Why Do We Experience the Same Workplaces Differently?

In Episode 37 of Why Care?, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Founder and CEO of Untapped Leadership and author of a book by the same name, Jenny Vaquez-Newsum. We discuss everything from the race penalty, to imposter syndrome and the importance of contextual agility in leadership.

The conversation led us to noting how individuals may experience the same workplace very differently. Although many of us are familiar with some of the common issues limiting organisational inclusion, we may be less clear on their impact on people’s day-to-day experiences of the workplace, and ultimately on progression prospects.  Let’s take a deeper look at two of these.

Why and how do we experience the workplace differently?

Stereotyping is present in many of our everyday interactions. We all get stereotyped in different ways, whether they are positive or negative narratives - (read more about how the former can still be harmful in my article ‘The Negative Impacts of Positive Stereotypes’). Stereotyping is challenging to address because it often manifests in subtle ways.  It may be that we feel an unspoken pressure to modify our actions to ‘disprove’ a stereotype, particularly if we are the only member of a given underrepresented demographic - we may feel the weight of representation falls heavier on us. Or, we may hold back from showing up as our true selves for fear that we will be labelled and misunderstood. One common example of this is a black woman being labelled as ‘loud’ or ‘aggressive’ for taking up space, while her white male counterpart demonstrating the same behaviours would be celebrated for his ‘leadership potential’.

Small yet consistent occurrences such as these may ultimately impact access to leadership opportunities because they affect both the ways we are perceived by others, as well as the ways we may be influenced to perceive ourselves.

Another lesser considered reason some of us may perceive the workplace differently is our unique cultural norms. These can shape our perceptions of people, opportunities and situations, and subsequently the decisions we make.

In the context of leadership, individuals who come from cultures that promote humbleness and indirectness in communication (such as East Asian cultures) may be less likely to put themselves in positions that increase the visibility of their leadership potential. This may be different for someone who’s culture views pride as socially acceptable and even encouraged, like Arab culture. On the other hand, Arab culture is a collectivist one that values group success, and differs from others that celebrate individualism, like many Western cultures. This may mean that the latter’s achievements are spotlighted more, particularly if an organisation is headquartered in a Western society. Ultimately, progression in the workplace would begin to seem like a daunting, unattainable goal - more a series of closed doors than open ones of opportunity.

How can I help make sure that everyone gets an equal chance at leadership?

Although we have made great progress with diversity and inclusion in organisations over the last few decades, there is still a long way to go. It is therefore important that the effort towards achieving it is collective - particularly with cases such as the ones mentioned above, where small, daily and consistent gestures are particularly impactful.  

Immersive exposure to different cultures, whether that be through workshops or organisation-led cross-cultural initiatives, means that we are heightening our collective awareness of the ways difference can manifest and moving forward in a way that celebrates that. It is also important to do the deeper, less comfortable work of confronting our internal biases - which we all inevitably hold, to redefine what we perceive the typical mould of a ‘leader’ to be. To borrow the brilliant analogy Jenny uses in the episode, we must fix the ‘root’ of the tree (the mould) if we hope to reap good ‘fruit’ (leaders). My upcoming book Beyond Discomfort: Why Inclusive Leadership is so Hard (and what you can do about it) delves deeper into utilising discomfort as a tool for inclusive leadership. The book is out in March 2024 and is available for pre-order here.

A big part of confronting stereotypes is being aware of the language we use and its impact. For example, the UAE legally shifted away from the term ‘disabled people’, which can hold negative implications, to the more empowering ‘people of determination’. This term may not suit everyone who identifies as having a disability everywhere in the world, but shifts like these positively impact our daily thought patterns and, ultimately, the decisions we make and where they take us.

Avenir also offers an Inclusive Leadership Programme, designed to help leaders navigate and transform their leadership approaches to promote greater inclusion, team satisfaction and productivity, as well as supporting leaders who break the conventional mould of leadership.

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