Let's Talk About Race: Navigating Race in the Workplace [Recording & Resource Guide]
In part 2 of our “Let’s Talk About Race” series, our panel of experts explore the complexities of navigating race and identity in the workplace—providing guidance on how race, intersectionality and bias play out in professional settings and how to have effective conversations with managers, colleagues and HR about these concepts.
We hope to help members of our community build a capacity to broach these issues and develop useful strategies to continue educating yourself and others. Please see below for tools on how you can turn these conversations into tangible action.
Webinar held 21 October 2020.
Recording
Resources
We encourage members of our community to join millions in educating themselves, participating in the conversations about racial inequality and taking action to dismantle systems of oppression and working towards a more equitable and inclusive society.
Flex: The New Playbook for Managing Across Differences by Jane Hyun and Audrey S. Lee
Renowned executive coaches and global leadership strategists Jane Hyun and Audrey S. Lee offer lessons on the vital skill of “Flexing”—the art of switching leadership styles to more effectively lead people who are different from you, allowing managers to successfully manage the multicultural workers of today and tomorrow.
Coqual
Coqual is a global think tank and advisory group that was founded in 2004 to address bias and uncover barriers to advancement for underrepresented populations in the workplace. They produce research that is unique in depth, breadth, and rigor, tackling urgent workplace issues related to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and LGBTQ identities. They offer concrete and actionable solutions.
Don’t Let Election Passions Roil Your Workplace by Bob Feldman |Harvard Business Review
After election day, more than 100 million Americans will physically or virtually report to their jobs, one of the few remaining spaces where citizens routinely engage with others who come from diverse backgrounds and hold different viewpoints. Those workplaces are likely to be the first outlet for pent-up emotions at a time of toxic political polarization. Anxiety, fear, anger, and frustration will boil over in ways managers can’t afford to ignore. What can they do? A new report by the Dialogue Project that is based on a year-long research effort offers advice on how to help employees engage in productive discourse and provides unsettling data about how difficult it can be.
How to have more productive conversations about race in the workplace by Sarah Todd | Quartz at Work
Open, honest conversations with employees about inequality are an important part of organizational reform. So what can companies do to ensure that conversations about race and racism at work are meaningful and productive? Here are a few recommendations from organizational experts about how to do dialogue right.
“How to build an actively anti-racist company” by Jenni Avins | Quartz at Work
In the days of protest following George Floyd’s killing, brands have been showing up on social media proclaiming that Black Lives Matter and pledging their corporate support—financial and otherwise—to push for racial equality. But what might that corporate support look like, exactly? And how can it move beyond an Instagram post and a donation to create meaningful change?
How companies can pull up for Black employees during a race crisis by Erin L. Thomas | Quartz at Work
Moments like this can feel overwhelming. As a leader, you might be asking yourself what you can do. While you can’t repair centuries of racial injustice in the domains of health, law enforcement, and education, you can leverage your power to leave a legacy within your organization. You can begin to rewrite what the future of work looks like for 13% of Americans—the 13% who are Black. Here are a few places to start.
Implicit Biases Test | ProjectImplicit, Harvard University
Find out your implicit associations about race, gender, sexual orientation, and other topics.
Antiracist Allyship Starter Resource Pack by Tatum Dorrell , Matt Herndon & Jourdan Dorrell
Resources and tools regarding racism and anti-blackness and how to be a better ally
The Anti-Racist Packet compiled by Jasmine Mitchell
"How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion"by Peggy McIntosh | TEDxTimberlaneSchools
Peggy McIntosh lectures on issues of equity and privilege as they relate to race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Her TED Talk offers a shift in the traditional view of race, equity and privilege. McIntosh uses her own experience as a white woman to inform her own knowledge of racial experiences from a white perspective.
Racial Justice Trainings with Race Forward
Race Forward’s Building Racial Equity series is a collection of interactive trainings for those who wish to sharpen their skills and strategies to address structural racism and advance racial equity. Unlike “diversity trainings” which primarily focus on interpersonal relations and understanding, the Building Racial Equity trainings emphasize how to challenge and change institutional racial inequities.
If you have any helpful resources you would like to recommend for this list, please contact us at hello@stgeorgessociety.org.