What Diversity & Exclusion Really Look Like

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the future inaccessible.” – Maya Angelou***

The American dream – the belief that any person, regardless of where they were born, regardless of class at birth, has the ability to realize success whether that includes educational attainment, finding a job to support their family or starting their own business. The American dream says we ultimately have control on the path we choose.

People of varying races, ethnicities, genders and abilities go to colleges and universities to develop skills and education for trades and careers that can yield a better future for themselves and their families. Rarely does one go to work with intent to fail or do a poor job. They do, however, realize that they can learn even more when they work for a company, large or small. It is part of the continuum of growth and the advancement of learning.

As one who has hired people for a living, I learned that some schools and some professions produce individuals who can come in with skills ready for immediate application and contribution while others provide students with few skills but with knowledge that yields a blank canvas for organizations to create promising power houses for the future. If I had to generalize, I would categorize those who came from technical colleges as ready to apply new skills and contributions and graduates of four year universities as clean canvases ready to be shaped into new works of professionalism. There would certainly be a mixture of these characteristics in people, dependent upon individual backgrounds and experiences, internships, jobs etc.

No matter what though, no one came to work with the intent to fail; and no one came to work with the goal of being targeted or picked on because they did not fit someone else’s professional mold or image of what corporate America is supposed to think, look or sound like. As these young professionals move through day to day life they gradually discover work life looks different for those who are don’t fit the image of the white, male, professional of days gone by.

There are two things that make that dejected feeling worse:

1. You’re vested in the people and the work before you realize the double standards you are up against
2. Your realization of the problem does not offer many promising options for resolution or change because few if any superiors will actually acknowledge the problem or their root cause.

Ten Signs of Racially Based Exclusion in the Workplace

1. People file complaints with the person’s boss about their professionalism or their work even to the point of lying
2. People constantly find fault with their work even though they are meeting or exceeding actual job expectations
3. People consistently challenge the person’s decisions or ideas (Even when they have indicated they have been sanctioned by their manager or higher)
4. Some “professionals” and/or leaders will ignore the person’s attempts to speak in meetings or will minimize their contribution when they do
5. Those viewed as equals or superiors will sabotage the individual’s reputation among others who have the power to advance them and their career
6. Colleagues will hinder their progress by failing to get back to them or provide information they need to move forward with projects and tasks causing them to look bad and take the heat for missing deadlines or inability to work effectively with others (because they can’t extract what they need from the minds, files or computers of others)
7. Subordinates will frequently find time to get an audience with upper management to report every unnecessary detail of the individual’s schedule and every mistake they appear to make
8. You may find their workload exceeds that of their colleagues yet they are expected to perform as well as those with less work and possibly more experience
9. The person is given more and more responsibility such that their job description clearly indicates they are in a leadership position yet no title upgrade, no pay increase, no promotion only excuses have been given.
10. Whenever this individual opts to do things with their own flair or creative style, they are met with criticism or ridicule because their way of doing things is viewed as resistant to department protocol or norms
    

Linking Microaggressions, Exclusion & Discrimination

A microaggression is an indirect, subtle yet discriminatory statement, action or incident against members of a marginalized group. They happen casually, frequently and believe it or not, often unintentionally. Due to the casual and unintentional nature of it, those who are not the recipients of such behavior, are often dismissive of it. They are ignorant of the long term psychological, physiological and social effects of such behaviors on those who experience every day of their lives. This can include anger, depression and decreases in productivity and problem-solving abilities. Microaggressions are usually in the form of a joke or compliment but they contain hidden insults about a particular group.

While there may be a number of microaggressions that are experienced by individuals within an organization at different job levels, the plot thickens and the heat gets turned up as the individual moves up the corporate ladder. What we see here is actually sabotage. It is literally sabotaging an individual’s future and their success but may be intentional or unintentional. These experiences usually involve multiple people with multiple levels of authority. The above acts of exclusion are not an exhaustive list but they are much more common than they should be.

These are subtle examples of exclusion that embody or lead to racial discrimination. Such discrimination in employment, can take the form of failing to hire, train, promote or mentor a person of a protected class or marginalized group. Subjecting such individuals to excessive performance monitoring or seriously blaming them for common mistakes or treating common work situations and mishaps more seriously than one would others outside of marginalized groups can cause greater anxiety and hold deeper consequences.

