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5 Conversation Starters to Help a Leader Buy-In to Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace
Creating a more inclusive work environment Q: What can you do if you are asked by your boss to create a more inclusive environment in your workplace, and while your boss is supportive, they just don’t fully buy in and don’t model the behaviors consistent with the environment that you’re trying to create? A: This is an ongoing conversation for future webinars, virtual institutes, and my Master Class for Inclusion Practitioners. Click here to learn more about this program and watch my events page to see what’s coming up next. Diversity in the workplace is paramount Have you been asked by a superior to organize a diversity initiative only to…
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Interrupt Racism, The White Way Is Not The Only Way
As we grew up, most of us didn’t realize we were being educated to believe white is right. I was socialized as a college administrator in predominantly white organizations that reinforced white cultural practices as the right way – the only way – to serve students. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees – I told myself I wasn’t racist! I didn’t realize I was perpetuating the very system I was fighting against. It never occurred to me that the dances I coordinated or the training I designed and facilitated did not address the needs and issues of students of color. I simply perpetuated ideas and approaches that privileged whites had…
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Microaggressions: Sounds Small But Hurts Big
You read the word “micro” and you may immediately judge that it must be something small. It may sound like nothing, but its impact is SOMETHING. Microagressions is a term Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce originated in 1970 to name the insults he witnessed that were doled out regularly upon African Americans by those who were not black – in particular, by whites. As the old saying goes: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Decades have passed since then, but we’re still faced with microagressions and may not even realize it. It’s those everyday messages that come in the form of verbal or nonverbal slights,…
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So You Were Called Racist. Now What?
When I was called racist, I felt shattered…confused, ashamed, incompetent… Me? I mean, really. Focusing solely on my own experiences of marginalization as a woman and as a lesbian, I believed I didn’t – couldn’t – have a racist bone in my body. But the problem? Many of us are trained to have racist beliefs and attitudes. It’s as if we’re born a white slate – and everyone writes upon it. Good, bad, ugly. We think because we don’t speak racial slurs or utter comments that are outwardly offensive, we’re not racist. But we may think them – even if we never say a word. Racism can be very subtle,…
