At the end of May this year Starbucks closed 8,000 US stores for an afternoon to carry out anti-bias training for over 175 000 people that would take the form of a “conversation and learning session on race, bias and the building of a diverse welcoming company”. Not sure we have ever seen a “shut down” of this nature and scope before, a voluntary one at that.
This action was in response to a racially charged incident in Philadelphia.
If you’re interested, here’s a video detailing the reasoning and response to the incident from Starbucks.
Here’s an excerpt from their media release at the time “Our hope is that these learning sessions and discussions will make a difference within and beyond our stores. ….. and it’s on us to harness our scale and expertise to do right by the communities we serve. ….. By educating ourselves on understanding bias and how it affects our lives and the lives of the people we encounter and serve, we renew our commitment to making the third place welcoming and safe for everyone.”
This action by one of the world’s most valued brands is in itself indicative of changes that are sweeping corporate halls and boardrooms across the globe. Some of these changes will be embraced by companies and some will be the cause of brand-implosion. Organisations have a choice as to which approach they will take.
The brand story is no longer about just the brand. It is about so much more than just the logo. This point of view isn’t new or particularly intuitive. What is new is how deep the brand story goes within an organisation
It goes so far that a company’s policies and procedures, for example, its sexual harassment policy, are now seen as indicative of its approach to not only its own employees and a reflection of its values, but an insight into how it values human rights in general. Ideas such as the Diversity Dividend are beginning to take hold.
Wow, how did this happen?
It happened because there has for many years been a disconnect between the value that a brand espouses and what it actually does. The recent debacle at Grant Thornton is one example of how a company expresses itself to the world at large (particularly current and potential customers) and how it shows up when it has real coal-face issues.
Companies should be thinking long and hard about whether the very frameworks that they base their everyday decisions on are in fact in line with their values, or the values that their customers hold.
Some items that should probably make the agenda include:
- A keen look at gender and race sensitivity within the organisation
- The mix of men and women throughout the organisation
- The mix of colour and cultures on boards, exco’s and in other areas
- Whether the levers of control are controlled by men-only
These are all questions that we ask every day as we engage with organisations through our Hers&His project, an initiative aimed at enabling and creating gender parity and equality across organisations.
It’s always been common sense that a diverse organisation would perform better than competitors that are not. Research backs this contention up.
How are you approaching the subject of organisational sensitivity to gender and race? Which one will you tackle first and will you do it before a crisis hits?
If you’d like to hear more about Hers&His and the work we do, drop us an email.
More on this topic, and others of interest in our next missive.
‘Til next time. Ciao from Ingrid Lotze (Her) and Gavin Moffat (Him).
Watch what a couple of wonderful peeps from KWV have to say about our Presentation Skills Training.
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Watch what a couple of wonderful peeps from KWV have to say about our Presentation Skills Training.
