Commentary

Workforce diversity takes a continuous effort

by Debbie Atterberry

Compared with most other states, Minnesota is exceedingly white -- but change is coming. The portion of the Minnesota population that is white (not Latino) is projected to fall from 86 percent in 2005 to 75 percent by 2035.

As the complexion of our state changes, we must all look at how we can transform our organizations and companies to be more multicultural. At the social services agency I head, we recognized almost 20 years ago that we had work to do when it came to hiring and advancing people of color. Since the early '90s, we have converted ourselves into a truly multicultural organization.

Today, 56 percent of all RESOURCE clients, 40 percent of board members, 41 percent of staff, and 23 percent of managers are people of color from a wide range of cultural groups.

Our journey hasn't always been easy. I know many organizations begin the process and give up before they are able to reap the results, because overcoming racism takes an extraordinary commitment of time and a willingness to engage in tough topics. We know that it takes at least five years to really begin to realize the benefits. You can't "do diversity" for six months and say you're done. You can't ever really be done.

We have made it our mission to become a multicultural organization, both to make our agency a more pleasant place to work and to ensure that we are doing a good job of serving all of our clients.

We continuously analyze our results to determine whether we achieve similar employment success rates for clients of all cultures. If we don't, we examine the disparities. We're proud that there is almost never a discrepancy, despite the fact that we don't have much control over the hiring practices of the employers we work with.

Since we have had some encouraging success in this arena, I'd like to share some of the lessons we've learned, which may help other leaders endeavoring to create more multicultural organizations.

First of all, leadership must come from the top. The organization must be totally committed. And the messages must be oft repeated.

I was a vice president when we started this process. At the time, we could see that the organization was primarily white; employees of color didn't stay long. We weren't having success retaining them. We had to do a better job.

Now our whole workforce is engaged and actively involved. To ensure continued progress toward undoing racism and promoting diversity, each staff person is evaluated annually on his or her understanding of and commitment to our organization's diversity efforts. Also, managers' ability to develop and manage a diverse staff is assessed as part of their annual performance appraisals.

Job applicants are asked about their cultural competence. We're making hiring decisions based on what they have to say.

To make these changes takes courage and commitment. Dealing with racism involves dealing with thorny issues. People used to find discussions on racism threatening. No one liked to talk about it. But now the dialogue is continuous; it permeates our organization.

We are 20 years into our journey, and we aren't where we want to be. We can't put ourselves out there as a perfect model, but we are constantly striving to improve. Best of all, our organization is more comfortable and more effective as a result.

Debbie Atterberry is president of RESOURCE, a multicultural nonprofit organization that provides services in employment and training, mental health and chemical health. RESOURCE has locations throughout the Twin Cities metro area, as well as in Duluth and St. Cloud.