Putting a Stop to Damaging Behaviors

It is a leader’s responsibility to monitor inappropriate behaviors emanating from those they lead as well as to protect those same individuals. We do not have the option to disengage when someone cries foul. If an employee comes to us and says, “I’m being treated unfairly,” “People are making me feel uncomfortable,” “I have encountered a number of inappropriate behaviors or biased accusations lately,” we have an obligation to investigate the concerns thoroughly and objectively. Management, executives, human resources professionals, diversity practitioners and affirmative action officers all have the charge to ensure that appropriate action is taken and proper fact-finding occurs. It is a sad turn of events when any one of these individuals takes a callous approach to the issues and decides they have no merit when they have not taken the time to investigate, or they skim the surface of the situation in order to say it’s been taken care of. Unfortunately, if you put one of each person with one of the titles listed, in a room, talk to them about such a situation and allow the conversation to progress, you might be surprised to find that there might be one, possibly two of those individuals in the room, who actually think objectively and inclusively enough to address the situation fairly and appropriately. Others will say the politically correct words necessary to move the conversation towards this being an over exaggeration, someone’s imagination or a misunderstanding that can easily be explained away. They do this, in many cases without realizing that to do so will only worsen the negative impact on the person or persons involved, creating greater problems for them as well as the organization’s morale and inclusion efforts (if they have any).

1. Investigate thoroughly and confidentially from start to finish.
2. Gather information from all individuals involved using the assumption that everyone is telling the truth based upon their own perspective!
3. Protect everyone and treat every person with the utmost respect
4. Don’t play favorites but remember who commissioned the assignment. Don’t kill the messenger. The person who came to you for help, still needs you to help them resolve the issue.
5. “I’m sorry but we found nothing wrong,” Is not an option for closing the file on this one. Do the work and find resolutions!
6. Offer empowering responses and actions to the individual experiencing the behaviors and assure your ongoing support. This is not just lip service, give them guidance, support and appropriate networking to help them navigate the organization going forward.
7. Someone further up the corporate chain (in the same division and in HR) has to monitor and provide accountability to subordinate leaders and support to the individual experiencing the discomfort. This means ensuring protection against discrimination and retaliation. No one wants to report exclusive, discriminatory or harmful behaviors only to find themselves being fired or demoted for some mysterious reason shortly thereafter.
8. Document everything well and investigate as if your documentation might end up in a court of law… it may very well happen so be thorough, clear and concise, demonstrating that you left no stone unturned and you spoke to enough people to get varying perspectives on the matter at hand.
9. DO NOT play politics. This is not the time, the circumstance nor the people to dismiss by taking an unfounded stand just to protect your own career. What I mean is, this isn’t the time to go along to get along. People’s livelihoods, careers and well-being are at stake. Don’t play with that! If you were hired to handle such investigations, handle it. Don’t take anything at face value. Go below the surface of everything – that’s what investigations are. It’s a deep dive into the facts, once you have gathered them.
10. Get back to the person who filed the complaint to report final details and follow up with all involved on how to avoid these issues in the future.
    

What if The Person Really Is Doing Something Wrong?

The only way to know if the person who seems to be a victim is actually doing something wrong, is to investigate. In my experience, when we are dealing with microaggressions, exclusivity and discrimination, that has rarely been the case. By that I mean that while they may not have been the perfect employee, they were far from being the constant poor performer the accusations and verbal assaults make them out to be. Microaggressions, exclusivity and discrimination is what takes it from a poor performing employee scenario to one that is experiencing more serious actions. With proper investigation, this becomes evident and proper organizational response can be given. Speculation on guilt and legitimacy is generally wrong. Remember, everyone is telling the truth from their perspective, however, that doesn’t make it legal or appropriate.

Closing Thoughts

There is a great deal to be said on this issue. It is more serious than some would make it and more traumatic than others care to convey. Regardless of where you are in the scheme of things, understand how prevalent this type of behavior really is in our society and why it continues. Much of its continuation is due to a lack of sincere determination to stop it. When you see an organization that struggles to hire and retain notable numbers of people of color, women and other marginalized groups in professional and management positions it is pretty safe to say this is an environment that allows exclusive behaviors more often than not. Even when the individuals are hired, they do not stay. Why? Because they feel excluded.

While those ten common exclusive behaviors may often lead to or be inclusive of discriminatory practices, the truth of the matter is, most of the victims of such behaviors will resign from the organization before it gets to the point of reporting and investigating. The behaviors are more prevalent at the higher levels of the organization, signifying other individuals’ need to limit the success and advancement of said individuals. This makes you wonder just how unintentional the behaviors might truly be… but this is one of those moments where we would undoubtedly struggle to prove intent.

My heart goes out to individuals who experience this reality on their quest to achieve the American Dream. Oh, it’s not just happening in America. It happens in other developed nations as well but the approach is the same whether you are in Canada, the U.S. or Great Britain. Those of us who are in position to help have to help. Those of us who are in position to make a difference have to make a difference. I have sat on both sides of the table, stood on both sides of the fence and have been positioned on both sides of the complaint. It’s not fun on either side but it sure is satisfying when I can help pave the way for someone else who might not otherwise have been able to navigate the terrain alone. Even when they gave up the fight and quite before it was over, at least they knew someone was trying to make things right.

Best Regards (as You Do the Same)!

C.

Image by 1388843 from Pixabay