Strategies for Dealing with Racism in the Workplace

Today's blog post on humanistic leadership is actually just a link to an article I think you all should read. 

It's titled: Confronting the Uncomfortable Reality of Workplace Discrimination by Derek R. Avery and Enrica N. Ruggs at MIT Sloan. 

https://sloanreview-mit-edu.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/sloanreview.mit.edu/article/confronting-the-uncomfortable-reality-of-workplace-discrimination/amp

I love this - because it address - unintentional discrimination which we need to deal with. Unintentional discrimination is not intentional - but it still causes harm.  We need to deal with that effectively.

The other thing it discusses is to think long term about racism in the workplace. Some of what is happening - is structural. And it goes back a LONG LONG time. Pretending that the laws and organizational structures that were developed - weren't developed to control and exclude - is silly. We have to dismantle these things that cause harm.

 #racism #discrimination #workplaceculture

One of the things I teach is how to use behavioral science to stop bullying and harassment in the workplace. This can at least help you fix the intentional racism that crops up from time to time.   I also have programs on how to control your unconcious biases as well. So check out the courses - and let me help you change the culture of your organization. https://humanistlearning.com/programsoffered/

Combatting racism in the workplace - positively.

What tips and strategies can I share on how employers can cultivate a workplace that combats racism and inspires diversity and inclusion?  I'm glad you asked.

I approach these issues from a behavioral perspective – assuming MOST people are good.

The key to getting the workplace culture you want – is to ACTIVELY reward the behavior you want and redirect the behavior you don’t want – to the behavior you do want and then – positively reward the good behavior.

Most people respond really well to this. Most people want a workplace culture to change. Whether the problem is racism, sexism or just plain old fashioned bullying – most people want to work in a supportive work environment.

Managers and leaders – need to set up systems where positive supportive behavior is noticed and encouraged and rewarded. For example: in meetings, maybe – people who give space for other people to talk – can be acknowledged and thanked for helping to make sure everyone is included ad heard.  Rewards don’t have to be monetary,  often it is enough – to just thank the person for being a good person.

What should you do if you are in a meeting and someone says something inappropriate?  Delta, redirect, positively reinforce.  Issue a delta – which is just – stopping and resetting what is going on.  No judgement – just – let’s reset. Redirect means – the reset is a restatement of cultural expectations that everyone is included and treated with dignity within the organization. Disagreements are to be professional, not personal. Then let the person who misstepped – correct themselves. Then immediately thank them and give them props for a successful and professional reset.

This should work with MOST employees as most employees mean well – but may have biases and habits that are not appropriate anymore and have to be relearned. But this doesn’t mean it will work with everyone.  The reality is – some people – are white supremacists and will not change. Those people – once they surface – have to be fired. There is not way to create a professional workplace where everyone is included when one of your employees (or more) is actively working to counter that ideal.

How will you know?  It will be hard at first. Whenever you create cultural change or behavioral change in a group, people will resist it. But if you keep positively reinforcing it and don’t ever allow the “old ways” that were – honestly – rather racist AND sexist – from working – eventually – most people will get on board and start responding positively to the positive reinforcement of the new norms.

Expect some resistance. Change is hard. But here is the key to finding and eliminating people who are actively racist/sexist. Consistency. Most people resist, and then change and embrace what they are positively reinforced for doing. Racists/sexist – will resist, then resist more, then resist more – and eventually will be super overt in their anger and resistance when racism and sexism stops working for them and they are no longer able to control group dynamics by excluding certain people.  Those are the people you need to fire. 

A lot of times, this is where companies fail. They think the racist/sexist is too important to the success of the organization to let go – and so – they allow it to continue. Racists/sexists are harming your productivity and your organization will be WAY more effective if you eliminate the people preventing your other employees from contributing.

So – positively reward the behavior you want. Delta, redirect then positively reinforce stumbles. Fire anyone who refuses to change.

I do have training on a lot of these topics – from a behavioral perspective.

 https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/

Racial Discrimination in "the trades"

I was recently asked by a manager in the construction trades: how to help their black employees become more effective and productive. This is a good concern to have. Unfortunately - the reason the manager was having such problems - despite having good intentions and actively recruiting for diversity - was because her understanding of what the problem was - was coming from a place of bias and privilege.

People talk a lot about bias and privilege and people bristle when they are told about it. All that is being said is that - there is a blind spot and you don't really understand the problem because - of the blind spot. I am sharing with you this example - so that you can see how bias and privilege create those blind spots so you can recognize them and fix them.

