DEI leader and author Mita Mallick shared her top tips at Catalyst enERGize.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is more important than ever before—but we need to ensure that it is properly understood so that it can be appreciated and supported. Employee resource groups (ERGs) can play a pivotal role within companies to ensure that inclusion continues to be an organizational priority.
At enERGize, a Catalyst online learning engagement for ERG leaders, members, and sponsors, as well as other DEI leaders, Alixandra Pollack, Vice President, Head of Knowledge Transformation & Solution Development at Catalyst, spoke with keynote speaker Mita Mallick. Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact at Carta and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Reimagine Inclusion: Debunking 13 Myths to Transform Your Workplace, Mallick drilled down on what ERGs should do to keep inclusion front and center. Here were Mallick’s top five recommendations for DEI and HR leaders.
- Don’t lose sight of the meaning and importance of inclusion. Mallick reminded the members of the enERGize audience that organizations need inclusion to succeed. “If you hire me for my expertise, I’m there every day to give 100 percent and help the company reach its potential. But if people say to me, ‘How did you get rid of your accent?’ or ‘Why don’t you smile?’ or ‘If you’re here, who’s watching your kids?,’ and I’m dealing with these microaggressions every day, my capacity slips, and my productivity slips. This is why we need to reimagine inclusion.” Workplace inclusion is essential not only for the bottom line but also because it’s the right thing to do.
- Don’t tokenize members of ERGs or make them feel used. Mallick recounted having observed many scenarios when there was a DEI crisis, and the immediate response from leadership was to call in the Black employee resource group, or the Muslim employee resource group, or the women’s employee resource group, to try to fix the problem. But organizations should be wary of that strategy because it can make employees feel they “have to put their pain on display. It is a burden to have to show up and speak up for one’s community when they may not want to.”
- Instead, invite ERG members to the conversation without expecting them to join. DEI leaders should create a sense of community, and the first step is to ask if ERGs wish to partner with them—without the expectation that they will do so. When Mallick leads DEI teams creating trainings and workshops, she said, “We ask ERGs if they want to partner with us, or maybe they want to look at our material. But it’s not their job to do this. For example, if I’m a member of the AANHPI ERG, it’s not my job to create a company workshop on ‘How to Be an Ally to the AANHPI Community.’ But maybe I want to be of service and partner with allies across the company.” Always remember the difference between an invitation and an expectation.
- Make sure ERG members are recognized for their contributions. Mallick encouraged executive sponsors to share the successes of their ERG with senior leadership. In addition, ERG leaders should keep an eye on members who would benefit from a leadership role to help them advance in their career. Regardless of role, ERG members “deserve to be recognized, and for that to happen, ERG leaders should share their wins.” At the same time, ERG members should take personal responsibility. If they are unrecognized by their manager, they should ask the head of HR or DEI to share the list with their manager so that they are aligned to the performance review.
- Reach out to people who may become allies—including people you might not think of as allies. “Go out and meet people in your organization,” Mallick encouraged the enERGize audience. “You might need to check your biases because maybe you think some people don’t want a relationship with you. But you don’t know if you don’t ask. Invite them to coffee, tell them about your ERG, and ask if they would support it. If it’s important to you, in many cases, it will become important to them, too.” Build cross-cultural partnerships. By incorporating these strategies, says Mallick, organizational leaders can partner with ERGs to create a truly inclusive work environment in which everyone wins.
At Catalyst, we encourage gender partnerships as a form of allyship, where men advocate for gender equity as allies, through the MARC (Men Advocating Real Change) initiative.