Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE is a diversity, Equity and inclusion (D&I) leader and owner of consultancy, Blue Moon. The 34 year old entrepreneur has placed more than 3,000 people from diverse backgrounds into work, is a trustee for The Lord Mayors Appeal, Co-secretariat for the Creative Diversity All Party Parliamentary Group with Baroness Deborah Bull CBE, of which she is joint secretary. Joanna is also a Non- Exec Director for Investors in People and an expert advisor for the UKRI and AHRC Boundless Creativity Board, New Scotland Yard Counter Terrorism Policing and expert Advisor to UN Women UK – to name just some of her responsibilities.
It was the social equivalent of an overdue volcanic explosion, feared but not prepared for, and its eruptions felt far from its epicentre, leaving a landscape – and its people – forever changed. George Floyd was murdered on a pavement in Minneapolis by a policeman, but in his death he lit the fuse for protests about racial inequality around the world, including here in the UK. And more poignantly, his death unwittingly changed the discourse of racial disparity, prompting people from all backgrounds, including activists, race experts and grass roots professionals to amplify their voices on important matters such as racism, micro-aggressions and inequity.
So, with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests’ anniversary imminent, and the recent guilty verdict, which saw Derek Chauvin convicted of the late George Floyd’s murder, this is a reminder that while Mr Chauvin has been held accountable, justice has not been achieved and racial inequity still plagues our city.
Inevitably, the traumatic experience of the tragic death of George Floyd does not only bring back heartbreaking emotions for his family and loved ones, but you’d be forgiven for predicting an inevitable moment of reflection for black, ethnic minorities and white allies on what we have achieved in the 12 months since George’s passing to ensure sustainable and systemic change.
What will you say when these reflections surface within the workplace? How will you respond to your staff when they ask you what you are continuing to do to ensure that antiracism remains a priority? Will it be an incendiary question, or one that puts you on the right side of history?
There are signs that many companies need to begin to commit to anti-racism, continue their efforts to tackle racism through proactive anti-racist policies and behaviours or risk being ‘seen’ as keeping racist structures active.
Now BLM and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) aren’t the same thing, but like a rising tide lifting all boats, the BLM protests have put racial inequity and inclusion in all its guises on the agenda. So, in the wake of the global outcry, many employers have scrambled to put things right across the ‘E’ as well as the ‘D’ and ‘I’. But with the anniversary of those protests in sight, and emotions set to flare up once more, how can you tackle the tough questions on this sensitive subject? To help you prepare, Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE has listed 5 key questions that could come and ways to address them so that you can not only survive but thrive as a D&I leader.
Was our response appropriate?
A common mistake that employers make is assuming they know what their black and brown employees require to ensure they too have the equity they need to be successful in the workplace. When it comes to understanding the needs of your black and minority ethnic employees, ask them. Preferably by an external, impartial and objective professional who will uphold the confidentiality of their experiences while informing you of what support would look like to your ethnic minority staff.
If you want to know how to respond to the emotions that the anniversary of George’s death means, read, listen and learn independently of your black staff. What is the discourse on social media via experts and the general public? What are reputable authors and academics saying? How are EDI experts and consultants discussing and challenging the efforts of the last 12 months? What have the latest reports on racial disparity taught us? Note the reaction these have received and then explore creative ways to provide safe spaces for discussion, both open and facilitated, in private and closed environments. Remove the burden from your under-represented staff by doing the work yourselves and provide support and care to staff who are finding this particular time challenging.
If you have employee network groups engage with them for guidance on things you are yourself unsure of. They’re a great resource for you and other key stakeholders to create the change needed within your organisation. If you don’t have these network groups lean on organisations that exist to support companies with their inclusion practices and anti-racism policies and behaviours. There are a number of highly qualified and reputable professionals who would love to support you. And if you do the latter and reach out to an expert, please do so with a budget in mind. Typically, many EDI organisations are run by those from under represented groups and these individuals are statistically most likely to be asked to work for free or for low fees.
The anniversary of the protests could be the perfect opportunity to take stock. Acknowledge what happened a year ago, summarise the steps you took and work out where to go next.
We don’t know what we don’t know. Many leaders underestimate the obstacles confronting an employee of a diverse group, and erroneously perceive a workplace with far less bias than actually exists. To avoid that mistake, this is a great time to get an independent assessment into your actions, and a recommendation for your next steps.
Of course, if you and your employees are asking if your response was enough, rather than is and will continue to be enough, you should consider adopting a more long term mindset, because improving ED&I isn’t a fast fix. It requires a far deeper, more structural solution.
Have we sustained a response, or has it fizzled out?
With the explosion of emotion and demand for change around BLM, many people reacted in a knee-jerk way. That’s not useful, because it’s probably too ephemeral. Leaders might have made a statement to staff, provided some training, created a library of diversity reading, and in cases, run an ad campaign to reflect the issues. They might even have hired more diverse people. That’s great, but if these were just temporary reactions that’s problematic.
What have you introduced that challenges every behaviour, process, procedure or micro-aggression that keeps ethnic minorities and your black staff in a place of inequity?
Remember, black people are not one homogenous group, intersectionality is hugely important to your response to racial equality. The experiences of a disabled black woman will differ to the experiences of a working -class black male, or that of a transgender black person or a black Jewish person or black Muslim person for example. Essentially, there is not one black experience so your work understanding and tackling racial discrimination won’t have been solved by sharing a reading list or holding a few discussions on race; these actions form the beginning of a nuanced and complex journey of understanding and education.