Please keep in mind that while this example specifically comes out of the construction trades, this sort of blind spot problem occurs in all industries. To create more diverse workforces, we have to start overcoming our biases - so that we can solve the problems preventing our teams from becoming truly diverse.

First - the problem: 

This manager said her company wants diversity and they actively hire for it. But every black person they have hired either quits, or gets fired. As I asked her to explain the problem she was having in more detail, she said that the black employees just aren't getting as much work done as their white counter parts and when this is pointed out and attempts made to increase productivity so that they can get the amount of work done that is expected  - reasonably so because white employees are able to meet these standards - that their black employees get angry - talk about racism and quit. Those that don't quit - end up getting fired because they simply aren't as productive as the company needs them to be. She came to me to find out how she could help the black employees learn how to be more to be more productive.

(If you are black and reading this - please take a deep breathe and let me handle this. In fact - this may be triggering - so proceed with caution. I am sharing this - because this person is well meaning - but ... her assumptions - were preventing a fix).

Here is how she worded her problem:

"So, we have a rather diverse workforce, but we still don't have very many African-Americans working for us. They don't tend to stay long, as, individually, they seem to not have the work ethic to do well. If something specific doesn't happen, they are often let go if there's a slow-down in work because they aren't working as hard. But I'm wondering if it's a defense mechanism. I know people make terrible decisions as defense mechanisms - "Oh, they're just going to (do something to let me down). Why bother?"  I need help articulating this idea that African Americans can be reached, if you understand their underlying behaviors as defense mechanisms, and that they possibly can be coached out of those behaviors, if you see their point of view. And not being willing to meet them in their space is part of systemic racism. But honestly, I don't know where to start.

The manager's understanding of the problem was flawed. From her perspective - the problem was that the black employees just weren't as productive and for some reason  - she had no idea why - they just didn't work as hard as their white counterparts, so - she wanted to help train them on things like conscientiousness and time management etc - to help them be more productive and less defensive when attempts were made to help correct productivity problems. (deep breathes).

The problem is - their decreased productivity isn't necessarily caused by the employee. It could very well be - a symptom of something else. And as long as she focused on increasing productivity without actually addressing that something else - the situation was never going to improve.

Why biases matter: 

We all have biases and those biases cause us to make assumptions about the nature of the problem.  In this case - she was making assumptions about her employees - that they just didn't know how to be productive or worse - that they didn't want to be productive.

The best way to overcome bias - is to ask questions. In this case, the best way to find out why people are leaving and not working to the expected standards – is to ask them.  But that requires a willingness to listen and adjust behavior to make space for the person who is choosing to leave instead of deal with whatever it is they don’t like.  Often, the fixes are insanely simple – because it has to do with giving and showing respect in a way that is meaningful for the person feeling aggrieved.

If someone isn’t respected, they often do the minimum work required – in a passive aggressive way. This may be what she was seeing. It may not be. The question is – if this is what you are seeing – why are you all triggering this response? How can you stop triggering this response?

To get past this – the hiring manager needs to understand their role in the communication problem and how to get past it.  The starting assumption should be: these people are willing to work and are capable of working to the required standards, but for some reason aren’t. Why? It’s entirely possible the reason they aren’t is because they feel disrespected in the workplace. If that’s the case, this is a harassment, discrimination and communication problem.  It also means – their behavior may be a result of them not feeling safe.

There is recent work on psychological safety and it’s impact on team performance. https://hbr.org/2017/08/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it

The problem in using this information is – the resistance to using it. It is very easy for team leaders to say – the work I have to do to create safe workplaces for marginalized people isn’t worth the effort when I can get another employee who doesn’t require that extra work. This is a management failure where the management failure is rationalized to blame the marginalized people. Her instincts on this needing to be addressed is correct.

The person that needs to address it and who has to want to address it are the managers. They have to be willing to find out what is happening on site or wherever - because it may not be the manager creating the bad environment. It may be and probably is the people they are working with day to day. But until or unless there is a willingness to REALLY listen and learn with the goal of helping these people succeed and stay – nothing will change.

Another possibility:

Another possibility is this: We know women aren’t respected and their ability to be productive is negatively impacted by men withholding information and resources they need to get their work done. The example I’m thinking of is the guy who used his female employees email address and suddenly – customers who respond right away to him – were withholding and it was taking him A LOT longer to get the same amount of work done – because his clients weren’t as forthcoming with him because he was suddenly female. It’s entirely possible that the employees - who are being deamed - not productive – are working their asses off and not getting as much done because – the people who they are working with – are withholding from them and slowing them down. But again – you won’t know – until they are asked.

