The Power of Representation

“A whole set of possibilities, dreams, and realities are just not present unless we are equally represented… And that means we don’t see solutions to problems, we don’t see connections among solutions. It deprives everybody.” Gloria Steinem

I work for a traditionally male-dominated, global tech company. We’ve recently made great strides in parity, including leadership roles. Our leaders all have personalized email “stationery” with their headshot, title, etc. When they send out a business announcement, the first thing you notice it their picture. Occasionally they will send a joint announcement, picturing both leaders. You can imagine that we see a lot of male faces on these announcements.

A few months ago, a joint announcement was sent by three business leaders–all of them women. I’ve worked for this company for 23 years and I’d never seen such a thing. It literally gave me goosebumps see these three Badass Bossladies in my inbox, making an extremely important product launch announcement. For the first time in my career, I could *really* picture myself up there.

That is the power of representation.

Now, imagine how you can make your learners feel when they see someone who looks like them or hear someone who sounds like them when you design a learning experience. Try these out:
1. Actively recruit facilitators from underrepresented populations
2. Ask your vendors to use “characters” in your eLearning products with different skin tones, body types, ability types, genders (including non-binary), and pronouns. And please name them appropriately. Bob and Sue need a rest. Introduce Javier and Pujitha to the world.
3. Challenge your vendors to find diverse voices for narration. Clear speaking is definitely a requirement, but push the boundaries to include voices that sound like your employees. If you work for a global company, the narrators should not all sound like male radio DJs from Missouri. I had another “goosebump moment” when I heard the final narration for one of my classes done by an African American man. I’d never heard a voice like that in an eLearning product before. It was wonderful.
4. Request your vendors use non-traditional stock photos. How often have you gone to one of the “Big Three” stock image services and you find the same thing? Different color people, but the white male always seems to be in charge. Don’t get me wrong. Often he’s the right one for the job and should be in charge, but does it have to be *every* time? At my company, we have a difficult time recruiting people to be managers. Part of the problem might be that they never see someone like them *depicted* as a manager, so they’ve never seen themselves that way? My colleague and mentor had this issue, so she decided to hire a photographer to shoot the kind of images she was trying to find for her website. Here are a few more interesting options: 25 Culturally Diverse Stock Photo Websites (free and paid).

I imagine male nurses get really tired of their trainings showing predominantly female nurses. I know female engineers don’t like male-only depictions. It makes them feel invisible.

We have the power to make them feel seen in our little corner of the world. I challenge you to take one of the four actions above on your current project. Share which one you chose in the comments.