Diversity isn’t a Magic Bullet

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A few weeks ago, I had coffee with a younger women of color professional. She reached out asking for career advice and to network. Through conversation she shared where she works and it turns out I’m familiar with the organization. The organization is a white normed organization that has been around for a very long time. The organizations does good work and recognize the need to diversify, however, like many historically white organizations they have a lot more work to do around diversity and race.

Diversity isn’t a magic bullet

Diversity doesn’t magically make your work easier, better, or right. Another colleague said to me (paraphrasing) “You think if we attract and hire diverse people the work gets easier. In reality, it needs just as much management as before.”

Diversity often stretches skillsets and comfort levels. Managers need to learn and adapt to new ways of managing a changing team and coach the team through these changes too. It is hard work, but important work if you want long term success and retention of diverse employees.

Building and Belonging

The dynamics of a group always change when you add new members. As a manager and team members it is easy to know intellectualize this, but often exhaustion from having a vacancy, getting through the slog of the hiring process, and then onboarding the new member sets in. It is easy to want to believe the new person should make work life easier. But in reality, the new group is changing and this is where we need to spend time focused on those changing group dynamics – especially when folding in team members from different racial groups and different backgrounds.

Focusing on Building the Team and Belonging

When I had coffee with the younger colleague she shared her experience of being a ‘diversity hire’ at the historically white organization; it was clear she was feeling the impact of an organization that said it wanted her, but failed to show it. She talked about not feeling a sense of belonging and enjoyment in the workplace. She missed the sense of camaraderie and joviality she found at other workplaces – this place felt sterile with their unfamiliar whiteness.

As we talked, I asked about what led to the sense of isolation. She shared how meetings are structured and it is very business like, formal, and transactional – a format that worked before COVID when the organization was less diverse and had the benefit of being together in person more. The old team expected the new team members to slot into the previous structure versus bending, welcoming, and recognizing with diversity comes needing to adapt their practices as well. We talked about ways to survive the work environment. She shared she’s looking for other job opportunities, which I support since it takes organizations a long time to change. It is sad to see a talented person looking elsewhere when the onus is on the organization to change, not on people of color to change.

Building New Ways of Working

As your team diversifies here are some ideas to consider:

  • Continually invest in training related to understanding how people work—racial equity training, anti-abelism training, anti-Blackness training, etc.
  • An Executive Director colleague told me his organization invested in LinkedIn Learning and Masterclass. Their teams choose a few modules every quarter to review together, including modules related to race and justice.
  • Never start a meeting with work – Spend time with some relationship building or an activity to allow people to get to know each other.
  • Or never end a meeting with work — Another colleague said her department saves time at the end of every staff meeting for a “Two Truths and a Lie,” portion. She selects teammates ahead of time and emails them to see if they want to present, some opt-out. The entire team has fun and ends their meetings with some levity.  
  • Manage for a changing team – Conflicts will arise based on the changing racial dynamics. Be ready to address them. Ignoring them doesn’t help the POCs feel like they belong or can thrive long term.

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