My manager friend was making assumptions about the motivations of her employees and why they weren't as productive as she hoped they would be. The result was - her focus was on fixing what she thought was the problem - and not what the employees understand the problem to be.

The only way to fix what is wrong – is to have honest – open conversations to find out what exactly the employees in question are experiencing and why they are experiencing it so that you can fix the problems or help them work around what they are experiencing so they can actually be productive despite the fact they may have hurdles that other - white employees don't have.

This is where privilege comes in. White employees don't have to deal with racist customers and vendors. Black and brown employees do.  Racism - impacts productivity. It's silly to pretend otherwise. If you want to change this dynamic - you have to make space for and protect your black and brown and female employees so that they can be productive - despite the racism and sexism.

Dealing with Racist Rhetoric in a Business Setting

I come at this both from a behavioral perspective (as someone who teaches people how to stop harassment and discrimination using behavioral science) and as someone who has dealt with this.  I also come at this as Los Angelino living in Florida now and this colors my views.

First – personal experience.

I used to work in international franchise sales. My boss was a boorish oaf (he would rub himself in front of me – not joking). We had clients in from Singapore. Nice guys. They were both planning to do vacations after our visit and were asking for advice. One was going to New Orleans. My boss – told him – you need to be careful – there are black people there and he held his hand like a gun.  The guy from Singapore had ZERO idea on why he should be concerned about black people in New Orleans and why that was an issue. He was extremely confused and did not know what my boss was implying. He looked to me for guidance.  I told him – New Orleans has a lot of poverty and a lot of guns and while it’s a very fun safe city, you do have to be aware of your surroundings at times.  He nodded and understood.

  After our guests left, I went into my boss’ office – fists clenched because of how furious and upset I was and I told him he was NEVER to say such racist things in front of me ever again!! Ever.  My position was eliminated 2 weeks later and I was let go. My boss was let go 4 months later when he could no longer blame me for his bad performance.  I did the right thing even though it cost me my job. 

 He wasn’t alone in holding these racist views. My secretary there – told me she didn’t like black people because they would poop in the sinks of her father’s night club and she thought they were animals.  (Those were the words she used).  I told her that her views weren’t accurate and that black people are humans and the majority of them would be horrified at the idea of pooping in someone’s sink! I didn’t let her comments go unchallenged.

  This was the start of my education on just how blatantly racist southerners really were. I grew up in  Los Angeles. Not only were my classmates multi-colored growing up, I only had one job where the staff was majority white.  No one would ever say anything remotely like this because everyone, except people who isolate themselves in certain enclaves, has friends of every color. The racism in Florida was shocking to me when I arrived It’s gotten better, but it’s still pretty shocking.

Now for the behavior side of this:

Racism is a learned behavior. It can be unlearned. The process for unlearning something like this is not easy. It’s best if people have positive personal experiences with people of color – but given the high level of segregation in places in the south – that isn’t likely to happen. 

  It is critically important that white people who don’t like racism speak out against it when it is voiced every time it is voiced.

 Here is why.  Behavior happens when it is rewarded. To get it to stop, you have to stop rewarding it.  Racism is rewarded socially.  It’s a way of bonding. Failure to bond is failure to get reward.  You don’t have to be mean about it – but calling it out as inappropriate is necessary. Every time. People like my boss and my secretary would have never considered themselves racist even though they clearly said and thought horrendously bigoted things and clearly felt fully justified in those views and that it would be safe to voice those views in front of me because I am white too.

Challenging those views – politely – introduces doubt – not everyone agrees. Some will argue. My secretary thought I was naïve and unexperienced with black people and so I just didn’t know the truth.  It doesn’t matter how these situations turn out, the important part is to introduce doubt. Start the process of them rethinking whether what they think they know is actually so.

 The other reason we have to speak out is because of bystanders.  People who are listening who aren’t racist need to know those views aren’t ok and that it’s ok to challenge them.  They can only learn that if someone says – hey – that’s not ok. People of color are human too – stop being an idiot.  This isn’t done to change the beliefs of the racists. It is done to create a new social norm where these ideas are no longer “accepted wisdom.”

If you are a manager and have to deal with this stuff, I recommend taking one of my courses on harassment. They are based in behavioral science and will help you understand the process and how to facilitate it.  And yes, some people may have to be fired.

 If you are an employee and dealing with this stuff – again – I recommend you take my course. I teach a science based approach and can help you navigate these things, without losing your job or at least of setting yourself up to have the best chance of success.   Science really does help.

https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/