March 2023 - How to prepare for conversations about racism
Welcome to March’s Purple Sky Thinking for Leaders. Each month, this self-guided learning resource is an opportunity to discover a new way of doing something or to reflect on and refresh how you currently approach an aspect of your leadership.
In last month’s edition, we looked at ‘Building the foundations for brilliant conversations’ as an important step to leading successful conversations with your team about racism.
Based on your work to build these foundations, consider whether you are ready to start active conversations about racism. If you don’t feel the foundations are strong enough, prioritise this work first. As discussed in the last edition, having meaningful conversations well is essential for high-performing teams.
If you are unsure or want to practice before starting conversations about racism, then start with a different conversation first. This is an opportunity to test your foundations and build team confidence ahead of a more challenging topic, such as racism. Examples of conversations you can practice include project reviews, enhancing a mindset as a team or the barriers preventing progress with a task.
Going into a conversation about racism unprepared will not set you up to succeed. So, this month we will focus solely on your preparation as a leader. Then, in September, we will look specifically at how to facilitate and lead conversations about racism. This gives you another six months to continue building your foundations and to get prepared.
There is an Activity Sheet to help you capture your reflections and actions.
Why is the focus on racism?
Racism continues in our organisations and society; you only have to look at the recently published report into The Met by Louise Casey to see that these issues are still prevalent and wide-ranging. We are all responsible for understanding, recognising, confronting, and changing it. We must face it, and as leaders, we are responsible for seeking out and removing the circumstances, behaviours and systems contributing to and maintaining racism in our workplaces.
By focusing on racism, I want to bring it forward as a conversation that matters and a conversation you should be leading with your team. This is about tackling racism in your work so you and your team can demonstrate you are actually doing that, changing the way things are done and influencing culture for long-term change.
There are many documented reasons for tackling racism and fostering inclusion in the workplace which directly contribute to the bottom line – diversity wins, but tackling this has to be more than just for the bottom line. It is about leading change against a legacy of something wrong and unjust.
Tackling these wrongs (or not) is what people get remembered for.
Your commitment to tackling racism
Starting your conversations about racism will be just the start.
You are not going to ‘fix’ racism with one conversation; this is about setting a direction and a goal for you and your team to tackle racism. Initially, this will be over your sphere of control, but you can then look to influence beyond this.
If you are having a one-off conversation as a tick box exercise, this will be noticed. If you start the conversations but back away when things get uncomfortable (which they will), this will also be noticed. If you are open, brave, supportive, and committed to learning and action, this, too, will be noted and remembered.
Start by committing yourself to confront and tackle racism in your workplace and identify how you will lead this.
See Activity 1 below to help you with this.
How to prepare to tackle racism
There are three aspects for you to focus on for your preparation:
Knowledge - Understanding the bigger picture; this is about understanding what racism is, its history and its impacts. This is about being curious and facing very difficult information and experiences.
Reality – This is about getting to grips with the context of this for your organisation and looking at the reality. This will also give you some pointers for where to start your conversations.
Acknowledgement - This is about giving yourself the opportunity to accept where you are in terms of being anti-racist and how aware you are of racism and its impacts on you or not. It is also important to consider this from the perspective of your organisation. Is it genuinely taking steps to dismantle racism, is an open conversation happening, or is it just saying what they think they need to?
Knowledge
I am not asking you to be a subject matter expert on racism, but realistically, some level of knowledge is essential.
It would be best if you aimed to understand what racism is, how it works, and its impacts, and this enables you to contribute and facilitate the conversations you will lead.
Here are some resources to help you build your knowledge and awareness. You should also speak to your People Team to see what your organisation recommends on these topics:
White privilege – acknowledging the reality of privilege helps us understand how other people’s lives are made harder, where others have a barrier impacting their life in a way yours might not. This is an excellent clip from John Amaechi: What is white privilege? - BBC Bitesize
Understanding being anti-racist – let’s stick with John for his explanation about what being anti-racist is; it’s not the same as not being racist: Not-racist v anti-racist: what’s the difference? - BBC Bitesize
Bias – “Friction-free decisions bring a heavy toll” – This is a valuable and eye-opening look at bias with Jennifer L. Eberhardt in her Ted – How racial bias works – and how to disrupt it.
