It can be a scary experience to be in a place where you don’t look like everybody else, and this is true for people of color when we come into white dominated spaces. So when we started coming up with ideas for how to form our affinity group, our goal was to figure out ways for our colleagues to be comfortable bringing their true selves to work. While our initial focus was on race and ethnicity, we also tried to create a culture where this extends to other aspects of who we are, including but not limited to our gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, and everything else that makes us the incredible unique team members we all are.Ĭreate opportunities for different levels of engagement, from leadership to passive participation Your reason for existing is to make your colleagues feel safe to be who they are We learned that it’s better to do something and learn, than to plan things out for two years and do nothing. We started with lunch. We invited about 20 colleagues to bring a bag lunch, discussed our ideas for creating a group, and agreed to do it again the following month. The next month we had even more people, and we grew in numbers and activities from there. If you can’t do lunch, go do happy hour. Or if it needs to be more formal, try to put together some kind of event that works in your work culture, but do something. And do it now.Īdmit what you don’t know and ask for helpĭespite the title of this blog, which was written to grab your attention, I did not start our affinity group on my own. I was there at the beginning, when three staff put our heads together, but from the moment we started bringing our ideas to the attention of our colleagues, we had help, including from our fellow HR professionals. And my God did we need the help, because none of us had any idea what we were doing. You’d be surprised how much your colleagues are willing to help if you ask them. Also, be humble. No one has the answers to everything. This can be especially hard for men.
Recognizing that I’m not an expert on this, but knowing that maybe I could pass some knowledge or experience off to others who are considering doing similar things in their place of work, I want to share 8 things I wish I had known when we set out to create an affinity group for people of color at work.
It’s not necessarily what we set out to do, but that’s what happened. We initially came together to talk among ourselves about our shared experiences, but it grew into a formal organization, with committees, chairs, events, and most recently, recognition from our employer. It’s been stressful, but fulfilling, and looking back, it’s been some of the most meaningful work I’ve done in recent years. Two years ago, two of my co-workers and I set out to form an organization within our organization where the people of color we worked with could gather to talk about the issues that uniquely face the people who look like us. In the beginning our intentions were no more sophisticated than creating a space where we could talk to one another. But conversations turned into plans, and now we are the founders and leaders of a staff-led, vibrant People of Color Employee Resource Group.
#Affinity groups professional
I have worked in conservation my entire professional career, and for the last 11 years have worked mostly in an office setting in Washington, DC for an organization that is majority white. I am not an HR professional, nor am I an expert in Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) issues, but I know firsthand some of the common barriers and experiences of being a person of color.įor example, I am often complimented on my ability to speak English and at every stage of my life people have been unable or unwilling to pronounce my name correctly. But I’m a man in 40s, so I have privileges that many people of color do not have. I also have light skin. And I am somewhat comfortable in white spaces, not just at the fancy schools and the places I’ve worked, but also when I spend time with my mom’s extended family.
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