It’s been a little over two years since H&M was embroiled in controversy following the release of an ad that featured a Black child wearing a sweatshirt that read “coolest monkey in the jungle.” Since the misstep, H&M has made a more concerted effort to put diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the forefront. In November of 2018 the company hired Ezinne Kwubiri as the North America Head of Inclusion and Diversity and she has become an agent for change and innovation at the company. “Since then, we’ve actually…fully launched our additional training program called Layers,” Ezinne shares. “Layers is an interactive learning workshop where the teams come together, and we talk about a bunch of different biases and identifying gaps amongst their teams or even them as an individual that may be hindering a business decision. What I love about it is that it goes a step further than just regular unconscious bias training…asking them ‘when was the last time you [sought] an opinion outside of your general team? How do you go about getting focus groups? Where is a time you felt isolated about a decision and how did it make you feel?’ The concept of it is…peeling the layers. For people to have more of a reflective experience as to what their contribution may be to fostering diversity and inclusion.”
Ezinne Kwubiri, North America Head, Inclusion & Diversity at H&M
The idea of using reflections to enhance the quality of diversity training has been supported by research. It is an especially effective practice for individuals who are resistant. Ezinne explains, “I think the challenge, especially with us that are in…diversity and inclusion in corporate America [is] it’s not a direct one to one so I can’t say because of this training, we saw this but what I can say is that overall the level of awareness has completely heightened. It has not heighted because of bad press, which is what people would assume…it’s heightened because of the work that we’re putting in, in creating these workshops and changing some of the policies that we have.” Ezinne highlights a crucial part of DEI: for initiatives to really be successful, there must be an evaluation and modification of policies, practices and procedures that prevent equitable systems. Ezinne explains that it’s important to answer, “how are we recruiting, how are we implementing, how are we documenting?”
Few would argue with the idea that change is hard, and it takes time to move the needle, especially at a large organization. Often the catalyst to organizational change is when there is an ability to have difficult conversations. “For the first time ever, we’re talking about the lack of representation in our teams…in our offices,” Ezinne shares. “Now I think teams are even more empowered to be able to…challenge their managers or to say ‘wait, I think we should revisit that, I think something is missing,’ or ‘I think we’re lacking a particular perspective here’…I think really being able to empower certain individuals to feel comfortable and confident enough to bring up different topics, so that they can serve as point people to have these conversations with other stakeholders…I think the benefit of that is…it continues to live outside of me…really utilizing the allyship and your own personal relationships with people. I think another thing too is…asking them ‘where do you think the gap is?’ So now, we’re kind of putting the onus on them for them to reflect on their own. So, it becomes less about race or gender but really about like, ‘okay let me step back and think about my individual team. What do I think is missing in my team?’ Maybe your team has more of a generational bias…and that’s something that you have discovered because you can see that the conversations are very similar…I think it’s breaking on the barriers…being able to make them see it’s really in the everyday walk and talk of everything that we do.”
After engaging in a DEI workshop or training, participants should be able to apply what they’ve learned into their life. In regard to the training that Ezinne has implemented, she shared, “when they walk away…at the conclusion of the workshop they’re actually supposed to have action items as to what they’re doing next. So, we’ve created more of a quick short-term goals and longer-term goals. What is it that they can change within the next three months and what are some subtle reminders that can help you change that? For example, we created one where we want to make sure we have perspectives from other members of different departments, so we have a list of different departments…so you pinpoint who you spoke to in that department and then the goal is that you’re kind of changing it every month and it’s also a visual reminder. So, if you see that you’ve only been talking to the same department then you want to talk to another department to have a different perspective.” To keep up with DEI goals, it’s important to have metrics to assess progress towards goal attainment. To assess progress, Ezinne indicates “we’re actually recording all of the data and action items on our portal and then we have a team that is based in Sweden…kind of managing and collecting all of the information. So, we can see some common threads and…be able to help other teams.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where stands at times of challenge and controversy.” The same might be said for organizations, especially those that have found themselves in the midst of controversy. In order for change to occur, assessing the mistakes that were made and then taking corrective action is critical. Ezinne is laying the groundwork for long-term change. When looking to the future, she is hopeful and optimistic. “I want to continue to create a safe space to challenge ideas. I want people to feel that there is no retaliation, there is no status quo, that they are welcome to be able to challenge a particular idea, regardless of where it’s coming from…another thing I would love to speak to is the continued conversation. The partnership that we’re having with the head offices in terms of thinking about ‘what is our voice? What is it that we’re trying to portray?’ For every organization, these are important questions to consider. Whether that is in our employee handbooks or whether it’s a marketing campaign…showing that we are a company that cares and thinks about our representation and inclusion, in a very organic and authentic way.”
Author’s note: The author has collaborated with the organization mentioned in the interview in the past.
