A Leadership Imperative: How #BlackLivesMatter is Fuelling the Diversity Debate
If the Black Lives Matter movement has shown us anything, it’s that we still have a long way to go in promoting equality and inclusion for all. Right now, there is a lot of fear and anxiety around opening up dialogue and hearing the raw truth about how ethnic minority individuals have experienced working life and the challenges they have faced.
And so many are quite rightly asking: "Why has this taken so long to recognise and address?"
In my experience, people are in different camps when it comes to acknowledging and understanding racial issues in the workplace. There are:
● People who don’t believe racism still exists in 2020 (they view themselves as ‘colour-blind’ and see people for who they are without treating them differently).
● People of w White background who are annoyed or frustrated with minorities raising their voices - #BLM is another campaign for minority groups to gain an advantage; why should they be made to feel guilty ‘by incident of birth’?
● People who see racial issues, recognise that racism still exists in the system, but aren’t sure of what they can do about it or are fearful they’ll do the ‘wrong’ thing.
● Black and ethnic minority staff who have experienced the bias and discrimination personally but aren’t sure whether it’s safe to vocalise what that feels like.
● Black and ethnic minority staff who want to speak about it and now have a platform for a conversation.
I’m sure there are other camps too. But regardless of which viewpoint a person has, organisational energy should be prepared to meet people where they are and guide them to a place of productive inclusion.
How Organisational Energy Can Promote Workplace Inclusion
In Episode #2 of my Why Care? podcast, diversity and inclusion thought leader Rob Baker believes that the current coronavirus pandemic directly reflects the need for an inclusive workplace.
“We’re all feeling deep stress and anxiety. Right now, we’re more consciously thinking about our impact on others’ lives. We’re reaching out to others and offering support, not based on race, but based on being human. If anything, this is a powerful reminder of how interconnected we all are and that we truly are in this together. It only demonstrates the need to value a more inclusive world, and doing so at the organisational level is a great place to start.”
To move towards a place of change, Dr. Bernd Vogel of Henley Business School believes success lies in the intensity and quality of energy created by the organisation. Intensity refers to the extent of emotional and behavioural energy in the organisation. Quality describes the extent to which the organisation uses the energy in a constructive way.
In their book, Fully Charged, Vogel together with co-author Heike Bruch, labels the four quadrants of organisational energy as:
What I am talking to organisations, there are many employees for which Black Lives Matter has evoked significant emotion – so high intensity. Based on Vogel and Bruch’s model, the challenge therefore is whether the quality of the energy is then Corrosive or Productive. However, there are also people sitting in a camp of ‘Is this real?’ aswell as ‘This is such a big issue, what can I do?’ – so low intensity, which suggests the challenge is to raise awareness, encourage ownership and acceptance of responsibility.
The authors explain that a shift to Productive energy is the only form that is sustainable and capable of producing an optimal outcome. To get there requires leaders to truly listen, recognise where different people are on this journey and skillfully move people away from the other 3 quadrants into a Productive state.
“Dealing with Corrosive energy is more difficult, and must start with an individual and collective acceptance of responsibility. There cannot be a culture of blame and anger within a Productive state”
Remembering We’re In This Together
In terms of using productive energy to support racial diversity and inclusion in the workplace, I believe that leaders need to recognise where different people are in this discussion, including themselves. This is about:
Showing their open vulnerability and willingness to learn.
Showing courage by opening up a dialogue within the organisation and creating a safe space so that everyone’s voices can be heard
Creating shared engagement by communicating a clear organisational vision for inclusion and diversity and demonstrating action towards it.
Supporting people to move away from fear and resistance to change so they understand why the focus on race and racism warrants the attention it is getting.
Make no mistake, none of these are easy asks of leaders! At Avenir, we often find leaders are fearful of having conversations about how different people are experiencing working in the organisation. And feel anxious that if/when they uncover the issues, they then need to present solutions! Specialist external facilitators can help encourage employees to share, learn and find a path together and can also provide some all-important coaching for leaders to support them in shifting the organisation into a state of Productive energy. Please get in touch via our website or on LinkedIn if you would like to discuss.
It’s clear we’ve come a long way from the times of slave trading and segregation, but we’re still not where we should be in 2020. The only path forward is to make inclusion and diversity a priority across the organisation.
Right now, we’re in a profound period of change during the global pandemic, and instead of using it as a distraction from other issues, we can instead leverage this unique time to build equality and emerge stronger, together.