To honor Black History Month, we interviewed Dr. Aida Martinez-Freeman, Management HQ (MHQ) Managing Director, about how leaders can drive diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in their organizations. Aida has dedicated her career to supporting equitable and inclusive work environments, and the talented individuals who make up these spaces.
Many leaders are looking to be more inclusive, and drive equity and inclusion in their organizations. How do you suggest they start?
This point in our history points us toward looking inward at company culture, operations, and ourselves as leaders. How can we better grow as leaders to learn more about experiences outside of our own? Do we need coaching? What books do we need to read? Who do we need to connect with to learn more? The challenge for many leaders is that they feel pressure to have all the answers. This work requires us to be vulnerable, say “I don’t know”, open ourselves to learning, and move into action.
How can leaders then bring this internal work back to improve the inclusiveness and equity of their organization?
Much of the work is about the organization’s values. It is easier to list a set of values than to actually live those values, this requires accountability and action. At MHQ, our full team has a weekly discussion focused on this question, “how have we lived out our values?” Diversity, equity and inclusion are powerful ways that we live these values, and it is important that we celebrate this work with one another.
We often hear from leaders who are struggling to recruit and retain diverse individuals, whether as volunteer board leaders, or employees. Why do you think this is a challenge?
In some cases, organizations are having a hard time recruiting and retaining diverse applicants because managers don’t understand how to run equitable units and departments. This leads us back to the internal work we can do on ourselves, asking questions like: How can I grow so that justice can thrive within me as a starting point? How do we show justice every day, from the board room, to meetings with clients, to one-on-one sessions with staff? That is how we get closer to aligning our outside efforts to the efforts inside of us.
What are some action steps leaders can take?
Most organizations have data on their clients, who they attract, who their network is, and how they manage their teams. There are numbers and dollar amounts attached to these activities. Leaders can use that data to dig into the blueprint of operations and have discussions with their teams, asking: What am I not seeing? What is this data telling me beyond not having diverse staff, beyond not having diverse managers in critical positions, beyond struggling to engage diverse members, volunteers, clients? Then creating workplans and action plans around that feedback.
Who within our organizations should be doing the work?
Leaders often expect the folks who are most impacted by oppression to fix the system that enables it in the first place. While some of our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer / questioning) colleagues may embrace this work, this can be exhausting for others in our communities.
It is important to mentor and nurture white allies within our organizations, who are competent to carry this work, and to do the work in an equitable and just way.
To that end, a powerful step that leaders can take right now is to ask themselves and their teams, how are they living out their values? How can DEI thrive here? Then, use that as a first step to set up a plan of action. Create a practical and attainable vision, set key metrics, determine who is r responsible and align resources to ensure success.
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