How to Be a Better Ally to Your Black Colleagues | Harvard Business Review

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“The relationship between Black employees and their employing organizations is, at best, a tenuous one.”

by Stephanie Creary, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Management
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

July 08, 2020

Executive Summary

Research suggests that the relationship between Black employees and their employing organizations is, at best, a tenuous one. Black employees — at all levels — feel that they have not been adequately heard, understood, or granted opportunities to the same extent as their white peers.

The author, Dr. Stephanie Creary, has devised a framework to help people from different backgrounds build stronger relationships in the workplace. Known by the acronym LEAP, the framework encourages company leaders — particularly people managers — to become better allies by:

  • Listening and learning from your Black colleagues’ experience;
  • Engaging with your Black colleagues in racially diverse and casual settings;
  • Asking your Black colleagues about their work and goals; and
  • Providing your Black colleagues with opportunities, suggestions, encouragement, and general support.

Public Positioning (Woke-Washing)

Woke-washing is “a modern-day marketing tactic in which corporations superficially align themselves with progressive causes, often while continuing to perpetuate inequality or unethical practices behind the scenes”.

A few U.S. CEOs and corporations have been positioning themselves publicly as being progressive on social issues such as racism, injustice and inequality. They have been taking a public stand against the racism and injustice while also admitting their own shortcomings in matters of equality.

Yet, for many well known corporations and organizations, there has been a large dichotomy between their companies’ (or organizations’) words and their actions.

Read more: https://hbr.org/2020/07/how-to-be-a-better-ally-to-your-black-colleagues

References:

  1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/ceo-statements-on-race-matter-more-than-you-think/ar-BB14ZzVk

About Professor Stephanie J. Creary: Dr. Creary is an identity and diversity scholar and a field researcher. She is also a founding faculty member of the Wharton IDEAS lab (Identity, Diversity, Engagement, Affect, and Social Relationships), an affiliated faculty member of Wharton People Analytics, a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI), and affiliated faculty member of the Penn Center for Africana Studies. She leads the Leading Diversity@Wharton Speaker Series as part of her Leading Diversity in Organizations course at Wharton. She conducts research on the topics of identity, diversity and inclusion, and relationships across differences.  She also advises and speaks to corporate audiences on the following topics:

  • Building stronger relationships in the workplace among people from different backgrounds
  • Improving leader engagement in diversity, equity, and inclusion work
  • Reducing bias in selection processes (hiring, promotion, team)
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