Harris / DrPH / RD Hear us now: Racial Equity in the Workplace

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 979-8-3509-7980-0
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 200 Seiten

Reihe: Hear us now: Racial Equity in the Workplace

Hear Us Now: Racial Equity in the Workplace ('Hear Us Now') is a unique blend of entrepreneurship and niche-focused advice on how to successfully create more racially just workplaces. This topic has never been more timely, as individuals and organizations struggle with a growing national effort to eliminate racial equity practices in a range of institutions. This book provides both much needed hope and important practical advice.

Ali Webb's first job out of college was as a reporter for a small newspaper in Texas. Her second job, however, was press secretary to the Mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, for seven years. Ali was the first female and youngest person to ever hold the position of press secretary in Los Angeles. She was subsequently appointed by President Bill Clinton to head Communications at the United States Department of Agriculture. Later, she served as Communications Director for The Nature Conservancy and as political director for the League of Conservation Voters. For 19 years, she worked at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the largest U.S. charitable foundations, where her last role was as Director of Michigan Programming, leading a team of 21 people and an annual grantmaking budget of $75 million. She now heads Ali Webb Strategies, a consulting firm that advises leaders and advances strategies that help organizations bridge the gap between expectations and outcomes using a racial equity lens. One of her most recent clients was the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, where she assisted with their organizational development. Dr. Webb received her BA in Journalism from Stanford University and her MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2005, she earned her Ph.D. in Mass Media from Michigan State University. ? She is currently a lecturer at the Nonprofit Management program at the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University. She also teaches in a new PhD program at the Lilly Family Foundation School, Indiana University. She has multiple articles published in the Encyclopedia of Public Relations and is also published in NonProfit Quarterly with articles including: How to Conduct Racial Equity Audits, What's Required to Diversify Big Green, and Strategic Philantropy Gets a Wakeup Call. She has also written on team building in philanthropy for The Foundation Review.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harris, Keecha

DrPH,

RD,

Webb, Ali

PhD,

Leseproben

Preface

In April of 2022, the team at Keecha Harris and Associates, Inc (KHA), recorded the first interview for the R.A.C.E. podcast with host Dr. Keecha Harris in conversation with Nathaniel Smith, the founder and chief equity officer of the Atlanta-based Partnership for Southern Equity, a nonprofit organization that advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South.

This launched the brave, transformative R.A.C.E. podcast conversations, which centered on the Responsibility, Accountability, Courage, and Engagement and Equity needed to lead change that centers on race. For the first season and over the next few months, Keecha recorded ten more interviews with a tremendous group of fourteen friends and colleagues.

Each guest was someone who had learned from Keecha’s critical leadership, skill set, candor, and tools or was a person who had taught Keecha something important on her own journey—usually both. This was a two-way street, and the travelers were clients, friends, thought partners, and collaborators. They ranged from foundation CEOs and senior program staff of major foundations to CEOs of other change organizations and staff of international environmental groups. Perhaps most importantly, they were leaders who had navigated change processes where race was front and center as a part of their day-to-day work responsibilities. Through these conversations, the participants explored how they overcame difficulties and contributed to an authorizing environment that supported the full humanity of the people around them.

The podcast’s goal was to motivate, challenge, and invite listeners to try on new approaches to navigate race-related change processes in their current roles. Keecha also hoped to inspire listeners to contemplate the infinite, unimaginably good possibilities that intentional, skillful racial equity and justice change processes can produce. No matter where they work or where they enter the conversation, everyone can discover new opportunities in leading organizational and sector change work by sharing experiences and by helping each other learn on our shared anti-racism journey. 

In formulating the podcast series, the KHA team asked ourselves many questions including:

• How am I showing up around race-related issues at work?
• As a Black woman, I feel personally responsible to lead on race, but I am not sure of how to do so.
• I am white and come from multiple generations of middle-class experiences—can I be trusted?
• How can I dispel the model minority myth and be in deep solidarity with other people of color?

In eleven different conversations, the podcast explored these topics and many others, as Keecha and her guests talked about their journeys as racial equity and justice change agents. During each conversation, listeners heard how identities fuel commitment, what each guest’s “no turning back” moment was, how and why each stays in the game, and what each wanted listeners to remember in order to delve deeper into their own commitment to a more just workplace. The elements of the podcast’s name—responsibility, accountability, courage, and engagement and equity—are visible in every interview.

