Whenever we have problems that impact our communities, the best thing we can do is come together, educate ourselves, and take steps to address them. Like towns and cities across the U.S., Pensacola has done a lot of work recently around issues like diversity, inclusion, and racial and social equity.

As part of our efforts to learn about these issues, Pensacola recently hosted Mardia Shands as part of our CivicCon speaker series. (CivicCon brings together some of the nation’s top thinkers and experts to educate people on issues they need to know to lay the groundwork for positive change.) Mardia will be a featured speaker at EntreCon, our virtual business and leadership conference, in November.

Mardia is chief diversity officer at TriHealth in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a hospital system with more than 12,000 employees. Mardia is a superstar. She has an extensive history in leading discussions on inclusion, diversity, equity, and awareness. Her career has spanned from multi-national global corporations to small not-for-profits across North America and Africa.

Many of Mardia’s insights were around creating diversity, inclusion, and equity in the workplace. This is important because businesses are the backbone of a thriving community. Our efforts to create equity at work create a “ripple effect” that spreads to other organizations and neighborhoods and community life in general.

After listening to her speak, here were some of my takeaways:

Even well-meaning people judge quickly. Here’s why. Basically, it’s your brain’s way of creating a shortcut as it sorts through all the information that comes at you to tell you whether or not you are in danger. You’re supposed to have biases. Some of this comes from our upbringing, but some of it is human nature. The way Mardia explained it, this is part of your fight-or-flight mechanism, and it happens unconsciously or implicitly. You need to know, Should I run away from that saber-toothed tiger, or should I stand here because it was just a rabbit or something? It takes seven seconds to create an impression. We receive 11 million bits of information every seven seconds, but the conscious mind can process only about 40 bits of it. (This is the shortcut.)

Recognize that most biases are flawed. We need to know this so we can train ourselves not to base our decisions on them. Learn the power of pause. When you have an impression, ask for feedback. Am I seeing this correctly? Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing? Pausing gives you a moment to question your mindset, justify it against logic and other available information (not just what you know), and then (and only then) to act.

Training really helps. Once people start to recognize implicit, unconscious biases, many will self-correct. If not, create a culture where people feel comfortable calling out unconscious bias.

Mardia Shands. Image via the Studer Community Institute.

Here’s a simple explanation of diversity, inclusion, and equity. Vernā Myers is the vice president of inclusion strategy at Netflix. She says diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and equity is helping to plan the party. When you help plan a party, you get to have all your friends there. You get to have your favorite foods. It’s just a different experience. And Mardia points out that when you put all of this together—diversity, inclusion, and equity—that’s the sweet spot. Everything starts to work.

Equity and equality are not the same thing. Equality is treating everyone the same. Yet one size does not fit all, so treating everyone the same does not work. Figure out what people need to be successful and give it to them. If we give everyone the same things, whether they need it or not, that’s not an effective way to ensure everyone is making the most of their lives and their talents. In business, the nonprofit sector, or local government, some employees may need additional training. Others may not. Some may need a variable work schedule. Others may not. The diversity of your workforce or your community should cause you to look at the needs of the group and provide people with what they need in order to be successful. Mardia explained by tweaking schedules to give people what they need, one company reduced its turnover from 98 percent to 26 percent, which saved them $1.2 million.

Assess your organizational readiness. This will help you know where to start. Otherwise, you may be solving problems that don’t exist or ignoring some big ones. Change has to be managed carefully. Just because some people are ready to tackle racial inequality and want to change our environment, everybody’s not there. It’s human nature to be frightened when you’re going from the known to the unknown. Just realize there will be early adopters, there will be the skeptical middle, and there will even be some resistors. Be prepared to deal with all of them.

