Why corporate diversity programs fail -- and how small tweaks can have big impact | Joan C. Williams

Transcriber:

翻译人员: William Wu 校对人员: Bruce Wang

2018年，两个黑人在星巴克等待

商业伙伴

当他们想要上厕所的时候

In 2018, two Black men went to a Starbucks

星巴克的经理要求他们离开

他们拒绝了

to wait for a business associate.

经理报警了

这段视频得到了很多的关注

But when they asked to use the bathroom,

the manager ordered them to leave.

在群众关注的压力下

They refused.

全国的星巴克全部停业，

He called the police,

and the video went viral.

接受了四个小时的培训

Amidst an avalanche of bad publicity,

服务员收到了教育手册

Starbucks closed all stores across the country

里面写着 “我们独特在哪里？”

for four hours of diversity training.

“理解偏见：从无视肤色到以肤色为傲”

And so, baristas were handed workbooks

with prompts like, "What makes me me and you you?"

这项培训达到了目的，

and, "Understanding our bias: from color-blind to color brave."

全国各地的媒体开始报道

“星巴克解决了种族歧视的问题！”

This made newspapers across the country,

但是这背后的一个假设是： 一段真诚的，关于感受的对话

and arguably, that was the goal.

"Look, everyone! We're solving our diversity problem!"

可以解决机构性种族歧视

The assumption, though, was that you could address structural racism

我的理解是：

不行

若想解决种族主义， 人们需要改变公司运营的结构

with an earnest conversation about our feelings.

My take:

在乔治·弗洛伊德之死事件的余波中

give me a break.

To address structural racism, you need to change structures.

许多公司在群众压力的迫使下

So in the aftermath of George Floyd's death,

宣传自己在种族多样性上的目标

但他们实际上并不知道该怎么做

my sense is that many companies are feeling pressure

这是因为尽管我们花了上百万美元来改善种族问题

to actually deliver on their diversity goals,

but they haven't a clue what to do.

但是我们使用的方法并不奏效

And that's because we spent probably close to a billion dollars on diversity.

但是我们使用的方法并不奏效

一次简单的培训

But the basic tools of the diversity industrial complex,

起不到什么作用。

因为任何事情仅作一次都不会改变公司的文化

they just don't work.

A one-shot bias training --

而其他的方法

it doesn't work for a really simple reason:

像是让多样化的员工互相交流， 或是为女性员工提供咨询与帮助，

doing anything once won't change a company's culture.

And the other basic tools --

若是问题是在女性和有色员工上 这些方法确实可行

things like an employee resource group or a women's initiative --

但事实并不是这样的

当一个公司存在种族多样性问题是，

they're fine,

if the problem is with the women and the people of color.

一般是由公司运营的方式，

But it's not.

If a company faces challenges surrounding diversity,

招聘，升职，机会的分配

typically, it's because subtle and not-so-subtle forms of bias

中所存在的显著或不显著的偏见

are constantly being transmitted through their basic business systems --

所造成的。

所以我们需要停止改变女性和有色员工。

through hiring, through performance evaluations,

我们需要改变商业模式。

through access to opportunities.

So we need to stop trying to fix the women and the people of color.

这实际上很有道理

当一个公司遇到了销售问题

We need to fix the business systems.

作为回应，公司不会真诚的教育员工

And if you think about it, this makes sense,

because if a company was facing challenges with sales,

教育他们公司多么重视销售额

it wouldn't respond by holding a series of sincere conversations

并且设立“全国销售月”

然后希望销售额会提高

about how much we all value sales

但在种族多样性的情况下， 我们却在做这些事情。

and put on programming for "National Celebrate Sales Month"

and expect sales to improve.

如果我们真的想有效的解决种族多样性的问题，

我们需要使用公司处理商业问题所用的方法：

But that's a lot of what we're doing in the diversity context.

If we really want to tackle diversity effectively,

经历和数据

we need to use the same tools businesses use to tackle any business problem --

我并不认为那些经常

使用这些商业手段的CEO会认为这个提议

evidence and metrics.