Allyship – being an ally is an essential part of tackling racism. Here’s an article from HBR by Tsedale M. Melaku, Angie Beeman, David G. Smith, and W. Brad Johnson on how to be a better ally.
Microaggressions – Understand what microaggressions are and their impacts through the eyes of three students at Keele University. There’s also another useful video from The Other Box – What is the definition of a microaggression?
Some of the best books/audiobooks for you to explore are:
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
How To Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Equality vs Equity: Tackling Issues of Race in the Workplace by Jenny Garrett OBE
Mental Health at Work has put together a collection of resources on how to be anti-racist at work: Being anti-racist in the workplace – Mental Health At Work. I’d recommend the guide by Mireille C Harper on how to be an ally.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) also has a toolkit developed by Aggie Mutuma - How to talk about race at work | CIPD – this will give you further options to explore.
Intersectionality – different groups experience discrimination differently, and this article and videos will help you understand this better:
What Is Intersectionality and why Is It Important: What Is Intersectionality and Why Is It Important? (globalcitizen.org)
What is Intersectionality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1islM0ytkE
Glossary – here, you’ll find a list of terms to help you understand them better; you should also look up specific words or terms directly to explore their meaning further. The Anti-Racist Educator put this list together.
Racism is a challenging topic, especially for those who have and continue to experience it. If the themes in the resources I’ve shared have caused you distress and you’d benefit from some support, here are some useful sources of help from Mind.
For leaders with a lived experience of racism, consider how these resources and the other sections of the learning guide might still help you to prepare in a way which works for you. You don’t have to centre this around your own experiences. There is an emotional and well-being risk with tackling this topic, and you must look after yourself when leading this work. Think about how you do or don’t want to share your experiences and what support you might need to help you. See the above resources from Mind and seek support from your peer group and People Team.
Reality
This is about getting to grips with the data and identifying how racism is present in your organisation.
Remember, insights come not just from numbers; see where you can look beyond the numbers.
Here are some ideas to start gathering data and insights:
What is the make-up and representation of your team?
Do you mirror the community you are part of or serve?
What is the information relating to your organisation?
How does your team compare to this?
Is there any information on recruitment, promotions, attrition, disciplinaries, or grievances?
What is this data telling you?
Can you see race disparity in the information you’ve gathered?
Are particular groups more impacted than others (i.e., Black women or Asian men, etc.)?
Is anything related to intersectionality?
Your People Team will likely have organisational and team-level data and insights on race representation. If it isn’t readily available on the intranet, contact them to gain access to this.
As I’ve mentioned, you need to look beyond the numbers. See if your organisation has gathered information on the lived experiences of people of colour in your organisation. There could be information from surveys relating to colleagues' experiences of racism, or there might be outcomes from activities which took place in response to the death of George Floyd through the Black Lives Matter movement. Did your organisation commit to any action at the time and consider what progress has been made?
Bring all this information together. Consider what it is telling you.
Be aware of gaps in the information and where more significant disparity may occur for different racial groups. You should also take note of intersectionality, e.g., “we have a 25% representation of people of colour in our team, which matches our customer base; however, on further analysis, 95% are men, and only 5% are Black. This doesn’t represent our customer base.”
All the data will help explore racial disparity and its form, which should help you identify where to focus your actions. Avoid getting lost in the data, and don’t focus more on reporting than taking action. The data should help focus attention and identify apparent areas that need attention.
You may decide more data and insights are required; therefore, as a team, you may want to work out the best way to do this. If you are looking for ideas on identifying and presenting data, here are some ideas from ONGIG.
Acknowledgement
It’s important to reflect on how racism does or doesn’t impact you.
It’s essential to recognise where you are regarding being anti-racist and understanding your own privilege and bias.
This is not an exercise in shame, it is an exercise in acceptance by acknowledging your reality, and it’s then about using acknowledgement to lead change.
