Moving up the chain of command is discouraging in a lot of companies. The further you go, the more white and male it gets.
This disappointing trend of diversity recently was in the news. The Wall Street Journal also reported that “women held more U.S. jobs than men in December for the first time in nearly a decade, a development that likely reflects the future of the American workforce.” Despite this development, we’re still seeing a population of leaders that is mostly male.
The Washington Post recently published an article about the frustration many black coaches have over the National Football League’s hiring process. While nearly 70 percent of NFL players are black, potentially only three head coaches will be after a series of vacancies are filled this year.
Said one black position coach about Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Eric Bieniemy, according to the article: “Watching E.B. get passed over has a big ripple effect because now you have guys who are questioning if there is even a chance to elevate in the NFL. You want the best coaching candidates, regardless of race. And if you’re biased against black coaches, you’re overlooking a lot of talent.”
Other black coaches expressed concerns that they were only interviewed for the position to check a box or that no matter what advocacy or interview rules got adopted, that wouldn’t change the conscious or unconscious biases of the interviewers and decision makers.
I have a few responses to stories like these (none of which are “surprise”). The first is, given how many companies preach their commitment to diversity and how many companies love to showcase their diversity and inclusion initiatives, how aren’t the results there? Why is the group of people with the most power and the highest salaries still mostly homogenous in so many fields? How long will it take for unconscious bias training to have an impact in hiring decisions, especially for jobs higher up the career ladder?
My research department colleague Grey Litaker and I worked on a story about this topic last year. Litaker dug up research on diversity in the pool of MBA graduates versus diversity in leadership positions. The percentage of educated, diverse MBA graduates was not close to matching up the the (very low) percentage of diverse people in leadership positions.
One quote from Molly Brennan, founding partner and executive vice president of executive search firm Koya Leadership Partners, really stuck out to me when creating this story, and I think it applies to non-corporate organizations like the National Basketball Association as well. “This idea that there’s not a lot of qualified candidates [from] underrepresented groups out there is a false one. There’s a whole host of diverse, qualified people who are ready, willing and able to take on leadership roles.”
Also read: The 2010s in Diversity and Inclusion: How Much Progress Did We Make?
We’re in a new decade now, and I’d encourage company leaders to think critically about their D&I strategy and if it’s enough. Forget the marketing speak and the press release-friendly quotes about how much you value diversity. How is that actually translating into which employees get the opportunity to get a promotion, and which employees are held back by the attitudes and assumptions of decision makers? Rather than focusing on brand-speak that sounds good to consumers, focus on making substantial changes that could actually even the playing field.