And, you know, I suspect this will come as a relief

比给员工举办平等性的培训

to a lot of CEOs who feel far more comfortable using those tools

更为容易

than they do with trying to lead a deep conversation

第一步:

我们要理解偏见的最基本层面

about the inner workings of social inequality.

在过去的10年内

The first step

is for us to understand what bias looks like on the ground.

我和我在WorkLife Law的同事们研究了

And I and my team at WorkLife Law,

偏见对日常工作的影响

我们发现有五种规律

we have been studying how bias plays out in everyday workplace interactions

五种同样的规律

for well over a decade.

反复的出现

And what we find is that the same patterns of bias,

详细情况如下

第一种规律被称为 “再证明自己一次”

the same five patterns,

they emerge over and over again.

有些群体需要额外证明自己的能力

So here's what the evidence looks like.

The first pattern we call "prove it again."

群体可以由很多东西分化

比如种族，性别，

Some groups have to prove themselves more than others.

年龄，残疾，性取向，

This is triggered by lots of different things.

It's triggered by race and gender,

甚至社会阶层。

举个例子，一个研究

age, disability, LGBTQ status,

调查了同样胜任，但是拥有不同爱好的白男

even social class.

So one study, for example,

收到的面试邀请

looked at callbacks offered to white men with identical qualifications

一份简历里提到划船，马球。

另一份简历提到

but different hobbies.

One résumé listed things like sailing and polo,

为父母没上过大学的学生提供辅导

以及乡村音乐

and the other résumé listed things like

令人难以置信的是，马球先生

counseling first-generation college students

收到的面试邀请是乡村音乐先生的12倍

and country music.

And, if you can believe it, Mr. Polo --

当我们提到特权的时候， 我们往往会忘记阶层

he got 12 times the number of callbacks as Mr. Country Music.

第二个规律叫作“走钢丝”

Too often when we talk about privilege, we forget about class.

有些白色男性只要表现出

他的雄心和权威性，就可以成功。

The second pattern is called "the tightrope,"

and it reflects the fact that a certain in-group of white men

而女性就像是在走钢丝，

just need to be authoritative and ambitious in order to succeed.

如果她显得太专断，就有可能被认为粗鲁

But women walk a tightrope,

反之，她的能力则可能会被低估。

where they may be seen as abrasive if they're authoritative

而人们对专断的有色群体也有偏见

but unqualified if they're not.

黑人会被认为是易怒的，

And people of color who behave assertively often are written off

拉丁人会被认为是鲁莽的，

亚洲人会被认为是不可信任的。

as angry if they're Black,

even hotheaded if they're Latinx

下一个规律叫“拔河”

and sometimes as untrustworthy if they're Asian American.

有时人们对一个群体的偏见

The next pattern we call the "tug-of-war,"

会加剧群体内的竞争。

and it reflects the fact that sometimes bias against a group

比如说，如果公司只招一个女性或一个有色人

fuels conflict within the group.

我们可以猜到：

女性会和其它女性竞争

So, for example, if there's room for only one woman or person of color,

有色人群也会相互竞争

it's entirely predictable:

第四个偏见的规律是性别偏见最明显的体现

women are going to be supercompetitive with other women,

and people of color, competitive with other people of color.

叫作“母性之墙”

人们往往会假设母亲们不够敬业

The fourth pattern of bias is actually the strongest form of gender bias,

并且不够称职

called "the maternal wall."

怀孕时有些母亲的记忆力会下降

And it reflects assumptions that mothers aren't committed,

所以母亲们往往会发现在产假后，

probably shouldn't be

她们需要重新证明自己的能力。

and aren't competent --

但是如果太敬业，则会被当作坏母亲，坏人，

think "pregnancy brain."

So mothers often find they have to prove themselves yet again

when they return from maternity leave.

并被讨厌。

最后一个规律包含人们对种族的刻板印象

And if they do, they may be seen as bad mothers and so as bad people

亚裔美国人反复的提到

and disliked.

他们往往会被当作技术专家

The final pattern consists of racial stereotypes.

但缺乏领导力

So, Asian Americans again and again report

我们的研究发现职场上的黑人，

that they're seen as a great match for technical skills,

往往会受到孤立

but lacking in leadership potential.