I’m very aware of this whilst putting this learning guide together as a White woman. I have privilege, and I have no lived experience of racism. I do not feel my life has been made harder because of my skin colour or nationality. But, because of my privilege, I acknowledge I want to use this to change things. I will never know what it’s like to be a person of colour or to experience racism, but I will bring my voice and action to change racism.
Acknowledging how we think and feel, for whatever reason, is when we allow ourselves to accept it. Accepting something makes it easier to confront it, to address it. If we continue to avoid accepting, we make it harder to acknowledge and commit to change.
Use the activities below to help you, and you can use the Activity Sheet to capture any important points and actions.
You don’t have to share your responses with anyone but be honest with yourself about how you instinctively think and feel. It might be uncomfortable, and you might uncover things about yourself you weren’t aware of. Stick with it and allow yourself to acknowledge and accept things; then, you can be ready to commit to change.
You may want to use the responses you capture, your reflections and your understanding as a starting point for conversations. It will demonstrate your openness to learn, discomfort, and vulnerability, which are essential to enable others to do the same.
Key Points
By preparing, you will set yourself up for a more confident and knowledgeable conversation with your team about racism.
You won’t always get it right, and it will be challenging, but by being open and non-defensive, you can show your team it’s possible to confront and tackle racism in your workplace.
Take the next few months to undertake your preparations, and in September, we’ll dive into the best ways to hold and facilitate conversations about racism which result in change.
Start or continue practising being anti-racist and tackling racism; you do not have to be 100% ready to start identifying and responding to racism. You are not responsible for solving all racism, and you are not expected to be perfect, but it is about remaining open, continuing to learn and leading change.
Activities
These activities are to help you reflect and prepare for your conversations about racism.
You can use the Activity Sheet provided to capture your reflections and actions.
Activity 1 – Your Commitment
These questions are to help you understand where your current level of commitment is to tackling racism.
How much do I want to lead conversations about racism with my team?
How prepared do I feel to have these conversations?
Would I consider myself to be anti-racist?
How much do I want to dismantle racism in my workplace?
Am I prepared to fully commit to this and work with my team on a shared goal to be anti-racist and tackle racism?
What hopes and fears do I have?
Am I open to not always getting it right, but I commit to keep going?
How are you going to handle those who deny racism is an issue?
Now reflect on your answers:
What commitment are you going to make towards tackling racism?
How do you want this to reflect on you as a leader?
Activity 2 - Knowledge
Engage with the resources I’ve shared or from other sources you’ve discovered. Be curious about the topic and keep being open to learning and challenging your knowledge.
You can use the Activity Sheet to capture key notes and learning points. Capture things you want to go back to, or you want to learn more about.
Pull together your own list of essential resources you’ll use with your team.
Activity 3 - Reality
Start gathering the data about your organisation and your team’s reality to race.
It would be best to look at benchmark information to help you recognise racial disparity.
What else should you consider:
Look at this from the perspective of your team. How representative is your team?
What insights can you gain from the information available?
How will you use the data and insights in your conversations about racism?
What other information is available about the lived experiences of people of colour in your organisation?
How do you want to share this information with your team as part of your conversations about racism?
How can your data and insights help you identify actions to prioritise?
What else do you need to support your conversation about racism with your team?
Activity 4 – Acknowledgement
Based on the resources you’ve explored, what have you learnt about yourself when it comes to racism?
How are you feeling about:
The privilege you have. A good way to explore this is to capture how you experience privilege and the ways you don’t. For example, I have privilege as a White person, but I can lack privilege as a woman.
The bias you hold. Reflect on some of the programmed ideas which impact your behaviour – what can you take notice of, and how do you need to build friction into this thinking? Reflect on how your bias may impact your decision-making.
If you are anti-racist. Do you challenge racism on every occasion? Do you go beyond not just being part of it? What do you want to do differently?
What else have you identified through your knowledge phase do you want to acknowledge and change?
You can use the Activity Sheet to capture your reflections and action points.
I’d like to hear from you about this edition
Has it been helpful? Have you noticed anything you want to raise with me or challenge me on?
Do you have any thoughts or questions I can address in the September edition when we’ll focus on how to facilitate your conversations about racism?
Get in touch at anwen@purpleskyconsulting.co.uk.