Last Friday, Camille Bryant, of McGlinchey Stafford, gave a great presentation at the LCPA HR Conference on Defining a Culture of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace. She introduced a name for a concept I was already familiar with, but did not know how to so succinctly explain: ESG.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It is important as leaders to understand that these factors are important to both your customers and your employees. They want to see that you value your community, your employees, and ethics. They will then use those factors to determine whether they want to do business with, or work for, your company. Included in ESG are diversity and inclusion.
Camille shared “Inclusion puts the concept and practice of diversity into action by creating an environment of involvement, respect, and connection – where the richness of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are harnessed to create business value and overall success.”
In addition to what we typically think of in Diversity, she touched on the Secondary Dimensions of Diversity which I have experienced, but never had a word to describe. Secondary Dimensions include your Family, Religion, School, Neighborhood, Friends, Prejudices, Media/TV/Internet, and Music that make up your value system.When I landed my first job out of college, I felt like a fish out of water. A strong emphasis was put on where you went to not only college, but high school. Not just private school, but which private school you attended mattered. I had attended public school outside of Baton Rouge. Other things I felt the need to hide were the socioeconomic circumstances of my family of origin and upbringing, as my coworkers came from affluent families, and my non-religious standing in an office of Catholics. In addition to these non-policy biases, the firm rigidly controlled how you dressed, how your hair could look, what color nail polish you could wear, what color toenail polish you could wear (different from fingernails), and what style of jewelry was acceptable. Early in my career, I was reprimanded for the type of pocket on my dress slacks. I was told by HR that one of the firm partners did not like them and I should not wear them again. I was on a tight budget at the time, finishing my masters degree and working. I had purchased those pants in khaki, navy, and black specifically for work and was stressed to have to go update my wardrobe. This was something that I assumed did not occur to the partner and that I did not feel I could share.
I wrote last week about how cultures are created and perpetuated by the beliefs of the founding and managing leaders. In my experience, these have been Traditionals and Baby Boomers. The people who manage to stay in these companies are those that either have the same beliefs as the leaders, or who wear the professional mask for the sake of keeping their jobs.
I have both worn the mask and refused to be silent in different companies and positions. In my first position, I was afraid to speak up and lose my job. The culture was one of work before anything else and people working to the point of physical illness was praised (at least by my immediate supervisor and since it was happening in other departments I believed by the entire leadership team). I had a toxic leader, but he was very charismatic and upper management did not see it until years later. By the time he was removed, years after my departure, the entire department had turned over a few times and clients were suffering. Under that leader I suffered from depression and severe anxiety, having panic attacks on a semi-regular basis at work. I went on anti-depressants for the one and only time in my life. All of this resulted in my not performing at my best and from the outside I would have just looked like a problem employee: showing up late and not meeting my billable hours requirements. In hindsight, I find it interesting, and problematic, that after being a star performer under my previous leader for years, nobody else noticed or questioned this decline. Or, if they did, they only questioned my leader who would not have seen or admitted his role.
In later positions, when I had gained experience, stepped into leadership, and was no longer afraid that losing a job meant being unemployed (since I could find another) I felt it was my duty to speak up. In some cases, I saw positive change, in others I saw management continue to ignore the issues. In the latter, I witnessed anxious or disengaged employees and high turnover rates. I have even heard second hand from sources I trust about abusive leaders that leverage an employee’s fear of losing their job to intimidate and treat them in inhumane ways, denying things like water and restroom breaks on long shifts to gain efficiencies. The idea that people in leadership positions could do such things in this country, much less in companies I know, was beyond my imagining.
These experiences, and the impact that an employee’s company culture and leadership has on their overall life satisfaction and wellbeing, are why I am so passionate about professional development and leadership training.
Believe Grow Glow 