A Better Way to Celebrate Black History Month (BHM)

It is that time of the year, again, when various organizations make attempt to exhibit their interest and/or appreciation for the contributions of black people to the world. This takes various form: ranging from organizing Workshops, wearing African attire, paid time off, etc. These are noble gestures. But aren’t actions that could change or fix years of systemic racism, discrimination, redlining, and other awful policies that have had disparate impact on the black race.

Maybe we should take another stab at this.

What if organizations and employers ACTUALLY engage in activities that will meaningfully and positively move the needle towards racial equality – especially for people of the black race (since it is Black History Month) ?

One of the excuses (I meant, comment) that we hear from organization is around pipeline or whether having diverse associate base is value adding. There is no need to relitigate this. If your organization have a shortage of black associate, it isn’t a pipeline issue. And yes, having a diverse employee base that reflect your customer base is a positive NPV decision. There are tons of data/research out there to support it.

Based on conversations with leaders in the DEI space and my own experience: below are 7 meaningful actions that Organizations can make during this year’s BHM and beyond:

1) Be intentional. Understand and Recognize diversity as a strategic imperative.

Until leadership decides that having a good representation of qualified black associates is an endeavor that must be critically addressed, everything else is a fa?ade. The Board of Directors of most organization do set goals/targets/aspirations for the management team. Let’s make regular hiring of black associates one of those.

2) Talk about it. Act as a vocal ally.

This is an uncomfortable conversation, but you need to start it somehow – unless if you really don’t care.

3) Implement meaningful initiatives to recruit/retain/promote black employees. And Increase accountability and transparency.

The great management consultant and thought leader, Peter Drucker, has been credited with saying “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” I totally agree.

Imagine a firm that has an RoTCE or ROE of ~7.0% (known internally only), while peers’ have 12% to 20%. But on every quarterly earnings’ call, the CEO and CFO continually tell investors of the amazing work they are doing, without showing the true numbers. Such executive management probably wouldn’t stay very long in their roles. When leaders see a team, line of business, etc. that visibly have little or no representation of black associates or other minority groups, something need to be said, and measurable actions need to be put in place to “fix it”.

I once heard the billionaire Robert Smith proffer a solution on how to increase the number of black associates in a firm. He said, next time you go out to hire associate, make sure 10 of them are blacks. Do that year in, year out. Trust me, the tapestry will look different.?

4) Develop inclusive leadership skills and create employee-led task forces / committee (with meaningful representation of targeted demographic).?

Can you imagine creating a task force to solve the issue of underrepresentation of black employees, but none or few of the members of this task force identify as black ?

I once saw a company instituted a program to bring Black and Latinx high schoolers to gain exposure to what the firm was doing, etc. However, as I looked at the facilitators and team of moderators, they do not look like the group of kids that they were reaching out to. Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to bring current Black/Latinx associates to come talk to these kids ? Again, representation matters.

5) Conduct pay equity reviews and do it often.?

We find it dishonest when firms say that they are paying all associates equally/equitably. No, you are not. That is a statistical impossibility (regardless of how you adjust for “variables”, etc.) The first step is to accept the fact that historically, pay inequality had existed – for whatever reasons, and then ensure that going forward, we put steps in place to pay associates equally/equitably (regardless of the color of their skin). And time should also be spent to ensure that current associates are paid well – relative to their peers.?

Is this effort going to be costly ? Yes. But that is the right thing to do.

6) Create mentorship programs.?

Many organizations are already doing this. A good example is the Oaktree’s Future Leaders Program. But again, this mentorship program should be specifically designed for black associates. Give these associates opportunity to be explored to leadership, as well as the few black executives that your firm has. Representation matters.

7) Partner with other Organizations.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are tons of Black Resource/Affinity groups out there making strides on this issue. Learn from them. Attend events, or at least send delegates to these forum, and learn about best practices on hiring, retaining, promoting black associates, etc.

Jopwell, OneTen and Alt Finance are great places to start.

Closing:

You may wonder, will these solve all ills ? The honest answer is “probably not”.?But guess what ? You and your firm have gone beyond just lip service, and have done something concrete to make the world more equitable, and a better place.

Selah.