Navigating Workplace Challenges: Norah’s Journey to Director of Diversity

Wisdom is all around us: from the MBT Blog
Published by Mary Balistreri, MBT More Business Today LLC

The last few MBT Blogs focused on preparation for a conversation in the personal lives of our main characters, Norah and David. Last time, we listened in to discover that while three people participated in the same conversation, each interpreted the meaning of what was said differently. To catch up, take a look at Lessons Learned: Reflect Before Moving Forward.

In today’s blog, we find Norah returning her focus to an obstacle at work. She is meeting with her friend and mentor, Sherri, to revisit the advice she received from the adviser several months ago. Thinking about MBT, Norah could nickname this reflection More Bull-oney Tricks, or Morons aBound Throughout my workplace.

Both ladies are beautifully dressed in bright colors today. Sherri wearing her signature orange while Norah opts for a lively African print in purples and yellows. We find them sipping their coffee, sharing a delicious slice of cinnamon streusel coffee cake, and talking animatedly about all the things happening in their lives. From a distance, we see the genuine love sparkling from their radiant faces. They sit next to each other on the bench behind the table in the café leaning forward to hear each other’s remarks over the din in the coffee shop.

“Of course they did! You bring them a problem they do not want to know about and they will make you the solution!” Sherri exclaims, laughing. Norah just told her about her conversation with the head of HR regarding a lack of diversity in the organization.

Norah prepared well for the conversation with Ruth, Chief HR Officer for the non-profit organization. She wrote down three bullet points to address:

1. I am the only person of color in this organization holding the title of director and above.
2. On my first day here, and since then, no one reached out to get to know me. In most organizations, a management-level person or colleague takes the new employee out to lunch.
3. After six months working here, I noticed there was no support for diversity. Not even an email recognizing Black History Month.

Ruth listened calmly to Norah’s list of observations. At first, she said nothing. Her expression, a stiff smile that did not reach her eyes, never changed. Ruth was a white woman in her mid-50s with beautiful translucent, peach-colored skin and soft brown hair worn in a shoulder-length bob. Her nails were impeccably groomed into French tips. She dressed demurely in black or navy suits and white blouses each day. She wore black or navy pumps matching the color of her suits.

“We didn’t send out an e-mail about Black History Month? Hmmm. That should come from Sally, our internal communications person. I am sorry about the lunch mix up on your first day. Someone should have taken you out,” Ruth stated this slowly looking past Norah rather than at her. Then she paused.

Norah usually felt at ease in silence because she liked to pause and think before speaking. This void, however, proved very uncomfortable for her. She shifted in her seat, crossed her legs, smoothed the fabric of her dress, and then replied, “Thank you for the apology. The situation persists, though. Since then, no one on the management team has reached out to me. I feel terribly isolated here. I did begin requesting coffee meetings with each person at my level, and have met with most of them now.”

“Well, there you go. Great initiative, Norah!” Ruth, lifting her arm when she said this, gave Norah an “atta boy!” gesture making a fist and swinging it in front of her. “Was there something else?”

“Yes, actually, I wondered what you are going to do about this,” Norah replied. She was puzzled by Ruth’s lack of interest in her situation.

“I am trying to understand, dear. What do you want me to do?” Ruth said this softly. Norah found it to be condescending at best.

“What I am saying is I do not feel welcomed here. You could adjust the onboarding process to make it more inclusive. You could create a strategy to recruit more people of color so that this organization was more diverse. You could implement a process or committee to acknowledge diversity. There are many things you could do. Is this organization interested in diversity? I accepted this position partly because the mission is devoted to supporting underserved communities,” Norah was surprised at herself. She had practically made a speech. She felt anger and sadness rising in her. Why did she have to tell the Chief of HR all of this?

Ruth paused for a few seconds. She took a deep breath and then blurted out, “You should be our Director of Diversity. You have so many ideas about what we should be doing, now you can implement them. That’s it! I will talk to the CEO and let you know when it is official. Now, I have to sprint to my next meeting. Take care, Norah,” and she stood up gathering her notebook. Norah stood up slowly and followed Ruth out of the office.

“And, now all of this is my responsibility!” Norah says this to Sherri rather loudly at the café.

Sherri is still laughing. “Well, what are you going to do? Accept this new role? Are you still Director of Relationships?”

“I don’t know! I am waiting to hear back from Ruth’s meeting with the CEO. This feels like the conversation with my father. I have to draw them a map to lead them to the page I am on,” Norah gestures with her finger as if drawing a map on a napkin.

“Yes, but in that case, you had a personal interest. Your relationship with your dad. This time, you need to decide whether this new position would be worth your time. You could impact a larger number of people this way, Norah. You could reach out to other directors of diversity and find out what they are doing. The possibilities are endless. It’s just a matter of what you want,” Sherri replies.

“Right. Or, I can just walk away from it. I can say, I see the problem and brought it to your attention, now it’s your job to fix it. It’s true, maybe they should hire a director of diversity,” Norah’s speech slows down and trails off while she thinks about how to react.

“On another subject, how is it going with your father?” Sherri asks.

Norah raises her face and shakes her head as if clearing her mind of thoughts of work. “He is willing to try,” she says donning a pained grimace. “He watched ’13th’ and was moved to tears at how ‘the images of African Americans in chains mirrored our treatment during slavery,’ he said. I suggested he watch all Ava DuVernay’s movies as a good starting place. And, we are planning a trip to Washington, D.C. to experience the National Museum of African American History and Culture together. I also suggested, you know because you helped me write the list, he read the book ‘White Fragility’ by Dr. Robin D’Angelo.”

“That is progress! He is committed to you, my girl! Congratulations,” Sherri says this with a broad smile revealing her gleaming, white teeth.

“Maybe, yes, I don’t know. He shies away from the reading and he watched one movie. I am getting kind of tired of all of this,” she sighs.

“Keep at it, girl. I believe it will pay off. Now what?” Sherri notices Norah stopping to look at her email.

“Ruth talked to the CEO and they want me to become their Director of Diversity. She says it is in addition to my current roll. It is meant to be ‘a side thing, like heading an internal committee’ according to the email,” Norah holds the phone out to Sherri to read the email.

“That means lots of work and no extra pay. You up for this?” she asks.

“I just decided to do it! I have to go. I will see you soon. Thank you for your help, Sherri,” Norah hugs her friend and sprints out the door.

How would you react? Has this situation happened to you? What boundaries did you put in place and then enforce? Often, businesses hand out these kinds of roles with very few parameters around authority, process, budget, or metrics for success.

Tune in next time, June 13, to find out how Norah handles both this new position at work and her ongoing education of her father.