Measuring Equity in Culture Change: Key Takeaways (Part 2)

This blog is the second in a two-part series. You can read the first part here. 

This blog is based on content from “Accountability in Racial Equity: Measuring Culture Change,” a webinar hosted by Portland Means Progress and facilitated by Serilda Summers-McGee of Workplace Change. Thank you to both for making this event free to the public.

Key Takeaway #4: Balance Counting with Community Validation

One of the most interesting things I heard in the webinar was “white supremacy culture is obsessed with measuring things,” which is why I want to spend a bit more time on it here than the other takeaways. At first, I was taken aback by this assertion; I wasn’t quite sure I understood what it meant or whether I agreed with it. After all, math is the universal language, and I place a very high value on numbers.

A discussion between Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the Queen in one of my favorite TV shows, The Crown, perfectly explains my original perspective: “I am an economist, a statistician at heart. I’m happiest with numbers. You can trust numbers. They’re honest. There’s no mystery or deception or allegory. You know where you stand. What you see is what you get. And I prefer things that way.”

The more I thought about it, though, the less I agreed with Wilson, and the more I agreed with the webinar hosts. I think the heart of the issue is that people often use numbers (especially white people) to invalidate people of color’s experience. How many times have you heard statistics on crime thrown out as soon as anyone dares to bring up police brutality against the black community? Math can be biased and subjective when we choose to only look at one side of the equation. Now I understand what “white supremacy culture is obsessed with measuring things” really means.

I tend to be more mathematical in my approach to life. Sometimes, I must remind myself that what people feel matters, regardless of whether I think the “evidence” and numbers support that experience. All experiences of racism, emotional responses, and feelings are valid. People aren’t going to stop hurting just because statistics exist (and statistics can be biased depending on the collection method, so they are not infallible).

Though it is difficult to measure, we must look at the “story” behind our company culture and the personal experiences of equity to create the most accurate and actionable data. We must measure things, and we must look at the experience together. Or, as stated in the webinar, “we need to balance counting with community validation” (what does it feel like to work here?).

Key Takeaway #5: Creating Equity Requires Procedural, Personal, and Cultural Progress

I’ve already discussed culture in great length, so here I will focus on procedural and personal progress:

1. Procedural: Too often, organizations overlook racial equity when developing and implementing policies and procedures. Inequities can result in poor outcomes and experiences for customers and communities, which drives down measures of wellbeing as a whole. We may perpetuate racial equities when we do not lead with racial equity in our policy-making. Starting with equity can, therefore, accelerate progress for everyone. We must design our business strategies to focus on improvements for those most affected and move beyond “services” to focus on changing policies, institutions, and structures. Looking at equity in procedures requires looking at everything from employee benefits to holidays to conduct.
2. Personal: Each employee must be doing personal growth and working on understanding systemic racism. Here I will call back to the first racial equity principle: “Responsibility is shared – leadership and staff are both responsible for working together to identify, collect, and take action on the data *in a respectful process*.” Personal growth is ultimately dependent on the individual to participate authentically in racial equity work, but the company can facilitate this growth by offering programming around racial equity. For example, here at Clear Impact, all employees were required to take training provided by the Racial Equity Institute.

If you are looking to start or supplement your racial equity journey and create measurable and equitable cultural change, Clear Impact offers a One Year Racial Equity Challenge that can be completed at no cost to you or your organization.

Each month, we will send out a prompt for consideration and action with your team.  Educational resources and video tutorials to support their completion will be sent on the first day of the month.

Challenge participants will also get access to a free Community Racial Equity Scorecard where data is pulled directly from the National Equity Atlas, where we have data sets for 300 geographies, including 100 cities, 150 regions, and all 50 states.

Sign up for the Measurable Equity One Year Challenge