And our studies show that Black professionals, again and again,

以及惊人的歧视。

亚裔美国人有时也会被认为太情绪化

report really high levels of isolation

and often startling forms of disrespect.

而一个白人，

一样的言行举止，

And an Asian American professional may be seen as too emotional

则会被认为是有上进心。

in a discussion where, you know what,

a white man behaving exactly the same way

我们发现白人女性提到了四种偏见的规律

would be seen as having a career-enhancing passion for the business.

有色人群也提到了四种偏见的规律

And so what we find is that white women report four patterns of bias.

大部分有色人群中的女性 提到了五中偏见的规律

Men of color also report four.

而在这个群体里，

Women of color report all five in very substantial proportions.

黑人女性提到了最多的偏见。

但最根本的问题是，白人男性的经历，

And among women of color,

Black women report the most bias as a group.

与其他群体的不一样。

But the bottom line, really, is that the experience of white men as a group

如果一个白人男子是 性少数群体或者家境一般，

differs from that of every other group.

尽管有可能会经历偏见，

If a white man is a first-generation professional or LGBTQ,

但大部分该群体的人并不会。

许多研究表明，

he may encounter bias.

这些偏见有很严重的负面影响。

But but most aren't.

我来分享一个有代表性的故事

These biases can have really serious negative effects.

我们曾在调查一个公司的时候 采访过一名女工程师。

There's a ton of research.

But here's a story that really says it all.

她发现了一名男同事的计算错误

We were working with one company, and we spoke to a woman engineer

她指出了这个错误

当她指出错误的时候，

who had found a mistake in one of the calculations

她违反了一个心照不宣的规则。

of a male colleague,

and she pointed it out.

“好女人”往往被定义为谦虚，友善，

When she pointed it out,

she was violating an unwritten rule.

而不是技术专家。

The good woman is seen as modest, self-effacing and nice,

这正是男专家 在会议中影响力更大的原因。

not a mission-driven expert.

实际上，

女专家的影响力甚至不如普通女性。

That's why male experts in meetings exert more influence.

But you know what?

所以当这名女工程师指出错误时，

Female experts, they actually exert less influence than female nonexperts do.

部门的回复是如此的负面，以至于她说：“

And so when this engineer pointed out the mistake in calculation, she told us,

以后我就负责当花瓶和提供纸杯蛋糕”

the response of her department was so massively negative that, she said,

这个不限制性别歧视的公司

"Now I'm just smiling a lot and bringing in cupcakes."

与它们的初心背道而驰。

This company, by allowing gender bias to go unchecked,

所以我们该怎么做？

答案使用偏见终止项目，

was literally jeopardizing their mission.

一个我的团队发明的新项目。

So what's the solution?

一个依据经历和数据的项目。

The solution is to use bias interrupters,

我刚刚已经分享了许多经历。

new tools my team has developed

数据也同样十分重要

that are evidence-based and metrics-driven.

因为它能够告诉你哪里出了问题。

And I've just told you about a lot of the evidence.

如果一个公司在招募的时候遇到问题，

Metrics are also superimportant

他们应该保留最初申请者的数据

because they help you pinpoint where things are going wrong.

So if a company has challenges with hiring,

通过简历筛查的申请者数据

they should be keeping track of who is in the original pool of candidates

被邀请参加面试的申请者数据

通过面试的申请者数据

and who survives résumé review

这些数据很重要的原因是：

and who gets called to interview

一开始申请池就缺乏 多样性的解决方法

and who survives the interview.

与每一名女申请者都被因为个性

And the reason that's important is because the fix,

if you have a nondiverse original pool,

而被拒绝的解决方法完全不同

is totally different than the fix if no woman ever survives the interview

不仅如此，

because every woman is either too witchy

or too meek.

数据可以建立底线

和测量进度。

Metrics are also superimportant for another reason:

通过结合经历和数据，

to establish baselines

我们发现小的改变也可以有深远的影响

and measure progress.

If you use evidence and metrics,

举个例子，

what we have found is that small tweaks can have really big effects.

