Like many of you, I've felt crippled by grief this past weekend. I'm grieving George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, James Scurlock, Tony McDade, and many others whose names I'll never know. As I watch police increase violence targeting black people protesting across the country amidst a global pandemic and economic recession, it feels like too much to bear or even comprehend-- especially as I continue to grieve the comforts and routines I've altered for the sake of public health.

It's easy (and human) to feel hopelessness and despair right now -- that's certainly how I've spent much of the last few months, weeks, and days. 

This morning, though, I found energy in my work -- my tools to do something about all this. I built my consulting practice to share these tools so that values-driven organizations like yours can create positive change, especially in times of crisis. 

My work -- and our work together -- is rooted in a mission to disrupt systemic injustice through strong internal policies, practices, systems, and cultures -- and a belief that without these intentional tools, organizations can perpetuate inequity and injustice by default. 

With that in mind, I'd like to offer you a few tips and resources for this moment: 

• Internal Communications: If you haven't yet, it's critical to acknowledge this moment for your staff. Silence in the face of injustice, after all, is complicity. While it may be tempting to retreat into Business As Usual as a coping mechanism, remember that business simply is not usual -- it hasn't been since March. Feel free to reference my COVID-19 toolkit for more on managing in a time of crisis, and reach out so we can strategize together around how best to message this in your particular company culture. 

• Employee Support: Make space for your employees--especially your black employees--to grieve and care for themselves during this traumatizing time. Reach out to let them know you are thinking of them and their well-being. Space can look like adjusted timelines/goals, additional PTO (and explicit time off to attend protests), schedule flexibility, staff meetings, and more. Again, there's tons of information in the toolkit about why trauma can make it impossible for us to be productive, and how to effectively engage employees in times of crisis. Please use it! As always, I'm available to help figure out what the best solutions could look like for your unique circumstances. 

• External Communications: Finally, you may be considering making a public statement -- which could be a great thing to do! We've all seen (and cringed at) many brand statements in response to current events, and it can feel challenging to know just what to say. The best guidance I've seen on this recently is from film maker Rafael Cascal, who created the image below as an example of what *not* to do. His guidance for a good public statement is essentially to write about the anti-racism work that your company is committed to, and to which your customers can hold you accountable. For a great example, see the statement Sir Kensington's (one of my clients) just made. More on this below. 

​Regardless of whether you want to make a public statement about it, being mindful of your organizational impact on systemic racism requires deep work--if it were easy, you'd see a lot more orgs doing it! But through your diversity, equity, and inclusion work, you're well on your way. Many of you are building equitable hiring practices, compensation structures, and performance review systems, and hiring historically underrepresented talent into leadership positions. That's a big part of what will help decrease the pay gap between white people and people of color. Others of you are making sure your employees are trained to address microaggressions, have support systems (like employee resources groups or DEI councils) to process current events with, and modeling vulnerability and allyship across your leadership team. This is a big part of the ongoing work that creates powerful infrastructure to support employees without re-inventing the wheel in times of crisis. And per that last bullet, sharing about it publicly sets an example in your industry that can push other brands to make similar commitments, so your impact is broadened. 
None of this is simple, but it's certainly easier when we navigate it together. Please, reach out to talk through any of this. I'm here as your thought partner, strategist, and co-conspirator.

Thank you for the opportunity to affect powerful change with you.

In solidarity,
Natania

​Note: This is an abbreviated article. For your free full toolkit, click here.

As a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultant, I spend my days helping organizations live their values. I’m grateful to work with leaders who prioritize building organizations whose ethics are reflected in their work and environment. But as the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19 create significant pressure for all organizations, I’m starting to hear some new questions from clients who care deeply about their DEI work:
What can I be doing to build team morale through this transition? How can I make budget decisions in a way that is aligned with our organizational values? Do we have time for our diversity, equity, and inclusion work during coronavirus?

