Can you remember the first time you were invited to sit at the grownups’ table? The feeling of finally being included, special, good enough?
Me, too.
I am a little ashamed to admit that I guarded my seat jealously, and I was none too eager for my younger siblings to join me in that seat of honor.
Do you have a grownups’ table in your business? Who is sitting there…and how much room are they making for more people to join?
During this month when we are celebrating Black History, we’ve remembered trailblazers and pioneers who created their own grownups’ table when the white, mainstream business community not only didn’t give them a seat at the table, but often didn’t even let them in the room.
People like Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln…and Madame C.J. Walker, one of the first female self-made millionaires in the United States…or Maggie Lena Walker, the first woman of any race to charter a bank in the United States.
If these strong, successful women hadn’t lived long before Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm entered public life, you might think they were heeding her advice: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
As a business owner, you get to decide who gets to sit at the grownups’ table in your business. You determine how many seats are at the table and what it takes to earn one. And you set the tone for how everyone else at the table welcomes others.
When the right people are at the table, ALL the right people, your business benefits. Fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion ensures that your business is optimizing your most important asset…people.
Here are five things you can do to make sure your table is welcoming and inclusive:
Don’t just be a boss, be a mentor – Invite participation and new ideas, listen receptively and be respectful with your feedback. Coach future leaders and find ways to create a bridge between what has been, what is now, and what can be in the future.
Keep the pipeline active – When you are thinking about who should be included in discussions, don’t just concentrate on the people already sitting at the big table. Create opportunities for aspiring leaders to contribute and participate. Make the path to leadership clear and make sure that there is movement in the pipeline. A sure way to lose good talent is to keep them waiting in the wings too long.
Create ownership – Don’t just make your team aware of the vision, give them a role in creating it. Be willing to let go and take some risks to try new things. Allow for stretch opportunities where people can try out new roles and ideas without fear of failure. People invest more when they have an ownership in the outcome.
Honor diversity – Have you created an organization that basically looks just like you? That doesn’t leave much room or sense of welcome at the table. Do you have conscious or unconscious biases about race, gender, age, disability, sexuality, or leadership style that make it hard for someone to see themselves as a leader in your business? If people don’t see others who look like them at the grownup table, they will never imagine that there will be a seat for them at the table.
Be willing to create a bigger table – There can be a temptation to keep the grownups’ table small to keep it manageable and comfortable. Don’t give in. When you limit the seats at the table, you limit the possibilities for your business.
When you have the right-sized table with the right people sitting at the table, your business will be prosperous and your table abundant. Create that table…and make sure nobody has to bring a folding chair!
Blessings,
