Okay, I’m talking to the line managers today. The ones thinking “Urghhhh, Angie, stop going on about your
new programme; we are already doing so much to support women of colour in our school”
I am talking to you today because your role is pivotal in advancing women of colour.
You are the gatekeepers; you are the ones who can change the trajectory of professional learning and thus aspirations, promotion and success for so many women of colour.
If you ask me this year “what can we do to encourage more women of colour to apply for jobs in our organisation?”, I am going to tell you straight:
- Know the ones you have already got in your organisation.
- See them.
- Be 100% cognisant of their ambitions and goals.
- Know and understand the constellation of their lives and the specific impact institutional racism has on them.
- Invest in them.
- Move your words into action, and those women will be the best advertisements for diversifying the pipeline of your workforce that you could ever want.
Many women of colour will not approach you and ask you to support them in enrolling.
They will assume the resource is not available to them; they will believe that having had access to NPQs this year or other CPD that there is no way something tailored to focus on race, leadership and identity will be supported by the organisation.
Many women of colour won’t want to ask for ‘more’; they wouldn't assume this is a conversation you will be willing to have.
So, don't make them come to you.
Step one in my training when it comes to changing our workplaces and making them luminary requires that YOU build bridges towards others.
So don’t make her come to you; tap a woman of colour on the shoulder; that means send her this email,
send her the details of this programme and tell her you think this would be a great fit for her and that if she would like to enrol, that you will support her.
Okay,…end of TedTalk. For now.
