How White Managers Can Support Black Employees
For White managers supervising Black employees, this is a particularly challenging and confusing time. (There are, of course, Black managers supervising White employees, but it is the dynamic of White managers supervising Black employees that is the most fraught and consequential at this moment.) The recent police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta (to name but a few) have resulted in much consternation with respect to interracial relations. For Whites, the result has been the now-ubiquitous notion that these are “unprecedented times.” And, for White people, they may well be. As Aldon Morris, a professor of sociology at Northwestern University, writes, the reaction to the recent police killings and resulting protests has been “unprecedented in terms of the high levels of white participation in a movement targeting black oppression and grievances.” Yet for Blacks, as Amelia Ransom points out, “these are quite precedent[ed] times…. We’ve seen this time and time again.… [This] doesn’t feel new or different.” Indeed, as Shenequa Golding writes in Forbes, “We’re tired, angry, confused and yet this space is familiar to us. This place of torment and trauma has become a home of sorts. [And so] we’re biting our tongues, swallowing our rage and fighting back tears to remain professional.”
Blacks’ sense that they have experienced all of this before is likely to be paired with a high degree of skepticism about the sincerity of White people’s expressions of support for racial solidarity. As a result, White managers who want to support their Black employees during this turbulent and stressful time need to realize that their effectiveness in this regard depends on there being a climate of trust in their workplaces—and such a climate depends on their sincerity in wanting to strengthen interracial relationships.
White female managers may have a particularly heavy lift in convincing their Black women employees of their sincerity in this regard. Many Black women view White women’s racial attitudes with a high degree of suspicion, in part, because they believe the feminist movement has “prioritized the interests of middle- and upper-class college-educated White women who sought social equality with middle- and upper-class White men, ignoring the larger needs and marginalization of Black women.” Indeed, many Black women see racism as “at the core of [the] vaunted women’s movement.” On top of Black women’s antagonistic perspective on White feminism, a recent Essence survey found that Black women’s experience of racism occurs most often in the workplace. White female managers, therefore, may find it harder than their male counterparts to achieve solid relationships of trust with their Black employees. Such relationships, however, are not impossible, and suggestions for building them are included below.
Here are four things White managers (and their organizations) should not do and four things they should do in order to build a climate of trust in their workplaces.
Do not
1. Do not ask your Black employees to talk about how they are feeling. For a variety of reasons, they are likely to be very reluctant to do this. If Black employees and particularly Black senior leaders choose to share their personal experiences, this can be highly constructive and valuable. But expecting Black employees to respond to questions about their reactions to current circumstances is likely to take a high toll on their emotional resilience.
2. Do not look to your Black employees to take the lead in promoting racial tolerance and understanding in your workplace. Now more than ever, this effort should be led by White managers. It is White people who perpetuate racism in this country, and it is White people who must lead the effort to eradicate it.
3. Unless requested by your Black employees, do not hold open meetings where all employees are free to express their views about race, policing, protests, riots, incarcerations, the disproportionate racial impact of Covid-19, or the administration of justice generally. Such meetings are likely to increase, rather than decrease, racial tensions. Moreover, your White employees may be tempted to use such meetings as occasions to tout their personal lack of racial bias, the many Black friends they have, and their strong support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Such White posturing is an effort to avoid confronting the reality of racism and is likely to provoke a highly negative reaction from your Black employees.
That said, an open meeting of your Black employees moderated by a very senior White leadercan be cathartic and liberating for the Black employees—and highly educational for the White leader. In addition, such a meeting can contribute not only to Black employees’ recognition of the commonality of their feelings but also to the reality of senior management’s sincerity in supporting its Black employees.
4. Do not make or allow to go unchallenged statements such as “All Lives Matter,” “We have to consider all points of view,” and “Rioting and violence are never justified.” Your Black employees are far too conscious of the legacy of slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow, Northern segregation, racially disproportionate incarcerations, and systemic racial discrimination to believe that America values Black lives equally with White lives, or that an outpouring of violent Black rage—however self-defeating, even self-destructive—is totally without justification.
Do
1. Do let all your employees know that your door is open to them whenever they want to talk confidentially about anything that is on their mind. And, when Black employees do come to talk with you, listen and don’t expound; learn what they want you and your organization to be doing, what they feel would be most helpful right now, and what they don’t want you to be doing. After you have listened, be sure to act on what you have learned—for it is far worse to invite comments and then not follow through than it is not invite comments in the first place.
But apart from indicating your availability for dialogue, you should reach out to each Black employee who reports to you to let them know you recognize that these times may be very difficult for them and that you are there for them if they need you. If you are a White female manager, you are likely going to be subject to extra suspicion about the sincerity of your expressions of support, but I have written elsewhere about some of the things you can do to overcome that suspicion.
2. Issue a public statement expressing your organization’s strong support of its Black employees, highlighting their unique perspectives, valuable experiences, and solid accomplishments. You should not speak about their feelings or on their behalf, but rather about their importance to the organization, the talent they bring to the workplace, and the respect that their opinions and aspirations enjoy.
3. Make clear to all of your employees that the current turmoil and anguish specifically concern Black people. At the same time, however, you should emphasize that you recognize that all people of color face serious problems of bias. The current unrest is about race, but ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, and family background are sources of severe and pervasive discrimination as well. So, while you should put race front and center in your statements and actions, you should also make it clear that you and your organization are committed to supporting all people of color.
4. Seek ways to show your support of your local Black communities. Don’t just contribute in an effort to lessen their “needs” and “lacks,” but herald their resilience, generosity, kinship ties, compassion, community, and pride. Become a visible, proactive advocate for these communities generally, and Black businesses in particular.
As a White leader, and particularly a White woman leader, these stressful and conflict-prone times require you to grapple with complex, multidimensional problems that may be confusing and beyond your experience. But keep in mind that the only way any of us White people can respond constructively to the challenge of racism and its devastating personal consequences is by educating ourselves about the Black experience, moving purposefully out of our comfort zones, engaging directly with Black people, and working consciously to make things better in concrete and thoughtful ways. Accept that you will make mistakes; apologize when you do; thank those who correct you; and listen carefully to those who are in distress. Try to be the strongest advocate possible for your Black employees—and keep trying to do so, no matter how tough it may get.
by Andie Kramer