Dr Aida Martinez-Freeman of Taina Coaching & Training: How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Diversity will advance your company’s credibility and reputation.
While it is a no-brainer that diversifying your company can improve your company’ bottom line, the truth is that this is not a given. For companies to see the full benefit of their diversity and inclusion efforts, they must work to create a workplace culture where employees can be their authentic selves; must center the most historically excluded folks and the work environment needed for them to thrive; and accomplish the companies’ core values by aligning with the knowledge and experience of their diverse workforce. Without these strategic efforts, no business case for diversity will realize its promise. Diversity must be part of your company’s DNA.
As a part of our series about “How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Aida Martinez-Freeman.
Dr. Aida Martinez-Freeman, CEO & Founder of Taina Coaching & Training, is on a mission to create a world of inclusive leaders. Often, leaders carry the responsibility of facilitating and guiding their organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts while strategically advancing metrics and profit margins. This sparked the idea to start a consultancy to help leaders elevate their inclusive leadership, understand their organization’s diversity and inclusion profile, and invest in their teams as a sustainable strategy to drive inclusion responsibly and growth.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive into the main part of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you share a bit of your “backstory” with us?
Thank you for having me. I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico by my Lebanese-Puerto Rican mother, and my Afro-Puerto Rican grandmother. I grew up in a household were my mother worked 3 jobs and my grandmother was tasked with ensuring I attended school, was fed, and helped with chores. My upbringing taught me resilience and the importance of community. My mother and grandmother inspired my passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion work.
From there, I attended Michigan State University followed Indiana University for my master’s degree. and North Dakota State University for my doctorate. These educational and professional experiences ignited a curiosity for inclusive leadership, workplace culture, and the power of teams in realizing diversity strategic plans.
In 2017, I founded Taina Coaching & Training to expand my vision of a more inclusive workplace culture and fearless leadership. Every client experience shares similar challenges from staff hiring and retention efforts that fail to yield results, to loss of focus and momentum with their DEI plan, lack of team cohesion, and more. It was clear they needed a serious course correction, a fresh perspective, and proven practical strategies. This is where my zone of genius ignited, the F.L.O.W. (Fearless Leadership Opens Worlds) approach and with that a new movement of inclusive leadership emerged.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? Can you tell us the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
I pride myself in connecting culturally with my audience and clients. Many years ago, I was speaking to a group in a rural community. I decided to share my first experience riding a John Deere combine. As I was deep in storytelling mode, I said I had ridden a John Deary concubine. The crowd hollered and, in that moment, I realized what I had said. I was horrified. Thank goodness I’m quick on my feet and turned it into a great conversation on humor and how much laughter can serve as conduit for change. I’m sure to this day they still share that story. It will forever be a classic Dr. Aida moment. You’d asked about my lessons, stay humble, don’t lose perspective, and, when in doubt, join the crowd and laugh out loud with them. It makes you human.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you tell us a story about how that was relevant in your own life?
A quote that has guided me for years is one by Black feminist, lesbian, poet, mother and warrior, Audre Lorde. She said, “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes les and less important whether I am afraid.”
For a Latinx entrepreneur with a doctorate, you must navigate the trouble waters of sexism, racism, ageism, and classism every day. On a performance review, a former supervisor noted that I needed to learn my place in the organization, watch what I said and to whom it was said, to not be so defensive, and to work on my communication style. Here’s what I heard: “Aida, you need to be silent, shrink yourself to fit the mold, be passive. If you do this, you will be successful.” I pulled out this quote by Audre Lorde, took a deep breath, and resigned.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
We cannot do this work without a loving community and amazing cheerleaders being with you every step of the way. One person, who has been a constant in my life, is my dear friend and colleague, Fleurette King. We met at a conference in New Orleans and ended up in the same small discussion group. Flo, as we call her, was simply a ray of sunshine and pure brilliance. We quickly became friends and 18 years later, we still are still friends. We have seen each other through marriages, job changes, loss of family members, and new business endeavors. She sees my spirit, and accepts me just as the way I am.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We are on a mission to create a world of inclusive leaders. Our F.L.O.W (Fearless Leadership Opens Worlds) framework uniquely centers positive psychology, liberatory and healing justice approaches to address our clients most pressing diversity and inclusion priorities by translating their visions into transformative initiatives. We bring a fresh, equitable, and sustainable edge to our clients.
One of our clients was struggling to hire and retain a diverse staff. We did a deep dive on their values and fully infused them in every single policy, strategy, and day-to-day workplace practice. We centered their company values as a key cultural and wellness company strategy delivered and maintained by mid-managers and their teams.
Each value was used to resolve issues, maintain accountability, advance the work, and gain momentum across the company. It was so powerful to witness the synergy across teams. They went from working in silos, to pointing the same direction and moving as cohesive teams with clear vision, values, and accountability. The workplace culture shifted in such a way that the company went from 20% to 60% retention of staff in two and a half years.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Currently, I’m developing an initiative called The Inclusive Mid-Manager Institute where we focus on building inclusive leadership practices at the mid-manager level for companies who are serious about creating a workplace culture that is conducive for diversity and inclusion to thrive. Mid-managers are a powerful group within organizations who are severely underutilized when it comes to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion strategies at any company.
