Lowering the cost of speaking up

One of the things I've realized that we can do as DEI consultants at Co-Creating Inclusion, is to lower the cost of speaking up.

Starting back before the pandemic, back before George Floyd and the current protests, back before company after company issuing statements that Black lives matter, one of the things that we have been doing is going into companies and organizations and listening to the people who have been advocating for DEI, specifically as and for those who are systemically and institutionally the least heard.

Often some headway has been made, but usually these folks have been banging their head against a wall and are exhausted from the process of screaming into the wind. Sometimes they have fought for us to be brought in with their last ounce of energy.

Our priority is first always relief for those most impacted by systemic and institutional racism and other forms of oppression - almost always Black women and other women of color, but also Black men and other men of color, and to a much lesser degree, white women. In fact, when we've run focus groups with white women and then with people of color, the difference in level of frustration and exhaustion is quite palpable when looked at within the same organization. (Interestingly, however, we have found that white women within industries that remain very traditional and white male dominated often have experiences that resonate with women of color from more "progressive" organizations.)

We provide relief, sometimes even before being hired, by creating space for these folks to be heard, letting them know that they are not alone, that they are not imagining things and that what they are experiencing makes sense within the larger context, even if it is not ok - it's the system working as designed.

Then we also work on bridging the gap between them and what is often still a white dominated leadership team, which means scaffolding leadership up so that they can actually hear and understand what their people are experiencing and why. We talk about how good intentions don't necessarily translate into actions and results. We talk about holding space for truths that are different from ours, and how different people can experience the same environment and culture and situations completely differently based on differences in identity, power and privilege.

And we gather qualitative data - in other words, voices - from across the organization so we can help the organization identify patterns, instead of requiring individuals to advocate for themselves on a "case-by-case basis."

In other words: we lower the cost of speaking up.

Because the case-by-case basis is exhausting. Pleading for your own humanity is exhausting. Trying to be heard when the system is designed for you not to be heard is exhausting.

And now what we're seeing across the country and even across the world, despite my misgivings about a "woke wave", is a systemic and cultural lowering of the cost of speaking up.

The conversation about Black lives, about systemic racism and about white supremacy has gone mainstream.

People and companies who never engaged in the conversation or the work now are, and although yes, I think that much of it is out of guilt and fear of how it looks and of not wanting to be called out, we can now hold companies and organizations accountable for their statements.

And what I'm hearing is that even leaders of organizations are feeling that they have an opportunity to push for change right now in a way that will meet with less resistance than before, internally and/or externally. Initiatives that in the past felt overwhelmingly hard to get buy-in and support for are now sailing through.

There is an opportunity here, an opening where those who have long been or have wanted to advocate for antiracism and DEI work in their organizations could get some traction.

What can you do in your company or organization?

I'll be honest - I don't know how long this "opening up" will last or if it will last.

And that's ok. That doesn't mean we need to rush or panic. As always, I believe we should not give up our power by depending on others to change.

However, it does seem like a good moment to make a shift in our self-coaching program so that it is more explicitly in support of DEI and antiracism advocates and leaders within companies and organizations.

This is for those of you who have been or want to drive equity and shift culture towards inclusion at your organizations, big or small, corporate or non-profit. This free email based program includes weekly posts and check-ins. We'll be updating the self-coaching sign-up page to reflect this shortly, but in the meantime, if you are not already signed up, we invite you to do so.

We also encourage you, if you have not already done so, to sign up for 30 Days of COURAGE: personal reflections on confronting the truth about white supremacy, a free series of 30 emails I wrote a couple of years ago and updated last year.

Either way, we hope you will stick around and find relief, inspiration and practical suggestions as we move forward.

Banner photo by Joshua Hanson on Unsplash. Also published on LinkedIn.