Meaningful diversity requires meaningful action from companies and their leaders

Hamlin Grange is president and chief executive officer of DiversiPro Inc., a diversity and inclusion consulting firm.

Many organizations that sign the BlackNorth initiative are not fulfilling their social justice commitments by taking concrete action towards inclusion, diversity and anti-racism. Their failure to deliver, while not entirely surprising, raises many questions: Where do commitments stand in terms of the hierarchy of importance to a company? Do they really want to hire more racialized employees? Are they committed to disrupting and transforming their organizational culture?

Meaningful answers to these questions can be found by reflecting on the interplay between politics, economics, and morality in political decision-making. Over the centuries, most of the smart money has been betting on the primacy of economics.

Almost 70 years ago, Dr. Eric Williams, the first and longest serving Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, argued in his PhD thesis – published as Capitalism and Slavery – that the British Empire ended slavery not because it was the right thing to do, but because the system was failing economically and enough capital had been accumulated from slave labor to fuel the rise of capitalism and the industrial revolution. So economic change was in the air. Other factors—abnegation and slave revolts, for example—certainly contributed significantly to, but did not drive, emancipation. The core of his argument is an axiomatic truth: Money talks.

Another axiomatic truth is that people in power do not voluntarily give up power. People in positions of power seek to perpetuate their power. So a key question is: Are BlackNorth Initiative corporate firms taking rational steps toward sustainably implementing the principles and practices of inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism (IDEA) in the organizations they lead?

Are the hastily added new black employees, black board members and directors reliable indicators of sustainable long-term change? I argue that they are not.

A more significant key performance indicator is the degree to which leaders are preparing to manage their economic success in the new workplace IDEA brought about by the current social justice movement that was sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

Creating an inclusive and diverse workplace is about more than just hiring more “those people.” The reality is that this is not just an HR solution. Organizations need to take a more holistic approach, examining other internal areas, including workplace culture, their relationships with external stakeholders and whether their services or programs are meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse environment. .

Taking effective steps toward implementing IDEA is a more reliable indicator of commitment than hastily drafted initiatives and token hires designed to make it easier to answer questions from the media—and racialized employees. So what are these steps? In my experience, having worked with organizations and their leaders for more than two decades as a diversity and inclusion strategist, those who recognize that a significant part of change is internal humbly accept their responsibility to win the necessary intercultural competencies needed to lead. an organization and manages people from diverse backgrounds. They are prepared to take rational, necessary and often “unpleasant” steps towards creating an IDEA environment.

But this requires leaders who are culturally appropriate. Among other things, they must be very aware of their personal cultural worldview and how it affects the decisions they make; they also need to understand and appreciate other people’s cultural worldviews; and they must be prepared to listen with empathy, compassion, and nonjudgment.

From the beginning, the BlackNorth Initiative was seen as the answer to a vague problem. But if the signers of the pledge can’t be held accountable, it may turn out not to be the solution many people thought it might be.

Your time is valuable. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Register today.