Given the complexity of their responsibilities and the fast-paced work environments, mid-managers, and their teams are usually at the pulse of what is needed regarding diversity and inclusion and how to elevate the company’s profit margins. However, they need specific skills, tools, and frameworks to help them anticipate diversity related challenges, and opportunities. Our approach is practical, holistic, and can be implemented immediately.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
From inception I was clear that for Taina to be successful, the work must be done in community. We look for any opportunity to teach and lend strategic advice pro-bono to groups who are serving our most historically excluded communities. At local events, we are present feeding activists, and holding space for communities to heal. It is our responsibility to always stay accountable to community. We are proud of our efforts.
Ok. Thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. This may be obvious to you, but it is not intuitive to many people. Can you articulate to our readers five ways that increased diversity can help a company’s bottom line. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Diversity will advance your company’s credibility and reputation
While it is a no-brainer that diversifying your company can improve your company’ bottom line, the truth is that this is not a given. For companies to see the full benefit of their diversity and inclusion efforts, they must work to create a workplace culture where employees can be their authentic selves; must center the most historically excluded folks and the work environment needed for them to thrive; and accomplish the companies’ core values by aligning with the knowledge and experience of their diverse workforce. Without these strategic efforts, no business case for diversity will realize its promise. Diversity must be part of your company’s DNA.
Diversity will attract and retain better candidates to your company
A key strategy for success entails recruiting talented diverse candidates. This does mean diversifying your executive and mid-management leadership. If your most diverse workforce sits in entry level positions only, your strategy is falling short. The truth is diverse candidates bring new perspectives, knowledge and experiences that are of great value to any company. Research shows that diverse teams are more effective, creative, and productive. By default, you will attract a new pool of candidates and improve your current employee’s experience. Keep in mind that you must recruit with retention in mind. Otherwise, you will a revolving door experience for employees with Glassdoor telling your story.
Diversity expands your client reach
As noted above, diverse candidates bring with them valuable experiences and an understanding of needs from untapped client bases which satisfy the bottom line and advance your work. A diverse workforce will help pinpoint client needs, problems and how your services can resolve them. This step diversifies your client portfolio, expands industries or sectors, and grounds your cash flow. Because diverse candidates are a powerful asset, your employees should be paid commensurate with their expertise. If you do not pay equitably, another company will.
Diversity increases adaptability and positions your company for growth
By building a diverse workforce, you foster a culture of adaptability. Teams will engage with each other’s across differences, experiences, identities, and ideas. With this, they will need to adapt and create new ways of working. Once companies recognize the need to adapt their approach to various demographics and sociocultural contexts, they ensure that diversity and inclusion initiatives align with the overall growth strategy. As you increase adaptability, an investment in learning plus a thoughtful manager, can do wonders in maximizing these amazing gifts and building trust.
Diversity generates creative and innovative solutions
While you may have an amazing product or service, you must stay abreast of the future of your industry, and predict client needs and gaps. Diverse teams are always thinking ahead. They interact daily with the current service or product, analyze the delivery, and quickly develop strategies to elevate the work. This prevents your company from becoming stagnant or lacking the ability to pivot with the times. This strategy ensures your loyal client base stays with you.
What advice would you give to other business leaders to help their employees to thrive?
The current employee wants to feel a sense of belonging at work. They want to work for a company that values what they have to say, actively engages diversity work at all levels, want to make a positive impact, and provide growth opportunities for them as professionals.
Every company would want to ensure they have culturally competent and inclusive leaders overseeing teams. Mid-managers can make or break a team morale which is harmful to the team and costly to the company. Make sure you build a relationship with team members, hear from them how they feel about the workplace culture including level of psychological safety. Do ask what you can do to retain them and be open to what they have to say. Then, do something about it!
What advice would you give to other business leaders about how to manage a large team?
Larger teams can put more demand on the manager, their management style, and priorities. I highly recommend the book titled “Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy” by Amy C. Edmondson.
She offers way to think about teams as working with a few people for a period on a particular project. When the project is complete, then this team disbands and a new one is formed with different people and different tasks. Organizations become more flexible, with fluid collaborations that give room to work with multiple teams and on a variety of projects. Teaming is grounded in reflection, psychological safety, breaking through group think and interpersonal dynamics that can stifle the flow of ideas. This way managers of large teams can help facilitate the initial teaming with clear goals, responsibilities, honoring each other’s diverse working styles and strengths while empowering teams to accomplish the task at hand.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this 🙂
Well, you might laugh. I’m an 80s child and a big fan of the British band Duran Duran. With their recent nomination to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and their 40th anniversary, I would love to have lunch with co-founder John Taylor. I’m just fascinated by his journey, tenacity, and creative mind. Between creating a unique Duran Duran sound, envisioning music videos in exotic locations, mixing music with fashion and art, I would be honored to meet him. Honestly, I would love to thank him for inspiring me to dream big.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I’m always open to expanding my network. Let’s connect!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-aida/
https://www.facebook.com/TainaCoachingandTraining
https://www.instagram.com/tainacoachingtraining/
Thank you for these excellent insights. We wish you continued success in your great work.
Dr Aida Martinez-Freeman of Taina Coaching & Training: How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
