then aren’t hiring managers putting more effort into making sure a new hire’s landing at a company is safe and free from additional worry and stress? Probably because of their blind spots.
Blind spots are areas in your mental models of the world that make you oblivious to others’ feelings and allow you to tread on others with reckless abandon. That is because people who come from a background different than your own have concerns that you have never had to worry about before. Therefore, you are more likely to lack sensitivity to situations that might otherwise be very meaningful for them. For example, if you are a white, heterosexual male, you most likely haven’t shared fears such as being able to talk openly about your partner’s gender or haven’t experienced the anxiety of being the sole representative of your entire race in your workplace. Blind spots might be preventing you from creating a nurturing onboarding environment. And blind spots might be causing you to send a message that you really don’t want to be sending.
If you are a manager of a diverse hire I want to ask you to take a long look at the environment you are creating for them. I want to ask you to realize that the way you set that person up will make or break how successful they are at your company. And, I contend that not onboarding diverse hires with extra care is only paying lip-service to actually wanting diverse people at your company.
There are a few more points that I want to make.
Back your people
If you sense people questioning a new hire’s credentials or your motives for bringing on a diverse hire, be ready to defend and support them publicly. Don’t let them fend for themselves having to prove to others that they belong there. And if a diverse hire comes to you with concerns, don’t just start towing the company line. Actually, be ready to listen to what they have to say and plan to act on it.
Don’t put new hires in hostile environments
We all know some companies have them. Some companies are built on the legend of white men intimidating and driving people to produce their best work. Can we officially call this trend over? No one is that good that we should tolerate putting people who are already intimidated in an environment where they are shamed. It’s not inspiring. It’s not motivating. It’s just mean and won’t result in the best work anyway.
Closing
There are a lot of people to thank for sharing their stories with me, I won’t name all of them, obviously, to protect their confidence. But if you contacted me and helped bring a light to these issues, thank you. Dee Speed and Justin Maxwell were instrumental in encouraging me to write this article and helped with the content tremendously.
I welcome other people to share their stories too. Share a time you were set up for failure from the get-go. Or share a situation that might have seemed like a good idea to the company, but in practice was detrimental to your self-esteem. Share so that hiring managers can understand their blind spots and start to examine the environments they are creating and what they are asking of their new hires to tolerate. Share your stories so that hiring managers ask if they are really doing all they can to set you up for success.
