Joan Buccigrossi is a professional in the fields of diversity, inclusion and organizational development and is skilled in executive coaching and large system change. She is Director of Inclusion and Engagement for Rockwell Automation, a global automation control and information solutions company. Joan shares her insight and experience in this interview with Bill Proudman.
Bill: Joan, you're one of the people I think of when I reflect on courageous leaders inside organizations - leaders who work on engaging white men in diversity and inclusion efforts in new and meaningful ways. As a white woman who has been a long-time diversity practitioner, what advice can you offer other practitioners who want to engage white men and create partnerships across difference? What are the first steps to take?
Joan: First, find out how white men have been involved internally and learn about what diversity practitioners outside your organization are doing to engage white men. This will give you a better understanding of the depth of the effort within your organization as well as ideas for moving forward.
Then find some allies or champions among the white men. You'll know who they are: white men who are curious about this work; who have started their own learning journey; and who have had experiences that lead them to a greater understanding across difference. Start to engage them in the conversation about what it would take for them to be a full diversity partner, to be comfortable engaging in this topic. Then gather up these allies and start to have a conversation: would they be on board if you were to design something to deepen the involvement of white men? Start to propose what you could do collectively.
One thing that keeps people from doing this work is they don't know what the answer is. There are lots of white men in organizations today who would be happy to be champions of diversity, inclusion and engagement; they just don't know what to do.
Bill: I've worked with you in two companies: currently you're at Rockwell Automation. And you were instrumental in engaging senior level white men at the Kellogg Company. What have you learned from your endeavors that would help leaders who may be saying, "Tell us what the program is. What do we do?"
Joan: I ask people inside organizations to look at what they have been doing that's successful and what hasn't worked well. In both organizations I've been involved in as an inside diversity professional, the answer has been: "We've been at this a long time, but we're actually not making much progress." If that's the case, you need to sit back and look at what's keeping the organization from making progress. Say it's because you've been focused on the metrics, which is where a lot of organizations tend to focus. Then you need to do something different.
One of the things that is common in organizations is that we look for solutions for the wrong group ...
To read more on how to make progress and Joan's thoughts on partnerships between women of color and white women, download the full interview.
