This post is part of a Race & Work series on The Corporate Sister blog in honor of Black History Month.
You know the rules, right? “Whatever you do, don’t talk about race or politics at work”!
It doesn’t matter that it may be all over your TV and smartphone screens. Or that we may all be thinking about it as we look at each other in the middle of the meeting room…
YOU.JUST.DON’T.TALK.ABOUT.RACE.AT.WORK.
How do you avoid it entirely then? Well, for starters, you polish your color-blind lenses and put them on. Then you pretend that you can’t see anything remotely connected to race. Even when it’s blatantly in your face. Like when someone makes an insensitive comment about your “unprofessional” natural hair. Or when recent racially charged political events are met with the silence of some of your most trusted colleagues at work.
Race is the big elephant in the meeting room. The one sitting between you and everyone else, that no one really wants to acknowledge. It’s in the unsaid questions, the questioning stares and the politically correct conversations around the conference room table…
How do we talk about the colorful topic of race in the very often bland, colorless landscapes of Cubicle Land? How do we get somewhat comfortable enough to discuss the big R without crossing some invisible forbidden professional line? Or do we just pretend that the whole thing doesn’t exist and sing Kumbaya around the water cooler?
This is the thing though, there are no real practical “tips” to deal with race at work. This is not like “Interviewing 101” or “Office Politics 302”. It’s more complex than that. We’re talking about people ‘s experiences, life stories and most deeply ingrained sense of identity. Not your favorite Starbucks latte with whipped cream on top…
But if we were to set some general guideposts, you know, like those orange traffic cones that tell you where not to step in with your pretty stilettos if you want to keep your legs (and your stilettos), it would go something like this:
Please take your colorblind lenses off!
Ok, it may sound good to say: “ I don’t see color, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re black, white, purple or orange!” Except it’s not exactly the reality… If I turned from my deep shade of mahogany to a sweet peony pink overnight, you’d notice…
We all notice differences in the way we look, because we have eyes and that’s what people do! Distinguishing between my deep mahogany shade and the whipped cream on top of my Caramel Machiatto doesn’t make you a racist, it makes you as discerning as my 4-year old. And the kid can discern just about everything…
What complicates the whole race matter at work, is when anyone makes assumptions about someone else’s intellectual, physical, or emotional state because of their race. And if anything, pushing the colorblind ideology just tells the whole world we’re not comfortable with cultural differences… Which brings me to my point, please take off the colorblind lenses, and look at race in the face…
Racial Stereotypes Do Affect Your Career (Yes, Even the Good Ones!)
For one, racial stereotypes do exist. Secondly, they do affect your career, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, simply because they alter how you’re perceived at work…Now that’s just the reality…That doesn’t mean your work and sheer professionalism don’t count, but appearances are still appearances, and are very often outside of our control.
Even “good” stereotypes, like being a hard worker because you happen to be Asian-American, can affect the type of work and exposure you’re afford in the workplace. As a professional, you need to be aware of these stereotypes, and how they can affect you in the long run. Which also means you need to know your own strengths and weaknesses so you can position yourself better for the opportunities you deserve…
Before confrontation, think conversation first…
If someone’s discriminating against you on the basis of race, the first thing you may want to do is run to Human Resources to defend your rights…Except taking any race-related matter to HR will cause a backlash that may affect you negatively, whether it’s in the form of retaliation or even firing…
This is not to deter you from using the HR resources at your disposal to address race-related matters. But if we’re practical here, you may want to consider starting with a conversation first. Even if it’s challenging, discuss your concerns directly with the person discriminating against you. If the conversation doesn’t help, talk to their boss.
If all else fails, you can certainly take it to HR. However, consider taking more of a constructive, proactive stance by suggesting ways of lessening the damage, rather than insisting to have disciplinary action taken. As in asking for a rotation or transfer for instance…
Get Real About Diversity Training
What about diversity training, you may ask? Isn’t the whole point of sitting yet through another one of those trainings to diminish the effect of bias in companies, aka make Cubicle World a better, all-race-inclusive place? Yes, indeed.
Except diversity trainings seldom succeed in creating bias-free companies. They’re like diversity band-aids, they don’t really solve the problem but do a nice job at protecting companies from getting infected with potentially damaging lawsuits.
So while you should still take your required diversity training, please get realistic about what it can and cannot do…
How do you deal with race at work?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis
