“Those of us who spend our days observing and developing workplace cultures have been watching this Great Resignation accumulate like a cloud on the distant horizon…However, I am less interested in where people are going. Instead, I am curious about what people are leaving behind.”

As we sit here, in the present moment, it can be easy to look back with derision and judgment on the United States framer’s choices and how they operated from the shadow and not their ideal values. This way of viewing the framers is justified, given the consequences of these decisions. And yet, the danger here is if we miss what this moment is able to teach us.

Our new workplaces ask us to rise to the occasion and embrace a brave and unknown culture of equity, all the while we document and timestamp every keystroke. People are keeping receipts, counting the likes, and timing their company’s reaction and action time to current events.

The caution of ERGs is that it is not a magical checkbox solution - that simply by the ERGs existing, diversity will be solved for the company. In fact, this strategy should be in tandem with a large-scale equity plan.

For us as individuals and the organizations that we form collectively, values can be the North Stars that ensure we end up where we ultimately want to be. Knowing our values can help us in the present moment when complex situations arise, or when we encounter something new. Values allow us to reorient ourselves as we journey across the often confusing landscapes of our jobs, homes, and personal relationships.

“In an interview process there inevitably comes the moment when the hiring manager and interview team come together to make their decision. This debrief discussion is a great opportunity for the team to push back against all the things that cause us to make bad hiring decisions.”