Juneteenth is Finally a US Holiday 🙌🏾

“All slaves are free.” General Order Number 3 was delivered to the people of Texas by General Granger on June 19th, 1865, officially marking the end of slavery in the US. It also marked the inception of Juneteenth. on June 12th, 1967, in Loving vs. Virginia, Mildren Loving won the case to end laws that banded interracial marriage - making June 12th Loving Day...Is anyone else floored that this was so recent, by the way?!

So—progress? Yes. And if you didn’t see it yesterday, President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Actmaking June 19th an official US federal holiday.

Are we there yet? Not even close.

• 1% of Venture Capital (VC)-backed founders are black, according to a study by RateMyInvestor and DiversityVC
• 81% of VC funds have no black investors, according to BLCK VC
• Black women are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs in the country, yet according to the US Census, on average, Black women were paid 63% of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2019. That means it takes the typical Black woman 19 months to be paid what the average white man takes home in 12 months. Educate yourself here.
  
  Clearly, saying we have a long way to go here is a vast understatement, which is why many are working hard to enact meaningful change today.
  
  Our partner Conscious Venture Lab is dedicated to changing the narrative. The current accleerator cohort includes 38 companies, 36 of which were founded by minority or female entrepreneures. To date, the companies they've supported or invested in have created 400+ jobs and have invested 70% of their funds raised into female or diverse founders.
  
  Check out their most recent demo day here—and let us know here if you want to get involved, be a corporate partner, or have an interest in being an investor for cohort.

Survey Monkey Loses the Monkey 🙈

“The questions you face today can be hard to ask, but the answers hold insights that can shape the future.”

We’ll miss you, SurveyMonkey! If you didn’t hear the news, SurveyMonkey rebranded itself to Momentive—a nod to momentum, movement, and motion. After doing a deep listening exercise, the company decided a refresh was necessary to fuel its growing enterprise business. If you’ve read anything we’ve written at SHIFT, you know that we’re huge fans of listening to employees, and what we’ve learned over time is this:

• The tool you use matters...kind of. It has to work, and it needs to produce data that can help leaders make informed decisions. But, at the end of the day, a tool is just a tool.
• The questions you ask are critical—and they must be connected to what you want to learn and what you’re willing to act on. While SurveyMonkey has a bank of questions, they are just that: templated questions. And speaking of questions, don’t ask ones that you know you can’t address. It erodes trust.
• Nothing is as important as putting a feedback loop mechanism in place. At SHIFT, we call this the survey engagement process where you involve your team in the review of the results and what’s next. Here’s our guide on how to do it.

Wondering how else you can listen to your employees without the intellectualized standard survey responses? We have big news coming in the next month or so on a breakthrough AI technology platform that has the potential to transform the way people are seen, heard, and understood. Stay tuned!

Do You Want 38 Minutes Of Gold? 🎧

Nick Day is joined on The HR L&D Podcast by Andrew Freedman, Managing Partner of SHIFT, who shares the secrets to "Achieving a High-Performance Culture.”

• If you’re thinking that a high-performance culture isn’t for you, you’d be an anomaly. The truth is, it’s something that everyone wants and something we know that everyone needs.
• At the very least, you’ll learn something new and walk away with a toolkit, steps, and insights to help build and achieve high-performance workplace cultures.
  
  Listen to the episode here.

Are You Listening to Your Employees?

Capture valuable employee insights and empower yourself to better show up for their current needs with our Post Pandemic Survey and Strategy Program.