Race in Corporate America and Leadership Challenges

By Bianca McCann, Vice President Customer Enrichment, SAP

For many of us witnessing the nation-wide revolution on racial equity and justice taking place in the US, we are struggling to be better allies and create more inclusive workplaces. We often don’t know what to say or how to begin solving systemic issues. Going forward, we want to listen, learn, and get better at improving racial equity within our workplaces and across society.

What I’m learning is that our current corporate diversity efforts are failing Black employees, and we need better strategies tied to organizational goals, to springboard us into new ways of thinking that prioritize the Black employee experience.

Research, recently shared with me by trailblazer Margot Goodson, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Lead at SAP North America, truly took me by surprise. Ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform their peers, therefore it’s a business imperative. Yet, “Being Black in Corporate America,” which was published by the Center for Talent Innovation, found that:

• Black professionals are more likely to encounter prejudice and microaggressions than any other racial or ethnic group in the workplace.
• Black professionals are less likely than their white counterparts to have access to senior leaders and support from their managers.
• Few white professionals see what their black colleagues are up against, they do not see the hurdles that their black counterparts experience in the workplace.
• Organizations have redeployed HR and D&I strategies that have worked for other marginalized groups – notably white women, despite the different challenges that are faced.
• Black men are two-and-a-half times more likely to be satisfied with their job and intend to stay if the company has moderated forums to discuss race.

This research is a huge incentive for us all to act within our D&I programs to move the needle—faster and further—toward racial equity (for a better understanding of equity vs equality, look at this graphic).

Diversify Your Methodologies to Diversify your Results. What was visible to all, and what Goodson voiced in her overview as a panel host is that D&I must be embedded in our culture and part of our corporate DNA. To make the changes we all want to see, we must learn to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Corporate hiring and promotional policies/procedures have to be more objectively based and inclusive to assess talent irrespective of demographics. That’s when we can start rewriting the failing D&I storyline that hasn’t led to measurable change for Black employees so far.

With input and shared perspectives from hosts and participants from multiple industries and backgrounds, these five learnings emerged from our roundtable discussions:

Get in the game now, don’t wait. For companies without a D&I program or in the early phases, now is the time to push these efforts forward. The same is true for companies further in their D&I journey, the stage is set to ignite the programs and re-draw frameworks. As one D&I leader said, “We have to take this moment and make it a movement.”

In some companies, moving forward means turning to data to make decisions; others are leaning on intuition. All want to solve the racial imbalance through recruitment, promotion, and succession planning. As one participant said, “If you’re staying silent or just checking a box on racial equity, you are losing out as organization.”

Gain CEO support and bring executive management on board to show top-down involvement. “Success is not possible without CEO support,” said Goodson. You’ll need the leadership of executive sponsors, and it shows that D&I is a strategic imperative. One CEO joined group leaders and went on a listening tour to hear employee stories and identify equality gaps. A participant added, “What makes these programs work is the reaction and participation of the CEO and senior partners.”

Start having brave and bold conversations in both large and small groups. Goodson pointed out that a lot of people are feeling fear in the current environment and recommended reading “What Fear Feels Like and What Organizations Can Do About It“ by SAP’s Judith Williams.

In the face of fear, anger, and discomfort, storytelling makes a big difference in helping people work through these emotions.Multiple participants were strong believers in inviting employees to large town hall meetings and small group settings to have conversations about race and being Black in the workplace. One company had held 18 in the past two weeks and another had more than 130 in the past few weeks.

Recommendations from the group were to create a safe space where people are comfortable being authentic. Participants are invited to share stories about working within the company and broadly in society. “These courageous or brave conversations about race and ethnicity are pivotal to success,” said a participant. Most likely, these are first-time conversations that we’ve been needing to have for a long time.

Another D&I team created a conversation guide for having safe discussions. The team also launched conversation circles on inclusion topics led by internal individuals from HR, managers, and trained volunteers.

The key thing is to create a culture of openness. Small group conversations will give you the momentum you need to do more. One note of caution to keep in mind: Don’t be fooled into thinking these conversations are easy. They are hard, necessary work.

Leverage third-party experts and resources. You don’t have to do this alone. Resources are available like PWC’s “Check Your Blind Spots” and CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, which includes a CEO pledge that will open up lots of free, valuable resources including a toolkit and a manager’s guide. Before Covid, a “Check your Blind Spots” tour was available, but that has been suspended for now.

Another great suggestion from the panel was to host credentialed experts to speak on the topic. Goodson described how a Harvard professor came in three times to SAP to share best practices, data points, and stories. “Having an external person come in with repeatable experiences and sources drives change,” she said. 

Tie D&I efforts to business success. Some folks within every organization are going to dismiss the value of D&I. To win those nonbelievers, a D&I leader said, “Stakeholders need to understand that businesses are better when they are inclusive. Studies show that it does increase profit margin. Our D&I progress correlated with our rising stock price.”   

Participants agreed that you must tie business outcomes to D&I. As one expert said, “If it’s not about driving business, it’s not happening.” The good news is that KPIs are out there showing that companies with diversity realize better business results.

There were so many good practices that I’ll quickly list a few more.

• Partner with professional minority societies.
• Leverage third-party experts with access to diverse talent pools.
• Support Black-owned businesses.
• Recruit at historically Black colleges and universities.
•  Ride the wave of momentum wherever it comes from. Panelists have seen the movement start with employees, executives, shareholders, and boards of directors
•  Post online materials (blogs, internal discussion boards/forums, videos) for shift workers and people with limited time so they can comment and share their experiences.
• Within dashboards, break out multicultural groups within data points and get more granular data that focuses specifically on Blacks.
• Set goals with specific numbers and timelines around inclusiveness and review results.
• Deliberate Delivery Makes Sustainable Movements

The group acknowledged that D&I statements and activities have been around for a while, but the needle moves much too slowly toward equity for Blacks. What we all wanted to know is: “How do we speed the timeline so we can reach equity and make it sustainable and part of our culture?”

What I heard throughout both panels from the D&I experts and innovators is that we can move the needle with sustained commitment and continued delivery. Again, D&I statements and activities must drive business outcomes. We start with conversations, add workshops, take surveys, and then do it again to keep pushing forward. By dedicating ourselves to working together, listening, and learning, we can create new strategies and start a new journey that combats racism and advances social justice for Blacks within the workplace and our communities.  

I invite everyone in the HR and Talent Management community to join the conversation and work together on developing strategies for racial equity. We have multiple opportunities to collaborate, learn, and improve. If you are a customer contact me to join us in the fight to build a business beyond bias, and commit to a plan that fights workplace discrimination by becoming a member of our research panel. Find out more about SAP D&I activities here.