So You Want to Be an Anti-Racist Organization?

The year 2020 has hopefully marked a change with respect to anti-racism and especially anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. The murder of George Floyd sent a visceral message that racism is alive and well, and that structural bias continues to live and breathe in our institutions. Rather than avoiding the issue, some companies and non-profits in North America and around the world issued statements condemning anti-Black racism, as well as anti-Indigenous racism here in Canada. Some went further to state that they are going to create an anti-racist organization. But how exactly is that done?

In the past year, it has been encouraging to see organizations engage in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) audits. If this is something your organization is pursuing, you will want to take into account these six key considerations so that your audit has successful outcomes.

1. Get Your Senior Management Team on Board

   The order for an EDI audit should always come from the top. Without the support of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Executive Director (ED) any resulting recommendations coming out of the audit are going to fall flat. If you are the CEO or ED driving the EDI audit – that’s great – make sure you communicate to your senior management team the purpose of the audit, how you would like them to support you, and what is expected of them.

2. Address Your Fear

   Quite often I hear the word ‘fear’ when it comes to EDI audits. As with any type of audit, it can be a scary undertaking, but it’s the perspective that you give it that matters. The audit may reveal some findings that you may not like, but think of it as part of the process; the audit is an opportunity to uncover ugly truths, but to then address those findings and move your organization to a better place.

3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

   I cannot stress this enough. Communicate to your senior management team and the rest of the organization why you are doing the EDI audit.  A good EDI expert can craft that language for you. In your communication also speak to how staff are going to be engaged, how their input is going to be used, and how staff are going to benefit from the audit. Employees want to know that there will be no repercussions for their honesty (unfortunately, repercussions are very real) and that there will be resulting outcomes to improve the workplace. Often times I will hear employees say ‘here we go again another training/audit/town hall meeting but no real change’ – it is really unfortunate to hear that as the only choice the employee has is to live with their environment or find another job.

4. Hire an EDI Expert

   Invest the money in hiring a good EDI expert. You hire experts for other areas of your business, EDI is no different. Remember the phrase ‘what you pay for, is what you get’ so put a good budget behind hiring an EDI expert.  Don’t use your Employee Resource Group (ERP) or an internal team to conduct the audit for several reasons: 1) hiring an outside consultant adds legitimacy, 2) staff are more likely to express their honesty without fear of reprisal, 3) the consultant most likely has a process that delivers key information. Furthermore, adding the audit function to your ERP team only adds to their workload and this should not be the case.

5. Use an Evidence-Based Assessment Framework

   What I mean by evidence-based, is that the indicators you use in your audit is backed up by research and promising practices. When developing EDI indicators for organizations, I often draw upon a few sources such as the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks, leading research in EDI, and promising practices. Using an evidence-based assessment framework provides legitimacy to your audit and will help to bring the organization on board with the recommendations.

6.  Dissect your Data – Not all Racism is the Same

   I strongly encourage organizations to dissect the data for two things: 1) how Black and Indigenous employees experience the workplace, separate from racialized people, and 2) to look deeply at intersectionality (e.g. race and gender). The impact of racism in the workplace for Black and Indigenous people tends to be greater (due to the historical context). How racism is experienced also differs by intersectionality. Make sure your data points collect on this and your analysis takes it into account.

7.  Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

   Yes, I noted it again - communicate the findings of the audit to your staff and what actions the organization is going to take to address the findings. The messaging should come from the CEO/ED so staff know the boss backs it up. Again, a good EDI expert can craft this language for you. Make sure your EDI audit comes with an action plan and share it with your staff. Let your staff know what you are committed to working on and when. Also communicate what the organization has been doing well and how you will build on these strengths.

 Have questions on any of this?  Book a call. Would love to hear from you!