Like an Elastoplast, some of these measures only stick temporarily. And others, even if genuinely well-meaning, can be tokenistic and opportunistic. Lasting change is needed and
ED&I is a journey not a destination. How do you know if you have made a more inclusive workplace? How do you know that your ethnic minority staff feel a sense of belonging? How do you know that white staff aren’t seeing anti-racism as anti-white? Are your white staff still uncomfortable or unclear of the real meaning and definition of terms like fragility and privilege? Unconscious bias has been written about frequently in regard to inequality, so instead of a leader’s gut feel, use analytics to get a clear idea of your ED&I gaps, pay/promotion inequities, and more and challenge bias everyday not just once a year.
Then you can create meaningful goals designed to develop a fair and equal organisation, and take sustained action against a sound plan to achieve them. So when you’re people want to know how you keep momentum, you’ll have an informed response. And you’ll know whether that activity is succeeding or fizzling out by tracking it regularly, and communicating that back to your organisation.
What structural issues exist and have we tackled them?
We live in a more activist culture now, where people want a fairer world. Racist bosses, like Papa Johns founder John Schnatter, are rightly ejected and investors shun companies like Deliveroo that mistreat their workers. These are leaders that are clearly way out of step with our times. But inequality is rarely so outlandish, and is usually more subtle. Indeed, it’s often baked into the structure of companies, often in the form of micro-aggressions. These can be so subtle that neither victim nor perpetrator may entirely understand what is going on—which may be especially toxic for black ethnic minority staff.
If you’ve passed one of these barbs, knowingly or unknowingly, as a dig, banter or just innocent interest, they might feel micro to you. But to those on the receiving end, you can be sure it almost certainly feels macro. Perhaps you’re surprised by how well spoken your new black colleague is, or wondered if they were interviewed as part of positive discrimination.
Have you run training on micro-aggressions that have only provided individuals with a list of transgressions, rather than an understanding of where they come from and why they enact them? These are some of the big questions you should ask yourself.
Beyond micro-aggressions, look hard at other structural issues. What has fundamentally changed since BLM? As who we have empowered in our workplace and how we will ensure they remain empowered to drive change. Ask yourself: what allies have made this a priority? Were any of our responses planned so that they could have their impact measured, so we can identify where we are starting from today? Or did we fall prey to unplanned knee-jerk reactions like black squares and reading lists, while black staff remain excluded and un-promoted? These are deeper issues but critically important to fix.
Are we cultivating allyship?
We must teach our leaders and our staff cultural competency and shed light on things such as racial trauma and aforementioned micro-aggressions that occur in the workplace. It’s hard for them to believe it’s happening, as it flies in the face of their self-image as decent human beings, but it’s about making visible what has so far remained invisible in their own experience. This is a key element of building allyship.
An example of this is a partner of a law firm telling a junior lawyer, in a room full of their peers and C-suite staff: “If you hear a racist comment from a client or senior partner you label it racist and you tell me and it will be dealt with. Don’t shrink and worry that calling it out will ruin your career progression. Be bold and report it to me.” This is allyship, this is showing someone they are seen.
This is seeing a privilege you have, like being able to turn up without receiving a comment about your ever-changing hairstyle, and showing that you call comments of this nature out. Allyship is educating yourself on pronouns to ensure that you address your non-binary peers appropriately, without this being prompted by the said person, allyship is understanding what adjustment your black disabled colleague might need and making it as much your priority to ensure they have this. It’s being proactive, consistently and considering the needs of those who are being marginalised.
Cultivating allyship is about embracing other people’s differences by opening up to them, understanding them, and harnessing them to build a stronger team. It’s also admitting you are wrong, holding a mirror up to yourself and saying, I didn’t get this right, but I will work to know better so I can do better.
So leaders must lift others up by advocating, sharing growth opportunities. They should play an active role in recognising and stopping micro-aggressions and prejudices. And this can include everything from policy making to education programmes. As racial trauma and mental health therapist, Ashley McGirt, says: “If you don’t have a plan to be anti-racist then you plan to be racist.”
Is our workforce getting more diverse?
As a leader, you probably like to hire talent that reminds you of…you. I get it, you’re great. But as brilliant as you are, society is not composed of your clones, so neither should your organisation. But outside of work, we tend to stick to our communities, which themselves might not be diverse. So how to hire diverse talent?
An obvious way is to avoid sourcing from the same schools, jobs fairs and networks that lead to less diverse talent pools. Create new entrant opportunities and hiring programs that tap into universities that are more diverse to help create that funnel of talent that may have been overlooked in the past.
As someone who has placed over 3,000 diverse individuals into companies, with my consultancy Blue Moon, I’ve found some creative ways to put people together that normally might not mix. In place of the traditional formal process which can look inclusive but in reality be more excluding, I let people see the talent in situ. I curate these hackathons, and foster an equality-rich environment where my diverse talent works on sector problems for potential clients. It gives those potential employers access to a new group of people and gets them working together as if they were already employees. It’s fantastic; it completely smashes down barriers by bringing different groups together and focusing on candidates’ skills and abilities rather than their differences.
