When good intentions meet bad systems

If you’re not seeing the results you hoped for in your DEI efforts, look to see if your good intent has been marred by your own processes. Systems that appear neutral on their face can still get in the way of well-intentioned DEI efforts.

Take, for example, the goal of diversifying your vendors and partners. I saw good intentions have a negative impact firsthand when I was among the many DEI consultants of color being approached to support organizations after George Floyd was murdered. It was wonderful to see so many organizations prioritize DEI work and be intentional about hiring people of color to do it.

The problem was that many of them issued long and involved RFPs. And they sent them to all of the BIPOC consultants that they could find.

So that summer and fall, many of us were spending a lot of time completing the RFPs. Most DEI consultants of color are solo or small operations. While we were taking on these burdensome proposals, we were also competing against each other for each piece of work. And when we booked a client, we knew that many of our peers had jumped through the same hoops without any return.

It’s a similar situation for a vendor that is required to sign a contract to do business with a large organization. The contracts are often long, with terms that favor the corporation—such as 90-day payment terms instead of the traditional 30 days, or ownership of the vendor’s intellectual property—and negotiation is discouraged or prohibited.

There is no explicitly racist intent here. But the system presents a barrier for a small business, and most minority and women-owned businesses are small. The end result is that people from traditionally marginalized groups continue to be marginalized.

I understand why many corporations take this approach. I used to represent procurement when I worked as an in-house lawyer at Lotus Development Corporation, and I remember drafting a one-size-fits-all contract that we would require all vendors to sign. It saved me time if I didn’t have to negotiate every arrangement.

But that kind of savings has a cost: it favors large, established businesses, which are much more likely to have white owners and leaders (and lots of employees, including lawyers, to navigate RFPs and contracts).

So, if you’re not getting the results you hoped for, take a look at your systems and see if they are having a disparate impact on the very people you are seeking to attract.

A practice, not a perfect

Sarah Beth of Sarah Beth Yoga often reminds her students that “Yoga is a practice, not a perfect.”

Let that be our mantra as we work to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging in our organizations.

We have a vision of an ideal workplace where we never offend our colleagues, overlook someone due to our biases, or unfairly exclude someone because of a structural disadvantage. But when we look around, it’s clear we fall short.

We make mistakes, unintentionally say things that cause harm, or don’t notice the disparate impact of a system that appears neutral to us. Even when we are trying to do the right thing.

We try and fail in yoga class too. Some poses are easy for me but hard for others. Some will take me months or years to perfect. Some days, I’m just off balance.

And yet I keep coming back to my practice, because I get stronger over time and I believe this strength is important to my health.

In the same way, your commitment to strengthening your own skills and the culture of your organization doesn’t mean you’ll attain perfection. But you will get better over time.

Let's say pronouns are today’s pose. When we introduce ourselves with the pronouns we use, we are practicing. We do our best with the information we have, building our muscles. Along the way, we are going to wobble or feel a painful stretch. It’s embarrassing to make a mistake, but it's not surprising.

And just when we think we’ve got the hang of a pose that seemed impossible before (now sharing pronouns is routine) a new challenge comes along—say, letting go of a problematic word and adopting an unfamiliar term.

So when you get a correction or some feedback or advice, remember: you are practicing. You aren’t expected to be perfect. Just growing.

Regain your balance, apologize to anyone you caused harm, and get back to the mat.

Women's History is Black Women's History

It’s Women’s History Month! It feels like Black History Month was just days ago. Before you know it, it will be April—Autism Awareness Month—and on to Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, among other things.

It’s wonderful that we have these dedicated times when we highlight and learn about identities, perspectives, and histories of people society has marginalized for too long. And, I’m finding myself thinking about what Audre Lorde said: “There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”

As we pivot from Black history to women’s history, I want to highlight where those two identities overlap. Throughout history, Black women, as a group, have had a different experience than white women—and they have made history too. Let’s celebrate a few:

Writer and orator Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was one of the first to point out what we now call intersectionality back in 1866. She admonished suffragists for missing the human rights crisis Black women were enduring, saying, “You white women speak here of rights. I speak of wrongs.”

Mary Church Terrell and other Black women organized the National Association of Colored Women to focus on the issues especially relevant to that group. They campaigned for voting rights, education, and childcare, and against segregation and lynching.

And in the 20th century, Pauli Murray formulated the legal framework that fueled the civil rights victories of the 1950s and 60s. But she also argued that gender discrimination was equally unconstitutional, calling it “Jane Crow.”

These pioneers teach us that diversity is more complex than single labels. Being a woman myself doesn’t automatically give me an understanding of every other woman—or even every other Black woman. Wealthier women are going to have interests that are different than women who are poorer. I don’t have the same lived experience as a trans woman, or a Muslim, or any of the infinite other intersections.

So this month, think about how you are creating space in your organizations for everyone who identifies as a woman. Acknowledge the diversity within that category, and foster conversations about the unique concerns that multiple identities bring out.

And, if you want to support a present-day organization that creates more inclusive spaces for women of color, check out YW Boston, an organization which is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Can’t argue with that!