![]() ![]() He recalls working with one major corporation that leveraged learnings gained from its POC affinity group to develop innovative beauty products to meet the needs of its customers, as well as to improve its workplace culture. Over time, leaders realize they can benefit from the groups' insights to improve their understanding of their diverse customer base and various customers' unique needs for products and service offerings, Ellis said. Many Integrity clients form racial affinity groups to provide a safe place for employees to gain support from one another. "It can be a lifeline to extend tenure, a resource for recruitment, and a source of insight that allows the organization to build strategy and improve its products and services." "A POC caucus is an oasis in the middle of a desert-a place for people of color to feel psychologically safe," said Eric Ellis, president and CEO of Integrity Development Corp., a management consulting firm in Cincinnati. "Even if people aren't on board at first, it can be helpful to remind POC who may not be participating that the space will always be open and welcoming to them," she added. "Some people don't want to engage in that in the workplace. Reasons people of color may be reluctant to join a racial caucus include fear of being reduced to their racial identity, distrust of organizational support of the space and fear of retaliation, said Courtney Harge, CEO at Of/By/For All, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based nonprofit that helps arts organizations become more equitable and inclusive. We have separate work to do."Ī caucus space can lead to real, concrete change in organizations because there is a direct conduit between what a POC group wants from the organization and the steps company leadership, which is traditionally white, can take to make changes, according to Judy Blair, a Seattle-based organizational development consultant. Pippi Kessler, an organizational psychologist and leadership coach in Cummington, Mass., notes, "The work of caucuses is ultimately to figure out how to work in multiracial teams. ![]() "Racial affinity groups can be a place for learning, strategy and action." "Every group decides for itself what it wants to be and do," said Tiffany Wilhelm, project officer with the Opportunity Fund, a foundation in Pittsburgh based in arts and economic justice. The answer likely will be different for different groups. "It raised the question, 'What were we caucusing for?' Were we caucusing for organizational change? Were we caucusing for representation on the management team?" ![]() "What you call matters," noted Smith, founder of Twelve26 Solutions, an organizational development and leadership consulting firm in San Francisco. students."Īlthough CompassPoint's POC caucus ultimately chose to make the group's primary focus individual reflection over organizational change, Smith said caucus members also worked to acquire organizational influence in appointments to roles and positions. "The people of color are often so far ahead of the white people that they would have to slow down in order to let us catch up."Īdds Kevin Eppler, a curriculum content specialist, facilitator and co-founder of the White Men's Racial Justice Group (WMRJ): "We are first graders when it comes to talking about race. "Bringing white people and people of color together to discuss race can be like placing pre-algebra students in a calculus class," they wrote in an article. Mary Conger, Ed.D., founder of The American Dialogue Project in New York City, and Ali Michael, Ph.D., an organizational culture consultant and race educator in suburban Washington, D.C., have come to a similar conclusion. "In the process of exploring and talking about race in an organizational or professional context, I have personally seen how the vulnerability of people of color in multiracial spaces is seldom matched by white colleagues," he said. The facilitator of CompassPoint's POC caucus, Kad Smith, believes it's critical to separate groups along racial lines. The groups investigate how their experiences impact the ways they approach social justice. When CompassPoint decided to incorporate racial affinity groups into its racial equity framework, the San Francisco Bay area nonprofit training firm created two staff groups: a people of color (POC) caucus and a white caucus. Employers can use the recommendations that emerge from these groups to take corrective action, address racial inequities and advance the company's diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) goals. ![]() Racial affinity groups, or racial caucuses, provide separate spaces for people who share a racial identity to gather, share experiences and explore how racism may manifest in their organizations. As many employers struggle to achieve racial equity in their workforces, a new approach has emerged that can help create a more equitable and inclusive culture. ![]()
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