Dear Managers of Young Black Professionals

I recently facilitated a training for a global healthcare client's people managers to specifically discuss anti-Black racism, its impact on Black people in America and how they can facilitate conversations about race with their teams. I told attendees that I would stick around after the session officially ended if anyone had any questions. One of the white female managers took me up on the offer and she asked a question that prompted me to write this article so I could share my response with a broader audience. She said 'at a previous employer, when we were trying to move the needle on hiring more women, we took specific actions based on what we know about women to make progress in that area. What do we need to know about Black people that would help us think about what we can do to move the needle forward in this area?

Now I don't propose to speak for all Black people. Black people are not monolithic. But after growing up in America and living and working in Africa for the last 10 years, I have noticed some themes across Black folks from different countries that I shared with her. I'm going to share those themes and what I would suggest that managers can do to set their direct reports up for success.

Those 3 themes are: a) an overreliance on intelligence, hard work, technical competence, degrees and qualifications (thus the title of my book Intelligence Isn't Enough: A Black Professional's Guide To Thriving in the Workplace) b) messages about building professional relationships and being authentic c) a general disdain for personal branding and talking about ourselves and our accomplishments.

Theme #1 - An overreliance on traditional intelligence, technical competence, degrees, qualifications and hard work. Black people are told 'get as many letters behind their names (B.S., MS, MBA, PhD, etc.) and then the world and its many opportunities will welcome you with open arms.' This message feeds into a go-it-alone mentality because the value and need for others does not feature in the advice we've been given since we were 5 years old. Because this is all we have been told, our focus is solely on attaining pieces of paper that validate our intellect and growing our technical skills. We believe that all we need to be successful and advance are our brains and our degrees. We are told that we have to 'work twice as hard to achieve half as much as other people' and "put your head down, work hard and you will be recognized.' These adages does not factor in the importance of relationships in our success. The message is we can solely rely on ourselves. This is certainly what I thought as a young professional. As many of us have learned over the course of our careers, as one advances, technical skills become less and less important. It becomes more about our ability to build relationships, achieve results through others and persuade others to see things the way we see them. These 3 keys in advancing all involve other people.

Theme #2 - Messages about building professional relationships and being authentic. Building on Theme #1, because the importance of others in our journey is not stressed, we focus very little on building those critical relationships with one's colleagues, manager, mentors and sponsors. Because I worshipped at the altar of degrees and technical skills, it also made it difficult for me to respect and build relationships with managers who were not technically strong. On top of that, we get very cautionary messages from our family and close friends about work relationships such as "You did not go to work to make friends. You're there to do your work and go home. Those people at work are not your friends. Don't tell them your business because they will use that knowledge against you." These messages which often are based on the history of racial discrimination and the non-inclusive cultures in which we've worked do not make us want to open up to others. Can I also add that many of us have been told we have to speak a certain way (aka codeswitch, speaking with a posh/Model-C accent, have a white corporate speaking voice) in order to be accepted before we even step foot into these environments? From the jump, we are discouraged from speaking with our real voices so we feel we have to choose between being authentic and being effective. Trust is a huge part of any successful relationship whether it's professional or personal. According to Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, without trust, a team can't move to the other building blocks for being an effective team. It's very hard for people to trust us if all they know about us is our work or if we're not showing up in an authentic way. Who is going to trust someone who is inauthentic? Trust is like the chicken and the egg. Which comes first? If we don't trust others, it's harder for others to trust us. Someone has to make the first move. Because of the racial history of some of our countries, the messages we've been given by those closest to us and our mistrust of the cultures in which we work, most likely it is not going to be us. The more psychological safety you can foster, the more productive that person will be, which leads to better team outcomes.

Theme #3 - A general disdain for personal branding and talking about ourselves and our accomplishments. When many Black people hear the phrase personal branding, it sounds like 'you want me to be arrogant and talk about myself.' I've found most Black cultures to be much more about 'we' than 'I.' Arrogance and self-centeredness is truly frowned upon in Black culture. Thus the very act of talking about oneself goes against how we've been socialised and what is rewarded in our communities and families. Many of us live by the adage of 'my work will speak for itself.' I even had a coaching client of mine tell me that his father told him that he shouldn't want to work with people if he has to tell them about everything he's accomplished. When we have the people we respect most telling us that personal branding is rubbish, it makes it that much harder to go against that advice.

