To Improve Engagement – Ask the People Who Know!

 
I am awake, I am alive, and on this I do believe I will get kickback. Oh well, things have to change and change starts with pointing out problematic practices so …. here goes.

We need to talk about diversity experts for a moment and just how often they are asked to provide what they do not know. In short, here’s a logical rule to follow:

Do not hire a white person to teach you how to work with:
– Indigenous people.
– Black people.
– newcomers and on and on.

Why? Because your reluctance to hire diversely is the root of the problem, not the solution.

But then we have to go one step further, and this is the step so many are getting wrong …

Do not hire:
– Indigenous to teach you how to work with Black.
– Black to teach you how to work with Indigenous.
– anyone other than a newcomer to work with newcomers.

Why? For one, this practice literally continues the marginalization – lumping all “others” into one grouping, again white-washing away the diversity.

Secondly, the hiring of one culture to teach you how to engage with another will, at best, provide you with an outsider lens of that group. They will be able to give you the “what” of a community but not the “why” and besides, you already have an outsider lens (your own) so what is the point?

The solution is so simple it is insane …

– Hire Black, representative of your desired target group, to teach you to work with that community and enjoy knowledge that you have never even known exists.

– Hire Indigenous and not just any Indigenous, but Indigenous from the community or area that you wish to work with (because no, we are not all the same).

By following this simple logical practice, so much could change so quickly but only if we are brave enough to reach out to the very people who carry the information we need, rather than asking the baker to build us a house.

Be brave my friend, be brave.
 

I love you!
HUGSSSSSSSSS
Sandi