What gets measured gets done. Do a cultural assessment. Do you have people of color on the executive leadership team? If not, make a plan to fix this. It all starts with hiring, and don’t accept it when people say, “We can’t find good candidates.” Get intentional and make a commitment. Put metrics in place and tie them to everybody’s bonuses (e.g., “We will increase the hiring rate for people of color, minorities, by 15 percent in this fiscal year. Period.”). Now diversity is tied to people’s bonuses, so when you start recruiting and bringing people onto your team, you have a financial incentive to start looking at people of color. You have to put your money where your mouth is.

And yes, you can find qualified diverse candidates. Mardia suggests you reach out to the Urban League, historically black colleges, minority recruitment firms, etc. Let them know what you are trying to do. They will help. You may have to do a little extra work, but it’s worth it.

Put bias busters in place in your hiring system. For instance, remove names from résumés (this takes gender out of the equation). The final interview must have a diverse candidate in the pool. Also, there must be minorities in peer interviewing groups. If someone pushes back by saying, “We have to hire the most qualified person,” dig deeper. Put the résumés side by side, and ask the person to specifically explain their hesitation.

Watch out for code words like “fit.” People often use these to disqualify diverse candidates. People are drawn to people who are like them. They think, If they aren’t like me or the rest of the team, they aren’t going to fit into the department. You can respond by asking, “Why would you want the team to be cookie-cutter?” Start talking about the advantages that having somebody with diversity of thought, diversity of life experience, and diversity of work experience would bring onto your team. Have a conversation on what the value of that looks like.

Get comfortable talking about it. There is an awakening right now. People on both sides are ready for real change and are willing to do the hard work. Most people want to learn but recognize that these conversations can be scary and uncomfortable. There are so many things we don’t understand about each other that a healthy conversation would fix. Often, it’s employees, not necessarily leaders, who instigate these conversations. But over time, the organization will realize employees are serious about this. Business owners know that the voice of the employees is just as important as the voice of the customers. Over time, you will get support from leadership.

Know how to get the conversations started. How best to have these conversations with someone of a different race or background, especially if you haven’t been trained? Just ask the simple question: “May I talk with you about…?” Mardia stated: “Most black people are open to that question. Just ask the question. It is not offensive, and you’re not being bothersome. And that is a respectful way to broach the conversation.”

Other suggestions are: “I am interested…This is something that’s near and dear to me…This is something that I have witnessed…This is something that I am passionate about.” Or, “May I have a conversation with you about racial equality or racial justice?” When you ask in this way, Mardia says you will find an ally, and the two of you can take the ball and run with it.

Get rid of the elephant in the room. Explain that people don’t need to feel guilty if they are the ones with the privilege. They didn’t do anything wrong. This is a great conversation bridge. Do encourage them to use their privilege and power, to be a voice for those without a voice, to help other people who are less fortunate than them.

Specifically address a bias. Try these words: “There is something I would like to speak with you about, and it’s something that’s bothersome to me. May I have a conversation with you about it?” Use “I” statements such as, “I feel this way when this incident happens.” When we start using “you” statements, that gets a lot of people defensive.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make some real changes. It takes fortitude and commitment to assess and address these issues. But the time has come. ”

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make some real changes. It takes fortitude and commitment to assess and address these issues. But the time has come. Not only is it the right thing to do, but the health of our communities will depend on it as we move into the future.

Diverse, inclusive, and equitable communities thrive. It’s always great to have access to a broad array of perspectives, viewpoints, knowledge, and abilities. Young people want diversity. When we make it a priority, we’re more likely to attract new people to the community and become a magnet for talent and new investments. When we make all different types of people feel included, we get much more trust, engagement, and buy-in for projects and initiatives. Let’s seize the moment and make our communities better, richer, and more welcoming…for everyone.

To learn more about Mardia’s presentation at EntreCon—Pensacola’s virtual business and leadership conference scheduled for Wednesday & Thursday, November 18-19, 2020—please visit www.entreconpensacola.com. Her talk will focus on diversity and inclusion, helping businesses understand that employees bring the challenges in their personal lives with them to work.

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