The problem with DEI solutions based on assumptions
Only 4% of C-suite roles are filled by women of color, while representing 18% of the total U.S. population. Black women in particular contend with the "Concrete Ceiling." They face significant bias in hiring and promotions, receive less support from their managers for career growth, and experience more disrespectful behaviors and comments in the workplace.
You’re a leader genuinely concerned about creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable space for your team. You want to do it right, so you start with the data. Yay, you’re on the right track!
You partner with HR and discover some areas of concern around how your Black and Brown employees are progressing in their careers compared to their white counterparts. You’re also alarmed at the high rate of attrition of Black women.
You recognize your recruiting team did great work to attract diverse talent (and you know the business case for DEI), so you want to make sure they don’t just stick around, but THRIVE.
Ok, I love you already. We need more leaders like you.
I’m going to share my thoughts around some potential next steps, “solutions” if you will, that I’ve seen leaders like you take. I share my perspective as a cautionary tale of how best intentions can turn to sour experiences, and have the exact opposite effect from what you want for your team and your company.
I’m talking about DEI solutions that are based on assumptions.
Assumptions about identity
When I first joined the CIA at 22, my first week on the job was all orientation. I was trying to get my bearings to this new lifestyle (believe me, being a part of the intelligence community is a lifestyle). More importantly, I was learning about how to operate in a large organization.
My first jobs out of college were as an English tutor/au pair in Italy, and then a first grade ESL teacher in my home town (stories for a future post). Point is, I had no idea how The Machine worked.
Entering the workforce in a big government agency was mind-boggling. What is a credit union? What benefits do I need as a healthy 22 year old? What is EEO? What do these thousands and thousands of people do here every day? Send emails and use databases? How do “careers” even work? Besides the opportunity to serve my country, I joined because I wanted to travel and learn languages. I was admittedly clueless about all the rest.
Back to that first week. I got an invitation for coffee at the on-site Starbucks from someone I didn’t know. They wanted to get to know me. Cool! Starbucks was the fancier coffee meeting spot than the Dunkin, and I’m basically always down for free coffee.
Turns out, I’d been assigned a mentor from the Black employee resource group (ERG).
Here’s what stands out to me about that experience:
I didn’t know what ERGs were and would have loved to learn about all of them. A career fair style event where I could have networked with peers from across the spectrum would have been an amazing chance to learn and build community with groups I personally identify with, and those I don't.
I prefer to build my own relationships with mentors, rather than being paired at random. At this point in my career, I would have benefited from a mentor focused on helping me through the transition to professional adulthood. Your girl made some mistakes.
I was the only one of my cohort to be assigned a mentor. To me, that felt off. I check the “two or more races” box. I am white and Black. Growing up biracial in America (and overseas) means I’m both comfortable, and out of place, in both worlds. I still don’t have the words to articulate my feelings on the Meghan Markle of it all. I share a bit more of my identity and background here just to highlight the point that we can’t assume which community a person is looking for, or most comfortable in, by just looking at the boxes they check. My personality also balks any time I feel like I’m being singled out for special treatment. One, I don’t like the attention. Two, I’m fighting against a lifetime of questioning whether I “earned” something, or if I'm filling a quota.
Consent is key
Back to you, Leader. The data shows particular groups are leaving the organization at higher rates than their peers. How can you support employees from underrepresented identities to thrive in your company? I think it comes down to consent.
Creating community spaces is one great way to influence retention. Before issuing an edict that all Black women be assigned a Black female mentor, check in with the actual humans behind those people metrics. Pause to ask your target audience if they want a mentor or join a community, what they’re looking for out of that mentorship, and how they can best be supported. And, provide them with the full menu of options to choose from. What works for one person may not work for another. Identity is more than skin-deep.
Folks want to feel like they are in control of their career development and that they are supported in those choices.
Assumptions about work output
The second set of DEI "solutions" I often rant about are those based on assumed low work output. I'm referring to stalled career progression of Black and Brown women due to a lack of sponsorship, that is: lack of exposure to and advocacy by senior leaders. Women of color are less supported by their managers, and are less likely to have senior leaders who will advocate for a pay raise or who will publicly praise their skills when they're not in the room.
Back to you, Leader. Your data shows that Black women in your organization are lagging behind in promotions and are less likely to be elevated to management positions.
Your next question is something like, "How can we get them more exposure?" Inevitably, someone around the table is going to suggest creating a leadership development or sponsorship program.
You're excited because a good sponsorship program can really change the game for an up-and-coming leader. Perhaps you participated in a leadership program early in your career and credit it to getting where you are today. When done right, sponsorship can accelerate promising careers, bring innovative solutions to an organization, and build connection between executives and diverse future leaders.
Another great moment to pause before deciding that every high-performing Black-identifying woman needs to participate in this new sponsorship program.
First, let's take a look at the elements of a successful sponsorship program:
Paring: Match a senior leader (Sponsor) with a high-performing junior employee (Sponsee) for a specific period of time, usually three to six months.
Advocacy: The Sponsor publicly advocates for career advancement for the Sponsee. E.g., "Have you heard about what Tiffany is doing in this space? She's had XYZ impact on the business."
Stretch assignment: Sponsee is given a stretch project (additional work) to demonstrate value with work that has bigger scope, scale, and impact than their day job.
Guidance: Sponsor meets regularly with Sponsee to check-in, provide perspective, and guide them toward achieving their stretch goals.
Okay, here's where my rant comes in. The thought of giving all high-performing Black women additional work under the guise of a growth opportunity so they can show their value ... it makes my skeleton try to escape my skin. Here's my thinking.
High-performing people are already demonstrating incredible value! They're already being rated as top of class, and working their butts off to do it.
Black women are held to higher standards than their white peers. They are given less credit for their achievements, and judged more harshly for their failures. There's a reason we're told we need to work twice as hard as our peers.
AGAIN, they are already doing amazing work! The assumption here is that they're not doing impactful work because they haven't been given the same visibility that their peers have.
Sponsorship, when it is rooted in advocacy and guidance, is a powerful tool to showcase great work by a junior employee. Sponsorship, when employees are auto-enrolled and given additional work, feels like we're moving the goalpost for specific people. We're saying: "No one's been paying attention to the amazing sh*t you've managed to accomplish despite a lack of support, but in order for us to promote you, we're gonna need to do just a little bit more. Good luck. Don't screw it up. All eyes are definitely on you now."
This is not Equity work.
It's on leadership teams to look at the data not just on a macro-level (e.g., Black women are not being promoted at the same rates). Leaders need to take it down to the micro-level (e.g., Sarah has been working here for five years with consistently high ratings, but she's underpaid compared to her peers and has been passed up for promotion for the three years now). Then take action. Without given Sarah additional homework. Just do it.
That is sponsorship.
I want to go back to consent.
I'm a fan of the leadership programs I've participated in throughout the years, both with and without capstone projects. And, I love my Sponsors (y'all are awesome). The difference in the experience here is I chose those programs and I chose those people to be in my support network. Let's stop assuming what community support people want at work. Let's also stop assuming just because we're unaware of great work, that it's not happening.
The onus is on leaders to ask.
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