From backing women at work to promoting LGBT inclusion, Dr Jonathan Smith is challenging HR professionals to get more involved with the issues that affect people other than themselves
Have you ever noticed the number of women who are challenging the glass ceiling, or working to increase the number of women on boards? What about the number of people with a disability promoting disability awareness courses, or the people of colour promoting race awareness?
Of course we can all think of exceptions – for example, the allies who support and campaign for LGBT rights – but I propose that the majority of people tackling a particular issue or championing a specific cause are from the same demographic as those who are most affected by that issue.
If this proposal is true then, much as it pains me to say it, my Dad may be right in his assertion that it doesn’t hurt until it knocks on your own door.
If this is the case, then I ask myself: why? Do others who are not as directly affected simply not see the issues? Do we not care about other groups that we would say we do not fit into? Do we not care enough to do anything about the discrimination or disadvantage they experience? Are we just relieved that we have managed to escape that particular disadvantage – or even happy that we might be one of those who benefits from the disadvantage of another? Are we living in a society where it really is just about the survival of the fittest, strongest or the majority?
Of course those who are most affected by a particular issue are likely to know more about it than anyone else, but I wonder what it would be like if a member who was not directly affected by the issue stood up or promoted that issue. So, for example, what would be the impact of men promoting equal pay for women, or if people who do not at the moment experience mental health issues promoted the need to consider mental health more in the workplace? Would it be more powerful, more impactful if this happened? Would others feel more valued and recognised? What are the experiences of the many people who already do this?
I wonder what the impact would be if white people in the UK began to question and challenge the reason for the large number of black people who have been shot and killed by white police officers in America? Would the more than 1,000 killings* that took place in 2015 be reduced?
What would be the impact if we each took responsibility for looking at an issue that was knocking on somebody else’s door – rather than on the door of somebody from the same house, clan, gender, colour, sexual orientation or country as ourselves? What if we could see that it was actually hurting ourselves, even if it wasn’t directly knocking on our own door? After all, aren’t these issues knocking on the door of our human race?
Reference
* Police Pursuit of the Common Good, G Charles (2016)
Dr Jonathan Smith is director of Salmon Personal Development Ltd