As we discuss the answers that are right for each of them, I find a common thread: it’s in times of crisis, when living by our values feels harder than ever, that doing so matters most.

COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on both personal and professional values. Companies are navigating new problems and tough decisions every day, and many are worried about compromising the diversity, equity, and inclusion values that they’ve worked to shape. Workers are facing challenges they’ve never had before, and looking to employers for support through difficult transitions.

Managers who are modeling their company’s values to build strength and resilience during this challenging time start by acknowledging two things:
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1. Exhaustion and inability to focus are normal, healthy responses to a global pandemic. Feeling stressed, tired, and unproductive is a natural and understandable reaction to what’s going on.
2. Making space for all of the new responsibilities people have right now is important. Prioritizing things like childcare, making time to focus on mental health, and other care work will keep us healthy, flatten the curve, and enable much higher quality work when we do have time for it.

​So, we can’t have business as usual right now. Navigating new stress about health and finances while homeschooling kids, managing depression and anxiety, and staying on schedule at work…probably isn’t realistic. But that’s ok! What’s key is that we adapt our business strategies accordingly.

1. Assemble a diverse crisis response team, if you haven’t already. Include employees who have different perspectives than you, know things you don’t know, and/or can help you understand possible unintended consequences of different decisions (perhaps because the decisions will impact them differently). This likely means, at a minimum, including people who represent various levels and departments within the organization. If you have Employee Resource Groups and/or a Diversity Council, ask them to send representatives to help create demographic diversity on your team.
2. With that team, consider which of the ideas below might be appropriate actions for you to take. Ground your discussion in your organization’s values. Discuss what you can do to ensure your actions during this time represent the kind of organization you aspire to be. Your list might include adaptations of the ideas in this series, and/or new ideas that the discussion helps you uncover. (In which case, let me know what you uncover so I can share it with others!)
3. Take it one step further: what’s stopping you from keeping these adjustments once the pandemic is over? The disability justice community has been advocating for many of these changes for a long time, and has pioneered many of the best practices we’re all benefiting from right now. Many of these adjustments would make the workforce much more inclusive if adapted in the long-term, allowing us to benefit from increased diversity and enjoy the benefits of living our values more fully. We may find, in other words, that there are parts of business as usual we don’t need to go back to.
4. Communicate any changes with the whole organization, being as transparent as possible. Explain how the decisions you’ve made are rooted in your values.
5. Finally, share your journey! We’re all learning with each other right now, so don’t forget to tell your colleagues and me what unique ideas you come up with, and reach out when you want to talk things through with an expert.

With this in mind, here are five ways your organization can use strong diversity, equity, and inclusion values to navigate this pandemic. Download your copy of the free toolkit for the full list of tactics.

Why? 
Inaccurate rhetoric and the spread of misinformation about the virus has fueled a rise in violent, racist acts and hate speech, particularly toward East Asians.

How? 
Use language accurately in your company communications: remember this virus is called COVID-19 or novel coronavirus — it is NOT the “China virus” or the “Wuhan virus,” and referring to it as such stokes stigma, racial violence, and oppression. If you hear folks referring to it as such or see other xenophobic or racist behavior, create a learning moment to make it clear that hate is not tolerated in your organization.
Download the full toolkit to learn more ways to combat xenophobia and racism.
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Why? 
Added stress hurts productivity and work quality and weakens our immune systems. And a global pandemic creates no shortage of added stress.

How?
Leading with empathy, think creatively about what kinds of additional benefits could help your team right now. My favorite example:

Unlimited PTO for new responsibilities related to COVID-19. Think: childcare (and homeschooling!) or family care, recovering from illness, grocery shopping during off-peak store hours, mental health care, etc. Remember that caring for one’s own mental health is critical during this time, and must be valued just as much as any of the other responsibilities listed here. Unlimited PTO helps employees to be more focused on the task in front of them, worrying less about what they “should” be doing with that time.

