Running a small business is a LOT of work. There are often too few people doing too much work. Everyone is running around playing catch-up most of the time. Especially during covid, with people out, folks changing careers, and low supply chains, companies are more stretched than ever before.
In that kind of day-to-day experience, it’s hard to take time for bigger picture, or what can seem like less immediate issues (even though they really aren’t). It’s easy to push things off because you are so caught up with whatever the most immediate emergency is right in front of you.
I know because I have ran a small business (well technically, a non-profit, but it still applies) and even as a big picture person, I had the same problems.
And when it came to doing the things that I knew and our board knew we needed to do to increase the diversity of our instructors and make sure our curriculum was reflective of what people of color wanted and needed (using their ideas, not those of white folks), it often got pushed off for another day. And another day. And another day.
We assumed there would be some magical day when we felt like we had enough staff and enough time and enough money. Which, due to capitalism, let’s be real, we would probably never feel. Until finally, it sort of blew up in our faces with our volunteers demanding that we address it now. It wasn’t a call out, but a very serious call in. I’ve talked about this here and there on the podcast and on Instagram before. But, a lot of the things that I know now, I learned from that experience.
The thing is, we had every intention of doing those things. Most of us, myself included, had lots of anti-racist training. We knew it theoretically. And we all knew that we wanted to do it. The intention was there. But intention isn’t the same as action.
And I see this frequently now. Companies really want to have a more diverse staff. They really want to have better representation. They really want to be more intentional around their space and train their employees. But, they keep pushing it off until that magical day when they feel like they have enough staff and time and money. Or, in some cases, until they are called out by their customers, employees, or community.
We were lucky to have enough goodwill and trust built up that allowed us to better make change through the process without it going public— because they believed that with a push, we would do it.
While we didn’t do everything all at once immediately, we did make a lot of changes pretty quickly, and had real, tangible plans for what that would look like in the future. We didn’t do everything right and we made mistakes along the way, but there was real, intentional action. The organization still exists today and is much, much stronger for it. And it’s still changing for the better. I stepped down almost three years ago now, and after 10 years there, that change and process is still the thing I am most proud of in my work there.
I am mentioning this because I know a lot of companies have these positive intentions. But pushing off the work can come back to bite them— and the longer they wait to make change, the harder it becomes because the systems that led to the change are all the more ingrained.
The negative impact of this is huge, but the positive is as well. Conversations and work to make music spaces more inclusive aren’t going away. The demands from customers and employees are only going to grow stronger. So, the sooner you can live out your positive intentions, the better off your company will be.