{"id":7354,"date":"2023-07-31T15:38:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T15:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/supporting-women-of-color-can-close-the-wage-gap-and-add-172-billion-to-the-economy\/"},"modified":"2023-07-31T15:38:14","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T15:38:14","slug":"supporting-women-of-color-can-close-the-wage-gap-and-add-172-billion-to-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=7354","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Women Of Color Can Close The Wage Gap And Add $172 Billion To The Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The misalignment and expectations of Black, Indigenous and Women of Color leaders come at a significant cost to organizations – and our economy. In a conversation with M\u1ef9 T\u00e2m H. Nguy\u1ec5n a management consultant and coach to high profile executive women, we discussed five ways in which tradition models of leadership have failed women of color leaders and the shifts we can make to address them.<\/p>\n

First of all, how did we arrive at $172 billion? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The cost of attrition attributed to racial inequity over a five year period is $172 billion, according to SHRM. It is what is lost in hiring and re-hiring employees, who leave after relatively short tenures due to deeply ingrained and systemic discrimination, microaggressions, lack of career advancement and often, hostile work environments. It represents employees of color who cycle through low wage jobs due to a lack of health benefits, sick leave, paid family and medical leave and other safety nets.<\/p>\n

A not insignificant portion of that figure is the loss of leaders of color, in particular women of color. Like those of Audie Cornish, Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Noel King from NPR, Bozama Saint John, who departed Netlfix after just two years to \u201clive out loud\u201d, and countless DEI executives with similarly short tenures.<\/p>\n

When women of color (WoC) leaders leave organizations, they take with them drive, innovation and perspectives that support an increasingly diverse workforce. How we think about leadership has to shift, to support women of color leaders thrive.<\/p>\n

Moving away from leadership values that reward directness, enthusiasm, self-promotion, and formality – towards ones that the cultures WoC leaders grow up in center – humility, community, and reciprocity.<\/p>\n

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In conversations with M\u1ef9 T\u00e2m (pronounced mee tahm), we reflected on the ways in which traditional models of leadership fail women of color and how companies can take action today to retain their most driven leaders.<\/p>\n

1. Recognize quiet competence. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Quiet competence is a newly minted term for leaders who don\u2019t self-promote but expect their managers to see how their work speaks for itself. Nguy\u1ec5n says that, \u201cin many non-white cultures, it is an embarrassment to gloat, and being boastful can be seen as dishonorable\u201d. However, the modern workplace and mainstream leadership expectations reward and promote showmanship.<\/p>\n

Companies\u2019 penchant for promoting the wrong people is deeply ingrained, despite management theorists\u2019 admonitions. By default, many of those dishing out promotions are themselves narcissists who advanced by wowing their superiors. And showy sorts\u2019 shameless self-aggrandizement fulfill a convenient function for bosses, giving them a shortcut\u2014no matter how misleading\u2014to finding candidates for elevation. Many managers are too busy to patiently unearth genuine talent. After all, they have other important things on their plates\u2014like impressing their own bosses (<\/em>Economist<\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Data shows that the most charismatic leaders are not ones that drive culture change.<\/p>\n

How to take action:<\/em> Nguy\u1ec5n advises people managers to pay more profound attention to the quiet workhorses on their team. To find leaders worthy of promotion, pay attention to what they\u2019re doing behind the scenes and how they work rather than what they\u2019re saying and pitching about what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

2. Beware of the double-edge sword of stereotypes. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Unconscious bias trainings have done little to root out workplace stereotypes.<\/p>\n

For Asian women, the stereotype of docility has deep implications for how disproportionately they\u2019re represented in junior and middle management roles and underrepresented at the most senior leadership positions.<\/p>\n

For Black women, the expectation of assertiveness is often countered by the reception of how they lead. According to Stephanie McLemore Bray, founder of Touchstone Leadership Group, when Black women bring their authentic selves and their lived experience as Black leaders to meet the mainstream expectations of assertiveness, they can be seen as the threatening, angry Black woman: \u201cWe must navigate this tension for ourselves that these expectations are creating. If we don\u2019t speak up, if we\u2019re not assertive, we\u2019re deficient in something that is valued in non-BIPOC leaders. When we do speak up, we are seen as aggressive and angry. It\u2019s a double-edged sword and a terrible thing to navigate.\u201d<\/p>\n

To counter these implicit biases, Nguy\u1ec5n says, \u201chaving collective awareness as leaders and providing a variety of leadership models are necessary ingredients to evolve are warped expectations of WoC leaders rooted in unproven stereotypes\u201d.<\/p>\n

How to take action<\/em>: Provide multiple visible successful models of leadership at your organization. Bring in speakers and consultants who exemplify and represent a broader scope of leadership than what is currently existing at your organization. In short, representative diversity matters – especially at the top.<\/p>\n

3. Expand the definition of leadership at work. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

As immigrants, both M\u1ef9 T\u00e2m and I are aware of how expectations of leadership qualities like directness can counter what we were taught growing up.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her journey, she says, \u201cas immigrants, assimilation is often an essential survival mechanism. In our former home countries, being direct, speaking up, and voicing our opinions can mean torture or death in a fragile political environment\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the world of work in the United States, our cultural norms can pigeon hole has \u201cdoers\u201d and not leaders. WoC are often seen as helpers, not those that can hold a larger vision of strategy.<\/p>\n

In her books Entitled and Down Girl, professor Kate Manne writes about \u201cleaning down,\u201d a phenomenon in which a marginalized group, say white women, feels entitled to ride on the shoulders of another more marginalized group, women of color.<\/p>\n

How to take action<\/em>: Share your power. Allow environments for different styles of leading to shine. Provide templates and opportunities for experimenting with different leadership models. Have space and opportunity for your team members to work through what their own models of leadership can look like; this can look like having them facilitate or lead a conversation or project according to their frameworks.<\/p>\n

4. Align expectations with cultural competence.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Expectation misalignment comes at a cost to the organization and the individual.<\/p>\n

Nguy\u1ec5n has been in interviews where women of color candidates are quantitatively qualified (often overqualified) and not hired or promoted because they are not seen as direct or aggressive enough. She says, \u201cthese candidates don\u2019t fulfill the culture test or cultural \u201caccent\u201d from the hiring manager of what assertiveness looks like\u201d.<\/p>\n

In many instances \u201cquietly powerful\u201d women of color value getting the job done, building a profitable business, and successfully selling the company – without fanfare. For too many hiring managers directness, taking up space, and owning the room are proxy for assertiveness, which is a proxy for competence.<\/p>\n

She further notes that in organizations with a singular view of leadership, \u201chiring managers then hire the loud, assertive, aggressive, bulldog personality, who ends up as a short-timer at the company, and the firm has to do another round of interviews in a few months. For the individual, they don\u2019t get hired because they don\u2019t match the cultural \u201caccent\u201d of the hiring manager and have a more challenging time on the job hunt\u201d.<\/p>\n

How to take action<\/em>: Nguy\u1ec5n encourages hiring managers provide more situational questions where candidates can give verbal and written examples of the qualities they looking for, and for direct reports, the advice is straightforward, \u201cdeepen your relationship and provide quarterly evaluations for feedback on management style and how they see the progression of their work\u201d.<\/p>\n

5. Shift internal culture.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Reframe promotions and the performance review. Having one standard performance review template to measure a wide range of diverse styles of leadership and using these as means to promotion can be a big challenge both for leaders to rise through the ranks and stay in leadership positions. Some key points Nguy\u1ec5n wants us to consider in reframing promotions and performance reviews:<\/p>\n