How do we have Conversations about Race in the Workplace
Katy Murray with Upasna Bhadhal, Catalyst Collective
“If you live in this system of white supremacy, you are either fighting the system or you are complicit. There is no neutrality to be had towards systems of injustice, it is not something you can just opt out of.”
Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race
How can we start conversations about race in our workplaces? How can we explore how racism impacts our work cultures and contexts? How can we see where structural and systemic racism is at play? Where do we start?
Read Part 1 of ‘How Can We Start Our Anti Racism Work’ HERE which shares a starter for ten for you to get curious and go deeper with your own awareness and analysis, before jumping to action.
Here are some areas to start to get curious about:
What is the ethnicity pay gap inside your organisation?
What is the mix of talent in your top team, in your leadership team, in your cohort of managers?
Who gets promoted, offered the stretch assignments, offered exciting new projects, who stays, who goes, what is your retention rate for black and brown people, who’s included, who’s excluded?
What’s been the impact of Covid 19 pandemic and lockdown on the culture of your organisation?
Is there a disproportionate impact for people of colour inside your organisation.
What are the micro aggressions inside your organisation and how do these show up?
What does it feel like, to be part of this organisation? what is our culture? How do our values play out (or not)
What are the behaviours that encourage inclusion? What’s working well?
What are the barriers to inclusion?
What do people of colour need inside your organisation? What would help them to feel a deeper sense of belonging and connection.
What are the implications of what you discover?
These conversations will be rich, they will touch on painful realities.
We encourage you to nudge, to provoke, to stay open and courageous in asking these questions and opening up these conversations.
The data will reveal to you what the areas of work will be inside your workplace.
NB Black people and people of colour in your workplace are not your personal tutors in the impacts of racism. Please don’t ask them to do this work for you, educate you, nor listen while you share your own realisations around racism. Please do your own work to unpack how whiteness, white supremacy, privilege shows up in you. Our previous article Do You Have An Antiracism Plan is a good place to start and lists anti-racist educators to learn from, pay for their labour and join their programmes.
Our suggestions above list some areas to start looking at, as to how racism shows up systemically inside your workplaces. Exploring these questions require spaces for brave conversations, with white people showing up and willing to do the work.
Our noticing in this moment is that Black people and non-black people of colour may need safe spaces to grieve and to process and to centre their own wellbeing.
Need some further help?
At Catalyst Collective we work with clients to explore these topics, we create ‘brave’ space for these deeper conversations to happen, so that you can create your own solutions and bring about change. We also hold ‘safe’ space for Black people and POC to feel heard and seen.
We offer a free 30 minute consultation, with no obligation, where you can explore your ideas to create a more inclusive workplace. Connect with us here to book your slot.
We’re specialists in supporting you to lead transformational change around inclusion inside your organisation.
We’re each doing our own work to unpack our privilege and to integrate our anti-racist practice.
We are convening conversations about these topics in the coming weeks. Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear the details.
We share regular free inclusion resources, tips and strategies – sign up via www.catalyst-collective/com/sign-up