Would Martin Luther King Jr. hire a diverse staff if he couldn’t judge a character by the color of their skin?
As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today and the extraordinary feats he accomplished in his time as a civil rights activist, I thought it would be fun to explore what he would think about where we are as a country and Diversity & Inclusion in today’s workplace. MLK’s dream was that one day he would live in a nation where a man would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. What if we took this theory and applied it to today’s business world. What if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were a hiring manager? If MLK couldn’t use race as a factor in the hiring process, would his staff be diverse? Would he hire the diverse staff that he had dreamed of if he were to hire based solely on the candidates’ skills & talents and not based on the color of their skin? If the determining factor was skill, education, and experience would his staff consist of just one particular race?
With better opportunities to all cultures for higher education and the options for how and where we learn, plus the advancement of technology, the expertise, skill and experience gap has narrowed. As a result of the skill and talent gap being narrowed, one would argue that MLK would hire the diverse staff that he dreamed of back in the civil rights era.
However, as you know, diversity encompasses way more than race. And it is in these areas where companies could be vulnerable. Typically, we run the candidate through an interview process. During the process, we, as hiring managers, assess if they are capable of doing the job. We also, may have a series of questions and interactions designed to weed out those who may be toxic to your organization’s ecosystem. This is the part that could use a major overhaul to the hiring process. These are the areas where we could add a completely different methodology and technology to this equation. Education, skills, and experience will reveal if an individual can do the job, but they will not help you to determine if the individual will actually thrive.
Thanks to advancements in technology we now have ability to effectively “map” an individual and reasonably predict if that individual will do the job and thrive. Imagine the possibilities when you can assess a person’s behavioral profile, driving forces, motivators, and emotional quotient and determine if individual will be the right fit for your organization; not just do the job. This data can help you determine not only the deficits of the person that may affect your diversity and inclusion policies, but it will also reveal what deficits are deal breakers for your company’s environment.
Being able to effectively read and act on the data does take some skill. But, the awesome part is that it doesn’t require talent. It requires practice and patience. The skills themselves are 100% teachable.
