BLM: An Equality After-action Plan
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE, IT IS A HUMAN ISSUE.
The tremendous pain felt by the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others have led to a collective reflection by the world on systemic racial injustices.
During this time, RiverNorth’s founders pondered the appropriate response. We debated not taking a stance at all, lest we unintentionally alienate one group over the other or say the wrong thing. For a brief moment, we felt that taking a stance on one political issue could become a “slippery slope,” requiring us to take a stance on all political issues...but then we woke the hell up, because:
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE, IT IS A HUMAN ISSUE.
The idea that all humans should be free of discrimination, have equal access and opportunity, and feel safe in all aspects of their life is the essence of the “wholeness” mantra RiverNorth preaches. These are not political causes – they do not require debate to know they are true, and they take nothing away from anyone but comfort. We all sign up for that non-negotiable truth, wholesale, when we join RiverNorth.
While the BLM movement has created some uncomfortable reflections for many in our country — nothing worth changing ever evolved by staying “comfortable.” We must all embrace the discomfort and do the hard work that challenges our privilege, cognitive dissonance, and internal biases. For four white founders, this means recognizing that our reflections about the BLM movement are largely irrelevant — this is about listening to (with a commitment to actually hearing) the voices of black lives who have been continually marginalized, harmed, and de-humanized by the actions and omissions of this country, its institutions, and corporations.
We want everyone who reads this to know that:
RiverNorth is a safe space. It’s easy to write, it’s harder to prove. Trust and openness happen over time, with each interaction…we get that. But we want you to know that whether you work at RiverNorth, are a friend of RiverNorth’s, or simply passing through, this is a company where no one ever has to use caution when proclaiming proudly, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”
Perpetuating the status quo is not an option. It would be easy to point to a zero-tolerance policy for racism and discrimination in our employee handbook (because it’s there). But what good is a policy if it’s not met with action, or worse yet, is contradicted by action? That is why this post is as much about acknowledging that Black Lives Matter as it is about committing in writing to RiverNorth’s Equality After-Action Plan.
EQUALITY AFTER-ACTION PLAN
RiverNorth isn’t perfect. Let’s just start there and not sugarcoat it. We have four founders — all white, three men. Our professional networks reflect our privilege and the demographics of where we grew up, went to school, and worked. Rather than defending this, we’re putting the uncomfortable truth out there and letting it stand. Because we are all much more interested in fixing it than justifying it.
So, how do we fix this? Companies are not sentient beings capable of action. Action and responsibility rest upon the people who comprise business entities. Rather than saying “RiverNorth will…,” we are making commitments as founders of RiverNorth to how we will change and behave. Below are the steps we have already taken (beyond policies and procedures), followed by several commitments that we are making as founders to move the needle further —
What we are already doing:
Using a compensation structure that eliminates inequity and bias for those with the same skills and ability: We take a formulaic approach to determining pay bands and have a zero-negotiation policy. This ensures that any potential discrimination or biases are not factored into compensation decisions. Each employee falls into a “Level” that is determined based on objective criteria. Employees at each level earn the same salary as one another (and when one person at a level gets a raise, everyone in that level gets the same raise). All this information is available for employees to review — every employee knows what every other employee makes, providing complete transparency to employees that we practice what we preach.
Using a flat governance structure: While a few C-suite positions exist for legal/external purposes, internally there are no formal titles or hierarchical structures. Our flat governance structure helps us avoid discrimination by eliminating promotion biases. Without a boss, we remove fear of repercussion and retaliation. This means that employees can be more candid with each other.
Using our equitable fundamental assumptions (including wholeness) as the criteria for all decision making to reduce unconscious bias from being introduced.
What we are committing to do from this moment forward:
Acknowledging our privilege and unconscious biases… if we slip up, we will listen to understand, apologize without excuses, and do better next time.
Educating ourselves on systemic racism, oppression, and white supremacy in this country. This includes encouraging employees to do the same by maintaining a list of resources on our internal collaboration site and training employees on unconscious bias to increase awareness and understanding.
Speaking up when someone outside of RiverNorth makes a racist or discriminatory comment, including if that someone is a partner or a client (this is already our behavior inside RiverNorth).
Recognizing (and taking steps to eliminate) micro-aggressions in the workplace, including verbal and non-verbal behaviors (such as interruptions while speaking), disproportionate assignment of administrative tasks, using different descriptions for the same behavior, and diminished expectations or underestimations.
Further diversifying our recruiting process with the goal of interviewing and hiring diverse candidates…this requires multiple sub-tasks, such as reviewing job postings and our hiring process for points of bias, as well as closely monitoring the proportion of black employees at higher pay-bands.
Diversifying our personal networks by seeking out professional associations who prioritize inclusion and staying vigilant to identify potential biases from our networking activities.
Providing emotional support to our employees as future events occur, including acknowledging that events like George Floyd’s murder can have profound personal effects on mental health, as well as de-stigmatizing “mental health days” or taking time to protest and volunteer.
Viewing Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality as an integral part of our culture, not just a policy statement, “to do” item on a list, or something that can be “tackled” later.
Being transparent about our progress toward these goals by publishing an annual update publicly, including admitting where we fall short or opportunities to do better.
FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE YET?
Is our Equality After-Action Plan enough? Assuredly not. Is it just the beginning? Absolutely.
Because right now, our action plan feels uncomfortable — we are afraid of saying something wrong. But what we have learned is that not speaking because of how it makes us feel is misdirected…it’s not about how we feel!
Like many in the country, we’re sitting inside that place of discomfort where change starts to happen.
Over time, this discomfort will start to feel like second nature. And that will be our cue to work harder and get back to feeling uncomfortable again…and repeating that process over and over until there is nothing left to feel uncomfortable about because true change has taken place.