Diversity: Corporation and You

The corporate perspective on race is changing.

Have you, or someone you know, experienced the reality that the corporation where you worked somehow operated under a vail of inequity and unfairness? Those who were steadily advancing within the corporation looked different from you.

If so, you are like the hundreds of clients I serve; high achieving women, people of color and LGBTQ people.

For more than 10 years now, I have provided executive coaching services to high-achievers who have worked hard to get the education and skills in pursuit of fulfilling their executive ambitions.

My guest on today's podcast is Dr. Tim Ewing, who is currently the Vice President of Employee Diversity, Inclusion and Experience at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. What you're about to enjoy is an interview I conducted with Dr. Ewing a few years ago when he was President and Founder of BreakThrough Dynamics, a global diversity and organizational development consulting firm, where he helped large corporations and strategically plan and advance their programs for diversity and inclusion.

Following are some of the highlights of our conversation:

What shifts have you seen regarding diversity initiatives?

• How we think about diversity and inclusion. • Is not only are people going through awareness building but also introspection around what are some of the biases that I hold that actually limit me from seeing others' full potential

How do you get underneath that with the biases?

• Real learning comes in relationship. • Clarity on the underpinning of both individual and organizational change. • Individuals will come to realize that they have more commonality with people than first thought • Values resulting from our personal experience shape how we view individuals or members of diverse groups.

What quantifiable evidence can you point to in making the case that managing diversity is mission-critical for an organization?

• Buying power of the various populations, how is it manifesting within those different markets, who is representing the organization in those markets, how are we building relationships within those communities • Untapped talent that exist within the organization that's not being actualized, it's not being effectively managed, as well as there are opportunities that are being lost

What are some of the greatest barriers to an organization's ability to leverage diversity?

• Blind spots that an organization culture has in terms of being able to see the value of diversity within their organization. • People don't quit their job, they quit their bosses.

What are the key steps in creating a culture to really discuss and embrace these differences that are posed by the diversity advancement?

• Look at the relationships. • To have mentors or sponsors or even a manager who can relate to me, I must be willing to show up more fully. • People of color, who have a natural distrust of system, have to allow ourselves to test the boundary of the organization. How much and how far can I show up and being able to test the waters around that? • White colleagues must be able to expand their bandwidth to meet professionals of color on their turf.

What are some of the unwritten rules for advancement and success for minority leaders?

• Mentors and sponsors certainly help to navigate through organizational dynamics • Be open to sharing our personal journeys and personal stories and really embrace the strengths that materialize through our story. • The more we risk showing up and organizations are ready to hear what we have to say, there are greater opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and innovation. • Recognize that some of the bumps in the road across differences can be learning opportunities for growth and development

Coach Mo Knows (a tip, coaching question and bit of inspiration) Tip: Learn about your own unconscious bias’ with this free online assessment: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Coaching Question: How has your career advancement been affected by microaggressions you have experienced in the workplace?

Inspiration: What counts in making a happy relationship is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with the incompatibility. ~Daniel Goleman, internationally known psychologist, author and science journalist https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielgoleman/