why didn’t i speak up? because i wanted to be a team player.
by liz gold
difference comes in many forms. race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability, learning style, personality – these characteristics are just a few of the many that make us who we are, yet isn’t it amazing that many of us only bring a fraction of ourselves to work?
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diversity is a loaded word. august de los reyes is the head of design and research at pinterest. in a techcrunch video, he talks about the connotative baggage that comes along with the term “diversity,” preferring to take the term in the literal sense.
“diversity is about a spectrum of thoughts, experiences, approaches, and it’s actually a great thing for design,” he said. “(in) product development today, it’s just understood that there’s diversity of expertise. we have people for multiple functions, design, engineering, program management, marketing – that is diversity right there, and no one questions it. it requires different sets of expertise to produce a great experience. well, what happens is, if we look at other pivots of diversity, particularly with design, it actually opens up more opportunities for innovation for better outcomes.”
the same point can be related to accounting. a successful firm is a sum of its many parts. there’s the partnership, the service lines, the industries, the employees, it, marketing, business development, facilities … you get the idea. it’s expected that each of these departments brings their own skills and expertise to the table to keep the firm sustainable and growing.
innovation will happen when we let go of how things have always been done and are open to different ways of doing things and different types of people doing those things. so, when we pivot, like de los reyes says, to consider a different type of diversity, we expand and prepare better for our outcome – whatever that might be – and create a much more inclusive experience.
cultural intelligence = innovation
we all know the working world has gone global. small businesses can compete with the big, and the cloud has transformed the way people sell, market and conduct transactions. so, it makes sense that the more aware we are about other cultures and geographies and people, the better our business relationships will be.
a good place to start is with cultural intelligence. according to rhodes perry of rhodes perry consulting, a global strategic management firm helping executives build lgbtq+ diverse and inclusive workplace cultures, there are two spectrums in a workplace: one of similarities, in which employees are working toward a shared goal with general group buy-in, and the other of differences, which includes people with various identities, experiences, ideas and ways of being.
when a company is aligned with its cultural intelligence, it is leveraging those differences to move toward that shared goal. “it’s somewhat simple,” said perry. “we need to have different perspectives to generate new ideas, get out of group-think, which can inspire people to share their ideas, become more engaged and productive, and that’s where the sweet spot of innovation comes in.”
not only that, perry said, but when an employer invests, understands and affirms those differences, it is going to be more likely to attract diverse talent – especially the younger generation, which highly values diversity among their peers and a company that is going to celebrate who they are.
this is where top-level buy-in is critical.
“while putting policies in place that promote diversity and inclusion is certainly a step in the right direction, leaders should be committed to making sure that they are being followed,” said kimberly ellison-taylor, cpa, cgma, and global accounting strategy director for the financial and professional services industries for oracle america. “i’ve found that if the tone at the top is followed up with a real commitment by holding all leaders accountable to an inclusive workplace, it resonates with the employees.”
from the trenches
here are a few statistics from the website diversity best practices, a division of working mother media, regarding a population that exists in accounting firms (and well, in all workplaces) but is rarely addressed:
- over half of lgbt employees hide their sexual orientation at work.
- one in four lgbt employees reports hearing derogatory jokes or negative comments such as “that’s so gay” while at work.
- a fifth of lgbt workers report looking for a job specifically because the environment at the current job isn’t accepting of lgbt identities.
it’s real. i know, because i’ve experienced it.
many corporate environments have teeth; that is, they can be harsh for creative people, demoralizing for sensitive people, and alienating for anyone who doesn’t fit into the dominant culture. like many of us, i’ve had a long history of not being able to fit in even though i would try profusely. i never truly felt like i could really own my identity as a queer woman when i worked in corporate environments. some workplaces were better than others, but my experience has made a lasting impression and given me a strong distaste of working inside large companies. plainly said, it’s been hard to find my people.
you might not want to hear this. but i’ve had male colleagues and yes, supervisors and company leaders make disparaging sexist and transphobic comments degrading women in front of me at formal meetings in which i was the only woman.
i’ve had a male boss stand behind me, directing me to watch a youtube video of men talking about female genitalia, while another male boss sat across from me and laughed.
i’ve had a female coworker make jokes about jewish people in front of three or four team members, even though we were working at a jewish-owned company (i did end up talking with her privately about it, which was one of the hardest things i’ve ever done).
and i can’t tell you how many homophobic comments i’ve heard over the course of my years. sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism and a whole host of other oppressive language, actions and behaviors run rampant in companies. no hr video will stop it, and as firm owners, you must take responsibility.
have these experiences left me with a bad taste in my mouth? yes. but did i learn something from them? of course.
many people might say, well, why didn’t you speak up? why didn’t you say something?
there were instances i did – to the best of my ability. but the reality was, i didn’t want to be different, i didn’t want to start something. i didn’t want people to make fun of me, i didn’t want people to talk about me behind my back, or worse, stop talking when i approached. i wanted to fit in. i wanted to be a team player. not speaking up and interrupting: that is what dominant culture dictates. and team culture, unfortunately, can be cruel.
i’m here to tell you, my story is not unique. this is a big reason why bright, creative people walk out your door. and this is one of the underlying reasons why many young people are leaving the accounting profession.
who wants to commit their time and energy to a firm or company where they can’t be themselves? where they don’t see others like them among the leadership ranks? where, when they do get through the doors, there is no one they can truly relate to and very little, if any, support for how to build relationships with their colleagues and managers? how long are people (let’s face it, millennials and generation z employees) willing to stay at a firm or in a workplace that doesn’t acknowledge different identities? that assumes everyone is straight, or white, or able-bodied, or productive in the same way? not long.
we’re living in a global society. millennials don’t even blink at multiculturalism, but they do notice it when it’s not present in the room.