Inclusive Diversity: The Game Changer | Toni Carter | TEDxIdahoFalls

fifty years after the civil rights movement in the United States research shows that the people who have benefited significantly from the struggle is the Caucasian woman from my perspective that's a good thing at least someone has benefited although for the most part it hasn't been people of color oftentimes I find myself asking why have we made such little progress over the years why is it so hard getting a majority group on the same journey to inclusion and I always come away with the same conclusions first we're using ineffective language in our conversations we're talking about diversity instead of inclusion or inclusive diversity which is comprehensive of all demographic groups ask yourself do you like being left out of initiatives programs processes then why would anyone else in 2007 history was made I became the first black elected official for the village of Hanover Park Illinois it's a City one hour north of Chicago with 40,000 residents and I was excited when the people chose me to represent them on their most important issues my team ran on a platform of more transparency in government lower taxes of course and increase diversification of our workers at Village Hall so I was excited to get to work the first thing I decided I needed to do was create a village wide inclusion and diversity committee amazingly my colleagues fought tooth and nail because they didn't want the simple volunteer committee created I was stunned I was shocked in my mind I was saying how dare they month after month after month after month we had conversation after conversation after conversation and they all ended the same way in hostility even when I brought the tongue nuts interesting ly enough in December of 2007 The Daily Herald one of the largest papers in the Chicagoland area wrote a story about its movers and shakers that year of course I made the list but for all the wrong reasons as you notice they pointed out Tony always clashes with her colleagues Tony is always the long dissenting vote on every issue but from my perspective I was a ok with that the people elected me to do a job and I was determined to do that job despite how my colleagues may have felt interestingly enough one month later I was promoted at my day job the one that pays the bills I was selected to join the diversity team and I was so excited now I was about to have the opportunity to do the same work at my place of employment that I was doing in a community so immediately I started hosting meetings with my key stakeholders we started this conversation about diversity and I noticed people were signing under their breath and they were making comments about this quota driven human resource initiative that was designed at least in their mind to take away jobs from qualified people to give to under qualified women and people of color interestingly enough I simply wanted to talk to them about creating high performance teams thereby enhancing business results amazing we were on two ends of the spectrum but because I wanted to be successful at work I couldn't take the same approach that I was taking at the village I had to find a solution to get people to listen to me so I had an epiphany after the fourth or fifth meeting I said people are feeling uncomfortable with my diversity conversation and I came to the conclusion that they were feeling uncomfortable because they didn't see themselves as a part of that discussion so I said hmm what you gonna do about that so all of a sudden I decided inclusion is the way and I started to have conversations about inclusions and the benefits of it to organizations guess what people started listening to me and to my eternal relief I could actually spend 40 minutes talking about the benefits of inclusion instead of the previous 20 minutes I had been spending explaining that I wasn't asking them to give jobs to under-qualified women and people of color now what's so interesting about this entire conversation is for the last 35 years listen to me 35 years women have earned more college degrees than men in the US [Applause] [Music] but when you look at these corporations what do you see at the top so we have to ask ourselves what biases are preventing women from having access to opportunities we have to ask ourself what biases are keeping people of color either to sleep Suites once we start being real with ourselves and answering these questions I think we'll see more people have access to opportunities one of the largest organization for women here's what they had to say about us they said because America is a superpower and built on the military bases that women we don't fit the stereotype men come into the game with people assuming that they are skilled and qualified for leadership positions women are consistently over coming until men prove themselves as weak they have the benefit of the doubt women have to prove themselves as worthy in order to get one opportunity the other thing that consistently comes up in diversity conversations it's about blacks and Latinos stealing jobs away from qualified people as if we aren't educated as if we haven't been to the same schools and universities I want to challenge us to change our language and start talking about inclusive diversity I am 100% convinced that that is the game changer for the last decade as I've been doing this work as you can see I've been on an evolution from diversity to inclusion to inclusive diversity because everyone can see themselves as a part of that solution instead of a part of the problem no one wants to be seen that way when you look at this picture can you tell me who's the CEO the answer is all of them but if you google CEOs of corporations this is the photo you get that propaganda is just out of control and we have to spend a little time educating people on the position of women on the position of people of color and people in communities that are unserved until we can have these conversations no matter how difficult they may be change will not come from my perspective we have a couple of potential solutions I want you to consider first and foremost host these courageous conversations talk about the things that are really bothering people in 2009 I was invited to participate in a panel discussion for the largest multinational in America this was a women's group and they wanted to talk to subject matter experts about how to advance their Women's Initiative the conversation was going great everyone was having an awesome time a lady raises her hand she has a pressing question and the question for the panelist is should we allow men into our groups don't we want these groups to be safe places just for us and as you can imagine there are three people who speak before me and of course they could get on board with what this young lady was saying they really thought that these groups should be kept for the people in them whether it's women whether it's people of color whether it's LGBT a whether it's people with disabilities they really believe that these groups should be close-knit to these circles so of you of course if you know me you know I'm gonna have to start a fire right so I said let me ask you a question you have an initiative you want a sponsor you come to me because you know I'm a proponent I'm a sponsor of women's initiatives you asked me to support you and I go yes yes yes I will I'm gonna write you a check for all the $500 because that's all I have in my budget but think about it look at your organization whole city and the top states men I bet you if you formed a relationship with them and asked them to support your initiative invited them into the conversation you might get $5,000 do you want $500 or do you want $5,000 that's the real question you need to ask yourself I'm convinced that we said when we start having these conversations where people can talk about the things that are important to them we will get to the solutions that will help create next generation solutions for our young people think about inviting the majority group into your conversations remember the movie hidden figures that came out last year there's a particular scene that strikes me as interesting remembered a little black analyst who was so good at what she did and everyday at a certain time she had to run from one building to the next building to use the washroom at some point the manager noticed that she was gone for a very long time everyday and so of course he comes back he has this big discussion with her about where she goes every day and what she's doing so of course as embarrassed as she was and we've all been there she said okay there's nowhere for me to use the washroom in here there is no colored washroom only here what did he do he got his axe he marched over to the other building with probably 12 or 15 people behind him and he tore that sign down that's what happens when you invite the majority group in stop disconnecting them from the conversation without men involved in this work we're not going to accomplish anything unless we invite men to help us accelerate this agenda to invite them until the inclusion discussion things won't change furthermore they won't be sustainable interestingly enough after I came to the conclusion that inclusion was the way that inclusive diversity was really a game changer I went back to the village and I started to have different conversations with my colleagues about this inclusion committee every session when I would conclude my comments in the session I would celebrate whatever historical month it was and at the end of it I would say an inclusion includes you in you and you and you too and guess what my inclusion and diversity committee was finally approved after tule two long years of difficult discussions I submit to you that was powerful language changes a simple change in wording in vited them into that committee they stopped resisting it because they could see themselves as a part of the solution inclusive diversity is a game changer and I want to encourage all of us to think about how we can be more inclusive in diverse I'm convinced that if all of us get on this same journey to inclusive diversity we can create the solutions that our young people need for the next generation thank you for your time [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 318,088

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Business, Human Rights, Inequality, Race, Women in business, Women's Rights

Id: JuK3FGwVJTs

Length: 14min 16sec (856 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 13 2018