Applying Positive Psychology to Race Work - Part II

“Last year I had a real wake-up call when a CEO said to me, ‘I’ve been going to diversity training for 30 years, and it’s not working,’” says Prudential’s chief marketing officer Susan Somersille Johnson, who self-identifies as Black. “We’ve been trying to change people, which is important too, but it’s only part of it.”

The other “part” Somersille Johnson is alluding to is what we call the outer work* of creating and sustaining an antiracist workplace. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have evolved since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Much of the focus has been on education, training, and awareness building at the individual level. Productive race work begins with self-awareness but it does not end there. What organizations haven’t devoted equal attention to is how to change the system of work—business policies and practices—to create a racially diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace. But how?

The Outer Work

Let’s see what we can learn by examining an industry that employs more than 12 million workers in the U.S. as of 2020 and accounts for 10% of the nation’s economy: tech. The tech industry is not known for its gender diversity, let alone racial diversity. A look at Silicon Valley in particular shows the tech workforce remains predominantly White. Only 5% of the Valley’s tech workers are people of color.

Everett Harper, who is Black, and Mark Ferlatte and Jennifer Leech, who are both White, set out to change those stats when they co-founded their software development company, Truss. They knew that there were lots of people outside of Silicon Valley who are never thought of as potential employees of a startup company -- namely women and people of color. This led the founders to structure Truss, from the very beginning, as a fully distributed company—where all employees work entirely remotely. Visit Truss’s website, and click on “Meet the Team” and you’ll see racial and gender diversity in action.

How Covid-19 Created a Positive Pivot

What the Covid-19 pandemic ultimately forced many companies to do, Truss has been doing for over a decade. We asked Harper if the strategy to look beyond Silicon Valley for talent and go completely remote was a moral issue to create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace. “We believe it is the right thing to do, but it’s not a moral issue,” Harper says. Rather, “It will enable us to hire better quality people with diverse backgrounds and ensure they stay because they are embedded in a system that is fair.”

The pandemic has transformed business—where and how people work—and prompted organizations large and small to reimagine their footprint in the world. This is fertile ground for reimagining business policies, including recruiting and hiring practices. Prior to Covid-19, many organizations expected all employees to work onsite, which meant they either recruited locally or had to pay expensive relocation packages to get people to move. Today, that is no longer the case for many businesses. Once the pandemic is under control, many businesses plan on giving employees the option of working virtually full-time or a hybrid approach. This opens up all sorts of opportunities to recruit beyond our de facto segregated neighborhoods. In fact, with more and more companies going remote, it’s actually easier for employers to hire diverse candidates, even if they do business in a predominantly White state.

Reframing “Diversity Hire” Using Perspective Taking

Some might call Truss’s decision to hire women and people of color a “diversity hire”, a pejorative term meant to convey a deficit view; that the new hire is not as qualified as a White candidate. We need to reframe our thinking around “diversity hire” and positive psychology coaching can help. How? One way to reframe “diversity hire” (or any other polarizing topic for that matter) is to use a coaching tool called perspective taking. You simply “try on” different perspectives to expand your thinking and help shift a negative explanatory style into a more positive one.

The extremes perspective works well for reframing “diversity hire.” It looks like this: Ask yourself, what are the worst possible outcomes by hiring this racially diverse candidate? Then shift the question to, what are the best possible outcomes by hiring this racially diverse candidate? And finally, ask this question: what are the most likely outcomes by hiring this racially diverse candidate?

Viewing “diversity hire” through an asset lens examines how a racially diverse new hire adds to and benefits the organization. Decades of research from consulting giants Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, and McKinsey have shown that companies with more diverse talent out-perform companies that do not on four key metrics: profitability, innovation, productivity, and attracting and retaining talent.

What’s Beyond Recruiting and Hiring Diverse Candidates?

