Blog Layout
Are We Being the Change We Want to See in the World?
Cassie Brown • Jun 10, 2020
Stop With the Emails - Show Me With Your Actions
In March I started receiving emails from every company I’d ever done business with since I started my Yahoo email account in the mid to late 90’s. Whether I’d done any business with them in the past few years or not, whether I’d stepped foot in their store EVER or not, they all wanted me to know how much they cared about me and my safety and what they were doing specific to COVID-19. I do appreciate knowing what to expect when I am going to physically visit a store, doctor office, etc. during COVID-19, but I don’t need you to personally email me an update if I visited your website one time in 1996. I received 100’s of emails like this over the course of March and April.
Now, I am seeing a trend again heading that way, only this time it is specific to how dedicated you are to diversity, how much you care about the Black Lives Matter movement, what you are doing specific to diversity and inclusion in your company, internally and externally. I’ve received at least 20+ emails from companies I’ve done business with and seen multiple updates on social media from company representatives about all they have done, and will do, specific to diversity and inclusion, diversity and inclusion, diversity and inclusion. Great article
in the NY Times this week about this, worth the read.
I also don’t need emails from these same businesses who wrote to me about COVID-19, and, while I appreciate each company that takes an active stand at this moment in time against racism, most likely I already know where you stand, based on your behaviors. Additionally, if your statement is incongruent with what I know and have experienced with you as a customer or an employee, what your executive team and board of directors looks like, how you promote and evaluate people in your workplace, etc.: now I don’t trust you, and I question your integrity. Show me what you are doing, live it, be an example, talk openly and honestly about what’s happening, how people are feeling, educating people without relying on the people of color to bear that burden. Maya Angelou said it best when she reminded us that we will always remember how people make us feel.
I read an article
this week that made me think a lot about how we talk about diversity and drive certain programs and behaviors, personally and professionally, that work to uncover and recognize our unconscious biases (yes, we ALL have them), and what is missing in many of these places is a discussion about equity. In this article, Kelsey Ogletree writes, “My hesitation with using equity versus diversity is that diversity is more optics and not structurally disruptive…but if diversity is reduced to pigmentation solely and simply parroting the same points, there is no real equity in the conversation. In my opinion, that is where we get it wrong. We should stop exploiting the word “diversity” and seek the fullness of equity and inclusion.”
Equity and inclusion. Think about that in terms of how we judge others at work, people we see on the street, in our personal lives, and friends and family. All of those biases that rise to the surface, whether we like it or not, have been formed by a lifetime of experiences and influences throughout our lives. Being able to recognize when that is happening, and then having the ability to engage in real, open, honest conversations about those feelings and figuring out where they came from in your life. Thinking through decisions, programs, policies, practices, etc. with equity in mind might bring forth different, better, more inclusive outcomes.
Furthering my research, I found this as a way to describe equity and equality: “equity and equality are two strategies we can use in an effort to produce fairness. Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful. Equality is treating everyone the same. Equality aims to promote fairness, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same help.” What has been happening for 100’s of years is that we are not starting from the same place, ever. We start with a bias. Being able to call that out when needed and understand it can help us have different equality and equity discussions, different diversity and inclusion discussions. My experiences and interactions with the world are different than anyone else’s, and that is what has shaped my beliefs, thoughts, behaviors and actions. Through education, empathy and opening our hearts and minds, I really believe that we can get to a place of understanding and a new path forward in how we have these discussions and heal. My heart, my mind and my desire for diversity, inclusion, equality and equity are all open. Like Nelson Mandela said, “one of the most difficult things is not to change society – but to change yourself.” I’m ready, are you?
Thankful. In this year filled with so many unknowns and changes to the way we have to “be” with one another, it is perplexing to some to think about the things we are thankful for this year. I, however, didn’t seem to have any issue coming up with things I am thankful for in 2020. For the first time since my children were very young, (a time in our lives when everything was chaos most of the time with school, homework, after school activities, etc.), we sat around a table with each other and enjoyed dinner and “adult” conversation. My two college-aged sons came home for Spring Break in March and didn’t leave, moving to 100% remote learning and 100% in our refrigerator and pantry. We played games, had movie nights, worked on puzzles, told stories, found old home movies from when they were babies, and gained new appreciation for each other. I am thankful for this time with them. My husband and I both expanded our businesses, and while I became an expert on all things COVID, he became PMP certified. I worked on expanding my network, continuous learning, learning new industries, and mentoring others in the HR community. I am thankful that we are both working, supporting each other and supporting local businesses. We had powerful conversations with each other, with family and friends, with those who think like us and those who do not, with people we love, as our world stood divided over politics and racism. I am thankful for those who engage in respectful dialogue on these topics, who seek to understand, learn and share. We miss our friends and family we don’t get to see, and the “normal” we had been accustomed to all these years. I am thankful for the work we do to keep all of us safe, knowing that we will see one another soon, that this too shall pass. We are flexible and resilient, hopeful and compassionate, and most of all, thankful for the ability to choose how we show up every day. This week I choose to be thankful.
As employers consider if they will need to furlough employees, lay them off, or are contemplating a reduction in force, here are some things to consider for planning purposes.
Do you need a Politics in the Workplace Policy? Is it OK to talk about politics at work? Have you had issues when people talk about politics at work? Do you allow employees to express their political opinions at work through decor, pamphlets or banners/buttons? Do you know what you can/cannot restrict at work?
Latest news
Thankful. In this year filled with so many unknowns and changes to the way we have to “be” with one another, it is perplexing to some to think about the things we are thankful for this year. I, however, didn’t seem to have any issue coming up with things I am thankful for in 2020. For the first time since my children were very young, (a time in our lives when everything was chaos most of the time with school, homework, after school activities, etc.), we sat around a table with each other and enjoyed dinner and “adult” conversation. My two college-aged sons came home for Spring Break in March and didn’t leave, moving to 100% remote learning and 100% in our refrigerator and pantry. We played games, had movie nights, worked on puzzles, told stories, found old home movies from when they were babies, and gained new appreciation for each other. I am thankful for this time with them. My husband and I both expanded our businesses, and while I became an expert on all things COVID, he became PMP certified. I worked on expanding my network, continuous learning, learning new industries, and mentoring others in the HR community. I am thankful that we are both working, supporting each other and supporting local businesses. We had powerful conversations with each other, with family and friends, with those who think like us and those who do not, with people we love, as our world stood divided over politics and racism. I am thankful for those who engage in respectful dialogue on these topics, who seek to understand, learn and share. We miss our friends and family we don’t get to see, and the “normal” we had been accustomed to all these years. I am thankful for the work we do to keep all of us safe, knowing that we will see one another soon, that this too shall pass. We are flexible and resilient, hopeful and compassionate, and most of all, thankful for the ability to choose how we show up every day. This week I choose to be thankful.
As employers consider if they will need to furlough employees, lay them off, or are contemplating a reduction in force, here are some things to consider for planning purposes.