The Power of Speaking to Diverse Communities
How can companies speak to diverse communities so that they feel like they belong in a seat at the table and make a positive social impact on the communities we serve? To learn about how we can engage diverse communities so that all voices are included, represented, and heard, I (virtually) sat down with community builders and business leaders for a Consciously Unbiased LinkedIn Live conversation.
We discussed why storytelling builds connection and increases impact, the importance of creating safe spaces for diversity conversations in the workplace, and how we can maintain inclusivity by consistently engaging with people who have different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences than our own. Here are some key takeaways from our discussion.
Inclusivity is About Ensuring that People Feel Safe and Heard
“Giving someone a stage and allowing them to share their story is so healing and co-healing for the speaker and the receiver,” says Sarah O’Brien Hammond, founder of The Network of Women. “At Network of Women, we recently implemented a storytelling exercise, similar to a Ted Talk, in order to continue to have everybody’s voice heard. We also do these to make sure that we are constantly checking in and making sure people feel safe. If I’m saying we are inclusive, that means we are checking in to ensure people feel that way. If it’s not the case, we are not going to be able to attract diverse members and create this beautiful, diverse, inclusive community that we aspire to continue to create.”
Empathy is Key for Driving DEI Conversations
“You have to be a very empathetic DEI leader if you want to have results,” says Brandy Cline, VP, Total Talent Delivery at Pontoon. “In a leadership capacity role, people are able to bring empathy to the table. Without emotional intelligence, you’re not going to be able to really drive the diversity, equity and inclusion conversation in a very meaningful way.”
Storytelling Helps Us Engage Diverse Talent
“Storytelling is about who we are: our culture, upbringing, and it’s the essence of our soul,” says Joshua Murphy, founder and CEO of Ideas FWD. “We are natural storytellers. How we tell stories, how we engage with others, how we write and do poetry are all naturally passed on from our parents and grandparents. There are so many ways to engage with a human being other than looking at a resume. When hiring, it is important to give consultants, students, and creatives the opportunity to tell their stories. The focus should not always be about our own stories. You have to meet people where they are. If you can allow that person to tell their story and talk about their struggles, vision, hopes and dreams; I think that is extremely powerful.”
Leaders and Employees Play a Role in Advancing Diversity
“Leaders should definitely take the time to learn about other cultures and about their workforce,” says Trishan Peiris, VP, Global Head of Client Relations at Pontoon. “But, I also think employees are ambassadors for their communities. Regardless of what anyone says, I truly believe that we are all invested. I think it’s an employees’ duty to enlighten their leaders a little bit on what their colleagues are like in some way or some form. It’s a two-way street. Leaders should take the time to learn, and employees should take that step and bring certain things to the table. It can be small things. As an employee, you could say, ‘I like the way you’re mentoring me and I like the way you’re leading me, but learn a little bit about my background.’”
Maintain Diversity & Inclusion Through Active & Consistent Engagement
“Constantly and very intentionally reach out to people that don’t look like you, don’t have the same experiences or backgrounds as you, etc.” says O’Brien-Hammond. “Engage with them, learn about them, and continue to expand your community. I think back to when I launched the Network of Women three years ago, I slapped on the word inclusive, but then I realized that there’s a lot more action that needs to go behind that, and my network wasn’t as diverse as I had initially thought. So, how do you maintain diversity and inclusivity? It is really through active and consistent engagement. It’s important to make sure it’s not a one-time, ‘Okay, great Tricia. We had this one-on-one meeting, it’s nice to meet you. Welcome to the Network of Women,’ moving on. It takes a very constant level of engagement to make sure people continually feel they belong, are safe, and are welcomed.”
Having a Diverse Hiring Committee and Diverse Candidate Slate Can Spark Change
“When you’re doing your hiring, really insist on having a diverse candidate slate and a diverse hiring committee,” says Cline. “I think that is really important because looking across organizations, we usually see a pretty good level of diversity in the lower parts of the organization, but as we climb up the management chain it gets wider and more male. You have to keep filling up the organization so that you can build a meaningful succession plan over the years. These are two micro-progressions that you can do every day that will start to spark the change.”
Start With Local Grassroots Engagement in a Diversity Setting
“Anytime I create a project with the client, I always try to start from the bottom up,” says Murphy. “How do we engage with local organizations, local creatives, local changemakers? You don’t always have to hire a national firm or a national partner. You can start local and grassroots. I think a lot of times when we think about grassroots engagement, we think of politics, on the ground knocking on doors. In essence, you have to do that in a diversity setting as well. You really have to go out of your way to make an impact and to create real change on the ground. It doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a journey and it’s something that we all have to participate in by holding our arms together.”
Use Your Privilege to Give Back and Help Others
“I think we should also be thinking about diversity outside organizations too,” says Peiris. “We are all privileged people in some way or some form, but what about those people who don’t have access to the right education or don’t have access to compete? How can they get to where we are at? How are you going to go out there and partner with those community based organizations, and find these individuals, train them, and deploy them? I think we’ve been blessed, and someone in our journey has blessed us. There’s a reason why we are where we are, it’s because of the hard work we’ve put in and the support that people have given us. I think we need to pay that forward in some way or some form. It could be mentoring and empowering someone inside the organization or outside the organization. With everything that’s going on and all this craziness, I think we, as individuals, have the perfect opportunity to go out and help others.”
Diversity Requires Vulnerability and Constant Evolution
“Putting yourself in diverse communities requires vulnerability,” says O’Brien Hammond. “As a white woman running a community that is top of mind on how to create, invite in and attract diversity, I constantly need to ask these questions, which also requires a great deal of vulnerability. I mentioned before that when I launched my company three years ago and said, ‘we’re an inclusive community,’ but that fell flat. What are you doing behind that? There was intention there, but whether it’s good intention or not, the action wasn’t behind it. I’m okay to admit that. I constantly ask and solicit feedback because I am not an expert, and it is a constant evolution. I think it does require a ton of humility and vulnerability, and a person who is very open to receiving feedback and being better.”
Part of Leadership Privilege is a Commitment to Understanding Different Cultures
“It’s important to look at things holistically,” says Peiris. “I think leadership and managing people is a privilege, it’s not just a job. With that privilege comes a commitment. Part of the commitment needs to be about understanding the cultures of the people that you work with. I understand, we live in a world that is a performance-first environment, but how do we build that stickiness? That stickiness is built by understanding the backgrounds of others.”
It became clear during the discussion that the key to diversity is not assimilation, but meeting people where they are and getting the best out of them. Having discussions with our co-workers and employers about who they are and what their experiences are allows us to build connection and relatability so that way we can start to see more commonalities than differences.
One way we can do this is by letting curiosity win. Curiosity and actively listening are connected because we can better understand and relate to people if we tap into both. Our panelists also emphasized how important it is to be intentful, actionable, and consistent when it comes to having meaningful conversations around DE&I, because that is how we are going to make a positive social impact.
