Sometimes, we need to speak up

This weekend I got tired of the noise around DEI “hires” and that DEI is bad and shared a rant on my Facebook page.

Here’s what I’m upset about:

I’m tired of the implication that EVERY woman, person of color, LGBTQ individual, or other underrepresented group got their jobs or promotions because of DEI initiatives.?

More likely, they were the most qualified and earned the opportunity.

I don’t support quotas, but I do support making sure organizations or leadership teams are representative of the people you employ or the customers you serve.

Are there some programs that may not have worked the way we all would have liked? I’m sure the answer is yes.

That doesn’t mean that a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace is bad.

Let’s stop talking about DEI programs or initiatives and start acknowledging what we still believe in.?

Here’s what I believe:

?? Diversity strengthens organizations. I define diversity broadly, including demographic factors but also experiences, ways of thinking, and attitudes.

?? Equity in organizations is just the right thing to do.? Everyone should have the opportunity to build careers and wealth without being judged by non-performance-related measures.

?? When people feel included (and ideally a sense of belonging), they are more willing to give you their best efforts because you have shown them that you care.? They are not just a resource.

Which part of these three ideas do you disagree with? Hopefully, none of them, but I'm open to your thoughts.

Let's talk about the hiring and promotion processes:

Hiring:

In most situations, there are more qualified candidates for a job than can be hired.? You have to pick one, so some factors may feel more subjective because all the candidates don't come with the same set of experiences, behaviors, and attitudes. You need to weigh what is most important for the role and your organization.

In my 30+ years of HR experience, leaders don’t hire people they think are unqualified. It’s just not worth it to them. They pick people they believe are qualified for the job.

Does every hire work out?? Unfortunately, not.

I know we have all had a hire that we were confident would do well who didn't. We missed something in the interview process. Hiring is an imperfect art. There are plenty of examples of poor hires across all demographics.

Promotions:

In many organizations, more qualified people are ready for a promotion than spots available (based on financials and business growth projections).? You can’t promote them all, so you have to choose the differentiators.

We know your promotion candidates will not have the same experiences, behaviors, and attitudes as each other. So, someone may feel that the decision was subjective. You had to make a decision on how to weigh different factors so you could make a choice.

In many/most cases, when a choice is made to promote someone in an underrepresented group, that diversity factor was not the only reason they were given the slot. To be clear, I am not defending processes that forced a specific choice only for representation reasons.

I’m pretty confident that no person of an underrepresented group wants to hear that your decision to hire or promote them was made solely based on their gender, ethnicity, or other demographic factor.? They want to know that you believe they are qualified and ready for the opportunity.

As organizational leaders, we need to be willing to ask ourselves the hard questions and not take the easy way out by saying, "Let's end this focus because some things weren't working."

So what do we do now...

?? There may be practices that need to be ended because they didn’t work as intended or are no longer in the organization's best interest.

?? Acknowledge and fix what’s broken in your programs and policies, but don’t devalue the people in your organization by implying that they didn’t deserve the opportunities they got.

?? You may want to make changes to ensure that all of your employees feel like they have opportunities to grow and thrive.

?? Recommit to be a workplace where everyone feels valued and has an opportunity to thrive.

People are your competitive advantage.

?? Be clear on the ideal profile for your organization - experiences, behaviors, and attitudes - and use that to guide your hiring and promotion processes.

?? Be intentional in your decisions about if and how you want your employee demographics to line up with your customer demographics and how you can find qualified candidates from those pools if that is part of your strategy.

?? Be specific on expectations for performance and hold all team members accountable.

?? Commit to having the best people in your organization for all the right reasons.

I’m here to share my perspectives, learn where I may have blindspots, and be open to constructive comments.

But I could not remain silent. I cannot support the recent suggestion that DEI initiatives are the only reason many of us are in our current positions.

????♀? I am Melissa Carson.?

????♀? Let's chat about: Leadership endurance… sustainable high-performance advisory services for leaders, teams, and organizations | People strategies | Leader development | Team effectiveness | HR leader coaching.?

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