Now let's shift to what you can share and do to help your direct reports with some of these mindset challenges and themes (outside of getting them a copy of my book...shameless plug).

Theme #1 - An overreliance on traditional intelligence, technical competence, degrees and qualifications. I get the sense that managers often think that individuals know that while degrees, certifications and qualifications are great, as you advance those technical skills become less important. Don't make that assumption. Be explicit and help your direct reports understand that being able to achieve results through others and other skills becomes more important as you advance. Show your direct reports how you spend your time as a manager and help them develop the skills they will need (delegation, coaching, feedback, influencing, relationship-building etc.) so when those people manager opportunities arise, they are ready for them.

Theme #2 - Messages about building professional relationships and being authentic. Talk to your direct reports about the importance of collaboration at all levels (peers, managers, senior leaders) and how others have been critical in your journey. Share how much more impact you've been able to achieve for the clients/customers you serve working in conjunction with others. Role model inclusion. Check your personal biases. Be thoughtful about who you more quickly trust and connect with (and who you don't) and the common themes amongst those individuals. Think about how your connection with people impacts your decisions about who you think has potential, who you support, and the level and quality of support, feedback and coaching that you provide. Role model authenticity and vulnerability. When you show up authentically and transparently, you give others permission to do the same. As one of my favorite business school professors said during my recent Harvard Business School reunion: 'A leader has 2 responsibilities: a) be your authentic self and b) create the conditions for other people to be their authentic selves.' Work hard to build relationships with your direct reports. Understand what their strengths, development areas, motivations, aspirations and personal interests are. Be curious about their personal stories but also allow people to share what they are comfortable sharing. Share some of your struggles in order to humanise yourself. Schedule chats with them that have nothing to do about work. Show that you care about your direct report as a person, not just a worker bee. Now that you know that your direct report might struggle to open up or trust you, please be the one to make that first move. Remind them of this quote from Harvey Deutschendorf, 'People need to know something about you to trust you...people are afraid of people who never share anything and never open up...people have a hard time trusting and building relationships with people like that.'

Theme #3 - A general disdain for personal branding and talking about ourselves and our accomplishments. I've coached many Black people who struggle with this idea but we all know how critical it is to talk about what you're doing, the value you've added/can add and what your aspirations are. One perspective that I've found to be helpful in getting people to have a different take is to help people understand that a) a personal brand is not about you but the value you add to others and b) a larger purpose can be served through a personal brand. If you have a powerful personal brand, you are in the room where the decisions are made and you are influential. You can help shape and make the decisions and positively impact the people you want to serve. The personal brand becomes less about 'I' and more about 'we.' This spin on personal branding resonates with people much more than just making it about oneself. Help your direct reports develop their personal brand statement so they are able to crisply articulate their personal brand. Work with your direct report to develop an action plan to help close any gaps between what their current and aspirational personal brands are.

I also think it's important to note the role that exposure plays. I come from a family of social workers, teachers and ministers. I was the first person in my family to work in corporate so none of them could give me advice on how to navigate this space. Many Black people are the first ones in their families to graduate from college and to work in a corporate environment. Because of this, many of us don't have people in our immediate circles that we can go to for advice. So while we may have the same degrees and qualifications and are as equally or more brilliant than our counterparts, we do not have the level of understanding of the environments in which we're working nor do we have anyone that we trust that we can go to in order to find out how they work. This lack of exposure and some of the messages we've gotten result in us not showing up as corporate savvy. As Kagiso Molotsi, one of the interviewees for my book said 'Young Black professionals get tripped up when they don’t know how to navigate the spaces they’re in. It then starts manifesting itself in other ways and starts looking like laziness or unprofessionalism.'

Ask your direct reports about their backgrounds, what kinds of work that the majority of people they know have done and what kinds of advice they have been given about professional relationships and being successful at work. Ask them about if they were encouraged to challenge authority as that can also be a big challenge for individuals in a corporate.

As I said at the beginning, I can't speak for all Black people as we are not monolithic. We have had different experiences, exposure and upbringings. Please don't assume that what I've described above is an exhaustive list or speaks to the experience of every Black person as that can be highly offensive as well. However, based on the common themes I've shared, it can't hurt to ask the questions to make sure you're operating from an understanding of your direct report as you help them navigate your environment and set them up for success.