By Robyn Stone
The LeadingAge Leaders of Color Network marked its first anniversary this fall. Robyn Stone was there and wants other white leaders to join her.
It wouldn’t take long for a passerby on the street to ascertain that I am not a leader of color.
And yet, I proudly wore a Leaders of Color ribbon on my badge at the recent LeadingAge Annual Meeting & EXPO in Denver. I enthusiastically participated in every conference activity sponsored by the new LeadingAge Leaders of Color Network. And I left Denver with two strong feelings.
First, I felt welcomed by network members who graciously invited me to take my place in one of LeadingAge’s newest, and fastest growing, member groups. I also felt challenged as a white leader in the field of aging services to find a way to help the network achieve its mission.
My message to other white leaders at LeadingAge is simple: You also are welcome—and invited—to join and to help.
What exactly does that mean? Let me answer that question by explaining how I view the Leaders of Color Network’s dual mission at LeadingAge.
The Leaders of Color Network strives to build a community where senior, mid-level, and emerging leaders of color employed by LeadingAge member organizations can find a sounding board for sharing their challenges and success stories, a platform for exchanging resources and ideas, and a forum where they can discuss topics that reflect their needs and interests.
If this year’s annual meeting was any indication, the network is succeeding in this first mission. It was thrilling to watch leaders of color enjoy such a high level of comradery and belonging. Those feelings of belonging come easily to most white LeadingAge members who gather at the annual meeting each year. Unfortunately, feelings of belonging have traditionally been more elusive for our members of color.
Last March, my LeadingAge colleague Adrienne Ruffin wrote a powerful blog describing how surprised she was, as a leader of color, “to find few people who looked like me” when she arrived at her first Annual Meeting many years ago. Understandably, Adrienne found that experience to be isolating, awkward, and shocking. The Leaders of Color Network aims to ensure that people of color in our field don’t feel that way anymore.
The Leaders of Color Network strives to promote leadership diversity in our field. The network was designed very intentionally to support and facilitate career advancement among people of color at LeadingAge member organizations. This kind of career advancement should naturally lead to leadership diversity in our field.
White leaders in our sector should care very much about this aspect of the network’s mission.
Working toward increased diversity in our field is the right thing to do. And a literature review conducted last fall by the LeadingAge LTSS Center shows that diversity and inclusion in the workplace is also good for business. It leads to increased revenue; reduced costs; greater innovation; and improved employee engagement, productivity, and commitment.
Having more diverse middle-management and C-Suite teams will also help us do a much better job of recruiting and retaining frontline professional caregivers, who represent a diverse array of racial and ethnic populations. We need all the help we can get to recruit and retain more of these essential frontline caregivers.
What role can white leaders play in advancing the mission of the Leaders of Color Network? I have a few suggestions:
- Become a strong ally of the network by showing an interest in the experience and insights of network members, by supporting the network’s mission, and by doing what you can to bring about the changes that network members are seeking. Those changes will come about more quickly if current leaders in our field are on board.
- Encourage your team members to become part of the Leaders of Color Network. Support these team members by giving them the time they need to participate fully in network activities.
- Participate in the network’s meetings and activities. Don’t assume that, as a white leader, you are not welcome. Network organizers are committed to making the Leaders of Color Network an inclusive group and they welcome all LeadingAge members.
- Offer opportunities for career growth. Recognize the talent that already exists among your diverse staff and nurture that talent through leadership training. Implement mentorship and sponsorship programs that match emerging leaders of color with established leaders who can guide them and help them advance in our field.
- Make a commitment to recruit a more diverse group of leaders to join your organization’s management and C-Suite teams. Then, take steps to ensure that these leaders will want to stay on your team.
Advancing diversity in the field of aging services is a huge task and no one group can tackle it on its own. Leaders of color have a big role to play in this effort, and I’m delighted that they have made such a strong start in this work at LeadingAge. But they can’t do it alone. Growing diversity is something we need to do together.
You are welcome to join us in this worthy and important endeavor. I hope you will.
Robyn I. Stone, DrPH, is senior vice president of research at LeadingAge, and co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. Her widely published work addresses long-term care policy and quality, chronic care for people with disabilities, the aging services workforce, affordable senior housing, and family caregiving.