3 Signs You Are Racialising Your Employees
How to Stop Doing It
Racists make terrible managers.
Managing other people is a daunting task. We don’t give that fact enough attention. As much time as we spend in our careers strategising how to win a promotion or make our millions through that start up idea we had, we dedicate very little to how we’re going to handle the increased inter-personal responsibility of being in charge of other people. In a culture that is getting less and less relaxed about grievous and inappropriate mismanagement (perhaps especially around race), I’m looking at some key stumbling blocks when it comes to managing a diverse staff.
As the key to the success of any team is cohesion, alienating employees is unlikely to benefit anyone. So, here are some of the key ways in which the bosses among you may be racialising your employees (and one way to avoid doing it):
1. Asking their Opinion on Racial Issues (and on Very Little Else)
It’s very common for people from any marginalised identity to be forced into the position of expert and/or spokesperson of that identity. Especially in office culture, where it is common practice to discuss the news of the day over coffee, it’s easy for people to be thrust into roles they may not be comfortable with. You may be thinking that it’s bordering on puritanical to attempt to dictate appropriate topics of conversation between certain groups. It’s not. Especially not in the workplace! Of course, there is a certain level of sensitivity implicit in checking in with people who may be disproportionately affected by current events. The problem is when that is the only thing you want to talk to people about.
From someone who has often been on the receiving end of this particular issue, take it from me, it’s beyond obvious when a colleague has marked you as a “race expert”. They never talk to you right up until something dramatic happens. It’s a very clear insight into how they see you and it doesn’t inspire camaraderie.
2. Identifying them Primarily by their Racial or Ethnic Identity
This is something that seems like an obvious thing to avoid but is still troublingly common. I myself have often overheard myself being described as “the brown girl” or “the black one”. Other examples are mixing up the names of people of the same heritage or just consistently getting their names, of the pronunciation of their names, wrong. It’s incredibly othering, of course. But in terms of team-building, it’s an approach that’s obviously not going to ever work. If you do this. Stop immediately. Learn your colleagues’ names. It’s really not hard. To work effectively with people, you really need to start seeing them as people.
3. Avoiding Certain “Awkward” Topics
This is the mirror image of number one. Treating certain (usually race-based) subjects as taboo in certain company is not the polite act you may think it is. A good rule of thumb is if you are discussing someone (or a race of people) but you would not be comfortable expressing that opinion in front of them (or a member of that race), it’s inappropriate to be saying to anyone. Remember, you’re not just making the excluded people uncomfortable, you are making everyone complicit in your actions. Again, not so great for team-building.
The Solution: Communicate, Ask Questions & See Your Employees as Complete People
As a real champion of the enforcement of strong boundaries, this may seem counterintuitive but please stick with me! There’s a lot of concentration of specific strategies for relating to a diverse group of people and that’s great. But what it often misses is the human aspect to all of this. People are just that, people. And, it’s a pretty safe bet that the people you are meeting organically in life, especially if you’re in the same industry, will have some commonalities with you. Often the greatest barriers between us and the people we perceive as different from us is the very idea of difference. That base assumption that there is a gap to be bridged in the first place is often what creates it.
We all come from different backgrounds, have different attitudes, different interests and different priorities. But that’s true for every single person in the world. Looking for similarities, instead of differences, is the most important first step you can take in properly relating to anyone.
Kathryn Finch is an EDI Consultant, Coach, Lawyer and Founder of Quartz Consulting and Coaching.