These conversations were about change.

These conversations were about race.

These conversations were about leadership.

And so much more.

So much more wisdom, in fact, Keecha, along with co-author Ali Webb (also an podcast interviewee) decided to capture their guidance into this book, arranged around a set of themes that emerged from the conversations. The chapters focus on individual/personal elements (Chapters 1-4), teams, organizations, and workplaces (Chapters 5-10), and our communities/society/world (Chapters 11-13). Each chapter frames the topic, includes the wisdom of our guests, and then concludes with final thoughts.

Chapter 1 features guests discussing the importance of intentional self-care, nurturing relationships, and healing in the context of creating a thriving and sustainable organizational culture. It stresses the need for leaders to take responsibility for these initiatives and to communicate their importance for healthier, happier, and more resilient workplaces. Podcast guests emphasize protecting one’s heart, acknowledging generational trauma, focusing on joy and core identity, lifting up the importance of a supportive network, and making the shift toward wellness and wholeness in racial equity work.

Chapter 2 outlines the crucial importance of understanding one’s “why” when engaging in the challenging work of promoting racial equity in organizations. The introduction highlights the significant financial and personal benefits of creating a more equitable workplace, citing a study that reveals the costs associated with racial bias in the workplace. The guests share their personal motivations for engaging in racial equity work, emphasizing the importance of being connected to something larger than oneself, questioning systemic issues, finding joy in the journey, and serving communities.

Chapter 3 delves into understanding and challenging the narratives we tell ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously. The chapter highlights the nature of self-limiting narratives, which significantly impact self-esteem and overall well-being and which are often rooted in early experiences, societal pressures, and personal insecurities. The guests contribute powerful and courageous insights, stressing the importance of listening to one’s inner voice and challenging limiting beliefs.

Chapter 4 lays out the importance of a supportive circle in the workplace. The chapter explores how engagement with others serves as a crucial support system, offering emotional sustenance, facilitating personal growth, enhancing resilience, and amplifying shared joys. The podcast guests share insights on the importance of the circle for emotional connections, professional relationships, and links to the broader community.

Chapter 5 outlines how embracing and acknowledging all identities contributes to richer ideas, more creativity, and better problem-solving, all of which ultimately drives innovation and resilience. The chapter highlights the importance of recognizing and valuing different identities in order to promote a sense of belonging while enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction. The podcast guests share insights on their own rich identities including race, gender, spirituality, socioeconomic background, and more. They highlight the importance of understanding and embracing all identities to navigate challenges and contribute meaningfully in professional settings. 

Chapter 6 tells the story of how workplaces are evolving from task-oriented priorities to prioritizing relationships among team members. The shift to “relationships before task” is driven by the recognition that strong interpersonal connections improve productivity, encourage more employee satisfaction, and promote overall organizational success. Prioritizing relationships before task brings numerous benefits, including enhanced collaboration, a positive work environment, and effective conflict resolution. The podcast guests stress the importance of earning trust through consistent effort and understanding others’ perspectives, underscoring the significance of trust in fostering collaboration, effective philanthropy, and conflict resolution.

Chapter 7 explores authenticity in the workplace, highlighting its profound impact on organizational culture, employee well-being, and overall success. The chapter explores various dimensions of authenticity, including transparency, honesty, and the real expression of values and beliefs. The podcast guests collectively stress the ongoing journey toward authenticity in professional spaces, recognizing that bringing one’s whole self to work is the essence of that trait.

Chapter 8 shows the challenges of racial equity work in the workplace, highlighting the difficulty, discomfort, and messiness inherent in addressing systemic injustices. The chapter recognizes the need for a profound commitment to staying the course, confronting uncomfortable truths, and challenging the ingrained structures that perpetuate racial disparities. The journey demands resilience, self-reflection, and a commitment to confronting uncomfortable truths. The insights from podcast guests illustrate the need for courage, strategic leadership, decentralizing whiteness, acknowledging painful pasts, embracing vulnerability, and normalizing difficult conversations. 

Chapter 9 focuses on the crucial aspect of trust within a team, highlighting its role in fostering collaboration, innovation, and overall success. The chapter emphasizes the idea that trust goes beyond acknowledging team members’ competence and extends to recognizing the strength of their character and their ethical foundation. Trust recognizes the shared humanity of team members, acknowledging that each member plays an integral part in the team’s success. Podcast guests who...