A Conversation with Fritz Gustave, Director of People and Belonging

Bay Cove recently added a key member to its Human Resources team, with the hiring of Fritz Gustave (pictured, right) as the agency’s Director of People and Belonging. In this role, Fritz will be working on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the organization.

Fritz comes to us from Dana-Farber, where he served as the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Project Manager, and designed and co-led the implementation of a DEI learning curriculum. Fritz also spent two years at the Department of Mental Health, serving as the Manager of the

Office of Race, Equity, & Inclusion, and prior to that worked for the Boston Public Health Commission. Fritz recently sat down to speak with the Bay Cove News about his new position, and the part he’s hoping to play as Bay Cove continually expands efforts to make the agency a safe and welcoming workplace, and one that offers the same access to opportunities for all our staff. 

Q: Director of People & Belonging is a relatively new position within Bay Cove. How would you describe your job and your key responsibilities?

A: Well, at its core, my job is very much about Bay Cove’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and working to grow and further them. However, I’m not a one-person DEI army, and I can’t do anything in a vacuum. To achieve equity in an organization, it needs to be woven into every fabric. So, I mostly look at my role as that of a facilitator—I want to act as a resource, a consultant and an advocate, partnering with other people to help Bay Cove reach a place where everybody feels like they have equal opportunities, and that their concerns and feelings are heard.

Q: What was it about Bay Cove that sparked your interest in coming here and taking on this role?

A: I’ve worked in the human services field in Massachusetts for some time, and knew about Bay Cove from my time with the Boston Public Health Commission and the Department of Mental Health. People in this field have always know Bay Cove as a major player, and a place that really does a great job meeting the needs of the people they serve.

And once I was able to come in and discuss the position, and DEI as a whole, with leadership, I quickly realized that there a great deal of alignment with how I saw the subject. And I was struck by how much appetite there was at Bay Cove for this sort of work—there was complete buy-in from leadership, and that’s what you need to succeed. I really felt, from those discussions, that Bay Cove has it in us to become a beacon within the industry.

Q: What are the biggest challenges implicit in doing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work and getting organizations to do the hard work of improving DEI?

A: I think the biggest challenge is that people struggle to discuss the subject because it gets each of us thinking about how we contribute to societal inequities—which is something we don’t often take the time to consider. Some folks struggle with it, and it’s hard to reconcile that discussing it doesn’t mean they’re being targeted. It’s not a bad thing—it’s a sign of growth. It’s like when you start going to the gym—as you start to train, it’s going to be uncomfortable, but you work through it in search of positive results. This is the same thing—you have to work through people’s defensiveness and discomfort. We all have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

It’s also a big subject to wrap our heads around, and it seems like a very overwhelming and unsolvable problem. But, honestly, just having discussions about diversity, equity and inclusion is an important first step that can lead to incremental change—and that’s how the change is going to come. Slowly.

Finally, I think a lot of people get wrapped up in the term “DEI,” and that leads to misconceptions and complicating what we’re really talking about. If it were framed as a discussion about fairness, consideration for each other, fighting for justice, and, really, just being good people who treat each other well… I mean, that’s something that people agree with!

Q: No doubt you’re developing longterm goals for your new position. Do you have a short-term goal that you’re focusing on as you get acclimated to Bay Cove?

A: My primary goal as I integrate into the agency is to talk to as many staff as possible. I want to make sure that employees know that they have a resource in me. I want people to share with me their thoughts on what we need to work on as an agency, and what personal experiences and feelings they have. Essentially, I’d love to create a feedback loop, where the things that are on people’s minds become the starting point for us to be able to effect agency-wide change. I’ve set up dedicated office hours for that very reason—because I want everyone here to feel they have a person to hear their perspectives and advocate on their behalf.