Regardless of your PTO policy, emphasize equitable treatment around schedule flexibility. For example, rather than shifting work away from parents with known childcare responsibilities, asking those who haven’t shared about any extra obligations to pick up the slack, think about ways to make everyone’s load lighter. In other words, assume everyone has extra responsibilities at home right now, even if they’re not easily visible to you.
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Download the full toolkit to see three more examples of creative benefits companies are providing right now.

Why?
The experience of working from home is VERY different right now. Trust those of us who’ve been doing it for a while: We’re not “working from home.” We’re at home during a crisis trying to work. That makes it all the more important to embrace those best practices.

How?
​Thanks to leadership from the disability justice community, we already have very strong best practices to help boost productivity while working from home. My favorite:

Set up blocks of time in your calendar to be unavailable. Working from home can make work days a lot longer, which is often harmful to our mental and physical health. Make sure your calendar includes breaks during the day (lunch is a great one to start with) so you step away from your computer to move around. Set aside time to be offline or do nothing when it works for your schedule.
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Download the full toolkit to see four more work-from-home best practices that will improve organizational effectiveness.
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Why? 
Effective people management is crucial in a crisis, and we know that employee engagement has a strong impact on business success — but our go-to methods for these key functions might not work (or be appropriate) in these non-standard times. Thinking creatively about supporting teams virtually can offer new ways to show them that you care about them as people, providing resources and opportunities to not only boost their productivity, but to reinvest them emotionally in their organization.

How?
Think about unique ways to boost team morale and build community inside your organization, even while you’re physically apart. Examples I like include:

Put extra time into fostering team engagement. Virtual happy hours (my favorite is “meet pets and families” day), “lunch and learns” over Zoom, themed meetings (funny hat day, anyone?) and more can be great moments to connect despite physical distance.

Adjust goals and priorities with your team. This is a big shift, and not all timelines can or should proceed as planned. Work proactively with your team to make sure they know that adapting timelines is expected during this time. It’s the responsible way to proceed — and you’re doing it too.

If you’re making budget cuts, adjusting goals and priorities takes on extra importance. Provide strong support to help staff navigate the impact of those cuts on how they spend their time. For example, if you decide to cut all salaries by 20% and have staff only work 80% of the time, provide clear guidance around what that 80% should look like. Is the company closed every Friday? Should all employees or teams set their own hours? Is there a block of time each day when all employees should try to be available to each other? What projects will be cut, priorities shifted, or goals adjusted to accommodate for the reduced capacity?
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Download the full toolkit to see five more examples of ways organizations are improving employee engagement during COVID-19.

Why?
Because it’s the right thing to do. And because it’s an incredible opportunity to show the world what your brand stands for.

How?
​Convene a diverse group to think about how your organization is uniquely situated to help others right now. Two examples I’m celebrating:

C-Suite leaders are foregoing their salaries to reduce the need for layoffs or pay cuts for more financially vulnerable staff. Others are scaffolding pay freezes or pay cuts so that they don’t disproportionately cause more harm to those who make lower salaries. Consider what a minimum wage would look like if it aligned with your company values, and try to design pay cuts such that they don’t put anyone below that salary. (This will also benefit your company’s bottom line!)

Companies are re-purposing their resources to make an impact. Restaurants are preparing meals for healthcare workers and those living in poverty. Perfume factories and distilleries are producing hand sanitizer. Clothing factories are making face masks. You may not have these kinds of resources available to you, but employees could have creative ideas for ways to repurpose the resources you do have.
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Download the full toolkit to see two more examples of how organizations are finding ways to have a positive broader impact during COVID-19.

These are just a few of the tools I’m seeing leaders use to bolster organizational resilience through COVID-19.

Make sure to download the full toolkit so you don’t miss other ideas that could make a difference for your team.

What other dilemmas are you facing around coronavirus? How have these tools and others been working for you?
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Reach out and I’d be honored to navigate this together with you.