How the Stormzy Effect Could Improve Your Company

Maintaining the Status Quo is masquerading as “We’re thinking seriously about diversity, equity and inclusion.”

??Maintaining the Status Quo is stale

??Maintaining the Status Quo hinders growth

??Maintaining the Status Quo creates collective blindspots

??Maintaining the Status Quo wastes potential talent and innovation

??Maintaining the Status Quo is an unfair system that affords the majority advantage

Yet many companies and institutions stick with this, as there is often a fear of the alternative.

If your organisation has fallen for this old-skool way of doing things, don’t worry, all is not lots and many others have fallen foul to the same mishap.

You’ve heard the comments.

“We want the brightest and best talent.” ?*But not everyone is given the chance to demonstrate this*

“Ethnic minorities are hard to reach.”

“It’s not our fault if they’re not applying.”

Look, I’ve made mistakes too. I recall working for a creative organisation where we would hire artists and speakers. We got into the habit of hiring the same type of people. They were from the same age category; the artists sang similar songs and they only appealed to a particular demographic (mainly their own fans).

After a while, audience numbers dwindled, significantly. People were getting bored of the same ole’ same ole’ (no disrespect to the people we booked).

As organisers, we recognised the need to have a serious conversation to confront our lack of desire to change and consequently take action to attract new talent. We agreed, we had to do something different immediately. We realised, it would take time and energy, but the results would be worth it, and we reasoned that it could be quite a fun adventure. It certainly was! Once we got working on our plan to diversity, we discovered a world of new, exciting and highly talented folk. It was so refreshing and gradually we gain whole new audiences and improved our brand as a result.

I’ll tie this in to the ‘Stormzy Effect’. The U.K. grime artists decided to act on the lack of black students at University of Cambridge in 2018 by providing them with scholarships via his Merky Foundation. In 2021 the total number of ethnic minority students rose by a whopping 27.8%! Much of this success is attributed to the artist’s efforts. Go Stormzy!

I recently delivered an antiracism talk at the University of Cambridge; I was pleasantly surprised to witness the transformation for myself.

Look, maybe your organisation is at a point where it is obvious things need a shake-up.

???? ♀?During recruitment, the same type of faces present themselves

???? ♀?Ideas and innovation have run dry

???? ♀?It’s glaringly obvious there is a lack of cultural diversity

I get that it’s just easier doing that which has always been done, but that’s no longer acceptable. Society recognises the need for change. A recent Deloitte survey backs this up,

“57% of consumers are more loyal to brands that?commit?to addressing social inequities in their actions.”

The time for change is now.

It starts with having the people in the organisation adopting conducive values and behaviours. HOC is the way forward.

Honesty – admitting there might be a better way

Openness – being open to new possibilities

Curiosity – committing to asking the right questions to improve diversity

The situation can be remedied. Companies are doing it all the time and it helps to bring staff along on the journey to avoid resistance. Some may not understand the need to diversify. They may see the drive as unfairly giving ethnic minorities an advantage.

This is where education on antiracism is key. They need to gain insight into why problems exist, how systems disadvantage racially marginalised people what can be done to address the issues.

At Strawberry Words, that’s what we do best. We help to inform and influence hearts and minds through our CPD accredited online and hybrid antiracism training. Enrol your staff today on our Time to Talk about Race or Understanding Microaggressions – the subtle racism course. With the knowledge they gain, the drive to improve diversity is likely to receive fair more support. Not to mention go some way to creating a welcoming environment where ethnic minority staff feel they can show up as their authentic selves.

As always, I wish you lots of success with this.

Rebbecca ‘creating cultural harmony’ Hemmings

P.S. This is what a manager of the Library of Birmingham said after taking our training “I’ll think more rationally and not take things so personally. I'll consider how my organisation and my position within it can adopt a more considered anti-racist policy.”