Recruiting and hiring racially diverse talent is only the beginning. Now the work of onboarding and inclusion begins. But creating a racially diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture doesn’t end there. Workplaces must eventually reimagine all of their policies and practices and make diversity core to their business strategy, not simply the purview of the company’s chief DEI or HR officer. Where to begin?

Take your clues by looking at your company’s processes for selecting employees to participate in professional development opportunities. The employees you select to participate on high-profile panels and projects, and in professional development programs, send powerful messages that no words, public statements, or philanthropy can adequately convey. Take a look at people who lead the professional development programs at your company. How diverse are they? Who are the authors of the books you ask employees to read as part of these programs? What’s your process for promoting employees and determining salaries and bonuses? Are they transparent?

Companies often limit their DEI work to one stakeholder group -- their employees. Expand your view by examining your organization’s other stakeholder groups: your board, the community in which you work, the suppliers you contract with, and the people who appear in your marketing and advertising. These are all places where you can make positive changes to create a more diverse and equitable workplace.

A Final Note

In October 2020 Rev. Charles Lattimore Howard, PhD, Vice President for Social Equity & Community, and University Chaplain, at the University of Pennsylvania, was one of the guest speakers at our annual MAPP Summit. Given his role, we reached out to him earlier this year. He offered this perspective after reading an advance copy of The Business of Race:

“Symbols are important. The curated statements and actions employed by businesses around the world in response to the mass movements demanding social change have indeed been powerful. And yet, symbols are most effective when they reflect sincere policy and cultural changes in institutions. [It’s] more than just posting the right phrases on social media or making a few new hires,.”

The inner work of change buttresses the outer work that will change the institution we call the workplace. What institutional dynamics, policies, and practices will you explore next to advance your organization’s race work?

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*In Part I of this series we focused on the inner work that is required on the part of people of all races. We shared the story of Joan (not her real name), a senior leader at a U.S. wealth management firm who self-identifies as White. We explored how we applied a handful of positive psychology tools (broaden and build theory, psychological safety, empathy, growth mindset, and strengths) to her question:“If we are basically all the same, isn’t our work done?”

The Business of Race is a practical guide for business leaders and employees alike who are struggling with both how to talk about race and what to do about it. The book offers concrete ways businesses large and small can make positive, sustainable changes to bring more racial diversity, equity, and inclusion to the workplace. Readers will learn more than a half-dozen tools that bring an asset view of race, rather than a deficit view, such as SOAR and growth mindset. Readers will also learn to reach for familiar tools they use nearly every day, such as strategic planning and project management, to implement other priorities and apply them to the deeply complex, emotional, and intimidating dynamic of race in the workplace. But don’t confuse accessibility with ease. This is hard work.

References

Cision PR Newswire. (2020, 21 April). US tech employment surpasses 12 million workers, accounts for 10% of nation's economy. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-tech-employment-surpasses-12-million-workers-accounts-for-10-of-nations-economy-301044415.html

Greenberg, M., & Greenlee, G. (2021). The business of race: How to create and sustain an antiracist workplace and why it’s actually good for business (McGraw-Hill).

Greenberg, M., & Maymin, S. (2013). Profit from the positive: Proven leadership strategies to boost productivity and transform your business (McGraw-Hill).

Gruman, G. (2020, 21 September). The state of ethnic minorities in U.S. tech: 2020. ComputerWorld. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3574917/the-state-of-ethnic-minorities-in-us-tech-2020.html#:~:text=Not%20only%20is%20Silicon%20Valley,just%2040%25%20of%20VC%20firms.

About the Authors: Margaret H. Greenberg (MAPP 1) and Gina Greenlee are both organizational development (OD) consultants and coaches who met in the workplace more than twenty years ago. They have remained friends ever since. They are the co-authors of the recently released book, The Business of Race (McGraw-Hill, August 2021). Excerpts from this book appear in this article. Visit their website The Business of Race to download a free chapter and register for one of their virtual events, and also go to The Business of Race LinkedIn Page for more information.

Margaret and Gina can be reached at businessofrace@gmail.com