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| Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler |
Previously, she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Inclusion Officer for Children’s Hospital Colorado – the first African American woman to hold that position in the organizations 100+ year history. She also is the former Executive Director of the Office of Human Resources for the City and County of Denver – the first African American woman to hold that position in the 63+ year history of the agency.
Dr. Mosby Tyler, a consultant accredited by the Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence, is nationally recognized for her equity work with non-profit, community, government and for-profit organizations. In her work, Dr. Mosby-Tyler specializes in the development and delivery of leadership, equity, diversity, cultural responsiveness and inclusiveness training programs and strategies. Some of her clients and collaborative efforts include the University of Colorado Hospital, The Aurora Police Department, The Center for Trauma and Resilience, Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations – The City and County of Denver, The ACLU of Colorado, Denver Police Department, and more.
In the first installation of a two-part series, Dr. Mosby Tyler discusses The Equity Project’s unique perspective and vision for helping organizations lead systems change to advance equity.
Click here for the second part of the interview with Dr. Nita.
What is the creation story of The Equity Project?
The Equity Project has been in my head for a couple of decades now. My profession has been human resources for over 30 years. In the context of that work, I have always done work and talks around strategic planning, diversity, equity and inclusion.
I knew in my gut that there would come a day when it would be the only work that I dedicate my life to. That’s what happened to me this year. In January of 2017, I decided to leave my executive role at Children’s Hospital of Colorado to launch The Equity Project. It was very clear that it was the right time in history, the right time in my life, and the right time in my professional career to start to share what I’ve learned about the word of equity.
So that’s what I did. I knew that I wanted to get on the national speaker circuit on the topic. I knew that I wanted to help organizations to build their strategies around equity. I knew that I wanted to be a key player in facilitating conversations between community and organizations, so they may build equity in their systems.
In starting The Equity Project, what were some of the lessons that you found most useful from your 30+ years of experience?
We have to deconstruct the word “equity” so that people know its component parts. I do believe that we have confused the words diversity, equity, inclusion, equality, fairness, and justice. Now, no one knows the difference between the words, and what we’re supposed to do operationally.
That’s a key learning for me. We can’t continue with the evolution of words, and not pause long enough to delineate between them. I share this a lot when I talk on this topic. We have to know when we’re in a revolution and when we’re in an evolution. Oftentimes, this work may seem revolutionary because we feel frustrated and we know that changes need to be made.
But the reality is that equity is evolutionary work. One generation at a time will remedy things that are broken, righting things that are wrong, and strengthen things that are weak. Change does not happen overnight; and lasting change happens through evolution.
How is The Equity Project’s approach different from other diversity and inclusion consultancies?
One of the ways that we differ is in the positions that I hold about where we went wrong in history on this topic. Part of where we went sideways is the way in which we defined the word “diversity” back in the 1980s, when we started really talking about it.
We isolated white people from the definition of diversity back then. When we described diversity, we described it as if it were a synonym for race. It excluded white people from ever believing that they are part of “diversity.”
We also did something that created a problem for us. When we described diversity as “people of color,” we also only talked about the oppressions of people of color. We never talked about the values, benefits and contributions of people of color.
When we don’t include white people in the definition of diversity, and we only describe the oppressions of people of color, then that creates a major setup for failure. It becomes very difficult for inclusion to spring from that.
What makes our approach different is that we go through that reconciliation work, and call it out as part of the solution to getting to systems of equity.
What are the key challenges you’ve encountered in working with people who are leading change in their organizations?
The number one challenge is that often, organizations are not really sure what equity means, and how it differs from equality, diversity and inclusion. It’s important to determine what we’re doing, what lane we’re in, and how we want to go about working on goals surrounding those topics.
I see this a lot in organizations: foundations and nonprofits in particular want to work in equity without having to deal with what’s happening in diversity and inclusion. When we’re hostage to the buzzwords, then we’re really not doing anything to change their operations to achieve equity.
On the plus side, I am beginning to see that organizations and systems really understand the importance of this work. If in no other part in history, people today understand that equity – particularly, racial equity – is something that we need to tackle.
There’s a sense that if we don’t eradicate institutional racism, none of the other things will work. We need to get this right. For example, if you’re working on gender parity, and institutional racism is at the core of the problem, then gender parity will not happen either.
Organizations are asking: where’s our starting point? I see a sincere willingness to engage on these issues that I’ve never seen before, in another part of history.
It’s important to level-set who we’re talking about when we address diversity. If you don’t include white people in the definition of diversity, then the rest of the conversation won’t matter. They have to see themselves in diversity, or they will always be “other-focused.” Because white people have been other-focused, they get to opt in and out of the conversation about racism. If they are in the definition, then they become part of, and become the leaders of the fight to end racism.
The system is what it is because it was built this way. Racism is a white issue. We don’t need white allies against racism: we need white people to lead the fight. A key learning for me is that we have to shift the white allyship model, and get white people to be in the position to lead the work of dismantling racism.
What can organizations do to sustain critical conversations in advancing racial equity and justice?
Some solutions are complicated, and some are simple. When organizations have committed to do something around racial equity, then you have to build those conversations and practices in every part of your organization – down to the agenda for staff meetings, for example. What’s on the agenda that gives people a chance to talk about racial equity? Keeping equity at the forefront gives staff the opportunity can start to chip away at inequities in the system.
Even in our staff meetings at The Equity Project, we will pause in our meeting to talk about language. What words do you hear used that are really irritating? Some folks shared that when they hear “you people,” or “illegals.” That allows people to share the impact of language, and it’s a simple way to raise consciousness about inclusion and equity.
This is one advice that I give to my clients. Start with a simple change, then work your way up to building equity into a strategic plan. That’s how you keep racial equity present.
Organizations must be able to articulate what it is about the work they’re doing in community call for the eradication of racism. Many have not connected their overall strategy and mission to why they need to work on racial equity. At The Equity Project, we work with organizations so they can help build the connection between their mission and efforts to get rid of racism. This helps to build buy-in from people and support for equity strategies. When you don’t make that connection for people, then doing racial equity work becomes optional.
I also think that organizations have to be careful and mindful about their champions for equity. There’s a propensity to tokenize people of color to be the spokespeople for racial equity. Organizations need staff who are not people of color to be the mouthpiece and champion for racial equity work.
To feel comfortable around championing racial equity, you have to know the truth. And the way in which we tell the truth about racial injustice matters. Doing it in a way that is badgering, or too heavy: no one can hear that. You then become oppressed by the very thing that you’re trying to learn from.
Just like any relationship or dialogue, conversations about race must be filled with truth but also respectful. As human beings, it’s the only way we can hear. If we’re yelling or pointing the finger at each other, then we lose our capacity to take in information.
This is important to me. I’m tough on the issue because I’m oppressed by the issue, but the way in which we have the conversation is important. I work really hard to create relationships where difficult conversations can happen.
Interview by Maileen Hamto