当一个公司让我们分析

他们的绩效评估时。

So we've worked with one company, for example,

我们发现只有9.5%的有色人群

who asked us to look at their performance evaluations.

被评估为有领导力的。

And when we did,

we found that only 9.5 percent of the people of color

这比白色女性群体低了70%。

had leadership mentioned in their performance evaluations.

这些数据十分重要，

因为领导力往往意味着升职。

That was 70 points lower than white women.

所以我们帮助这个公司做了两件事。

And that was superimportant because, as you can imagine,

mentions of leadership predicted advancement.

首先，我们重新设计了绩效评估的表格。

And so we worked with them to do two simple things.

其次，我们帮助他们开展了 一个一小时的讨论课，

First, we redesigned the performance evaluations form.

使用前年真实的绩效评估，

让员工们回答一个简单的问题：

And second, we help them develop a simple one-hour workshop that,

五种偏见规律中的哪个出现了？

among other things,

projected actual comments from the prior year's performance evaluations,

还是说根本没有偏见。

并讨论了其他问题。

and asked people a simple question:

仅仅如此，这个公司第二年的绩效评估中，

Which of the five patterns of bias does this represent,

100%的有色人群被描述为有领导力

or is it no bias?

100%的有色人群被描述为有领导力

Just doing that, we found in year two,

这个公司还有另一个问题。

100 percent of the people of color had leadership mentioned

将近20%的白人女性的绩效评估中

in their performance evaluations.

At this company, white women, they had a different problem.

提到了不愿意参与公司的股票

提到了不愿意参与公司的股票

Almost 20 percent had comments in their performance evaluations

而我们怀疑这些女性从未说过该想法。

that they didn't really want to make partner --

这仅仅是假设。

所以在那个一小时的讨论课中， 我们告诉大家，

this was a partnership.

And we suspected the women hadn't actually said that.

“除非你真的问过这名员工，并且她说她不想参加股票，

It was just assumptions.

不然就不要这么写”

And so in that one-hour workshop, we told people,

"Hey, don't say this unless you've actually had a conversation,

在第二年，只有一名女性得到了那个评价--

and someone has told you they don't want to make partner."

整个公司就只有一名女性。

我们帮助了上百个公司

In year two, only one woman got that comment --

one woman in the entire company.

在多样性问题上做出实质的进步

And so what we find is that we have helped over 100 companies

越来越多的证据表明， 这些偏见终止项目有作用。

actually make progress towards their diversity goals.

最好的一点是这些项目帮助 公司里的每一个群体。

And there's growing evidence that these bias interrupters work.

所以在我刚刚提到的那个公司里，

And the best thing about them is that they help every single group.

有色人群在第二年明显 得到了更多建设性评价

So in this company I've been talking about,

多了将近30%。

不仅如此，白人女性也得到了 更多的建设性评价。

in year two, people of color got wildly more constructive feedback --

白人男性也是一样。

it was like a 30-percent jump.

如果你的商业模式是建立 在经历的基础上，

But white women, they got more constructive feedback, too,

那将对所有群体都有帮助。

and so did white men.

所以如果你仔细想想， 公司的结构，文化

If you design your systems based on evidence,

it's going to help every single group.

都代表着你已经招募的员工。

So the bottom line, if you think about it, your systems and your culture,

如果你想在未来保持现状，

那当然不需要做出改变。

they reflect the people you've already hired.

So if you want to replicate that workforce into the future,

但是

如果你想在多样性，

平权，包容（DEI）做出改变

definitely keep on doing exactly what you're doing.

But if you don't,

if you actually want to make progress

我对CEO们的建议很简单：

on diversity, equity and inclusion -- what we call DEI --

你已经知道该做什么了

使用标准的商业方法

my message to CEOs is reassuring:

从经历起手，

收集数据并建立底线和测量进度

you already know what to do.

Use standard business tools,

坚持到成功为止。

start from the evidence,

gather metrics to establish baselines and measure progress

这正是新DEI的使用手册。

并且有效。

and keep at it until you achieve your goals.

谢谢。

That's the new DEI playbook.

And it works.

Thank you.