Your eyes may have been opened as a result of these tragic events, and you may be asking, “How can I help?”
Here are a few things you can do, one conversation at a time:
Ensure access
Whether on the job or in your community, you can ensure equal access to jobs, information and justice. By your actions and behavior, you can show that you are proactive and intentionally open to creating a culture of inclusion. Invite others to the networks and forums you participate in. Invite others to forums where decision makers and other influential people meet up.
Your biggest allies will be your leadership team. Prioritizing inclusivity within your organization will be a challenge if leadership doesn’t prioritize it. Integrating a culture of sharing, openness, and transparency is a must in everyday practices.
We have great and supportive leadership at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, to include Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., commander of Air Force Materiel Command; Gen. Shaun Q. Morris, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center commander; and Col. Patrick Miller, 88th Air Base Wing and installation commander.
Please understand you are a leader as well; your inaction or passivity doesn’t absolve you of responsibility.
Attitude
Check your attitude. Are you willingly embracing a culture of inclusion on the job and in your communities? What critical conversations have you had with colleagues or family members about your attitude, unconscious biases and actions as it relates to potential exclusionary practices?
Talk about what inclusivity actually looks like at home, on the job and in your communities. Once you have made that discovery, talk about how you can collectively turn those conversations into action plans.
Choice
You have a choice every day to be exclusive or inclusive. Ask yourself at the end of the day, “Did I support or help navigate inclusivity or exclusivity today?” Ask yourself these tough questions and make the appropriate adjustments to apply tomorrow.
Partnerships
What are the partnerships you have made on the job or within your communities that helped you become successful? Share those partnerships and alliances with others.
Communication
Call out discriminatory language, action or inactions as they relate to exclusivity. For example, if you see others who are not given an opportunity to be heard, promoted or rewarded, or if you see others being disciplined unfairly, call those behaviors out.
Policy
Challenge discriminatory policies within your workspaces and communities. Racism occurs covertly and overtly. We need everyone’s help creating a culture of inclusion.
Remember, “Talent is distributed equally, opportunity is not.”
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