It’s funny cos it’s true

As I was getting ready this morning the TV was on. A rerun of an early episode of Third Rock From The Sun was playing: the comedy where aliens arrive on earth to observe human kind. The humour is derived from their attempts to blend into a world that makes no sense to them.?

I wasn’t really paying attention but one exchange between Sally, the security officer and Dick the High Commander stopped me in my tracks.?

Sally: “Why do I get to be the woman?”

Dick: “Because you lost.”

?(Cue canned laughter)

Sending up misogyny was at the core of the show, which aired from 1996 to 2001. I remember finding it hilarious when it first aired. I laughed because what I saw on screen I knew to be a heightened version of what was true in real life.?The perceived contradiction of the female character being the security officer, while trying to “be a woman” was a running joke for all six seasons.

Looking at it with 2024 eyes this morning made me wince.?What was “normal” in the late nineties/early noughties isn’t now, so for me, the show just isn’t funny any more. At one level I was stunned by how bad it was back then that the casual and extreme misogyny in the show was not shocking. At another it was reassuring to see how much we’ve moved on.

People with minoritized characteristics are adept at using humour to survive. When I was a child, my Dad was brilliant at turning the casual racism we faced day to day into comedy material which had us clutching our stomachs from the ache of laughing so much.?

What’s this got to do with your organisation and EDI? A lot.?

Many organisations I work with have cultural norms that are disadvantaging minoritized people. It is after all one of the things they bring me in to help change.?

Humour is a classic way of surviving for minoritized people

I remember an organisation where I was a middle manager years ago. One of our senior leaders regularly ogled women. We women laughed at him behind his back. It was the only way to deal with something we had no power to address.

If people are experiencing microaggressions in your organisation, you can be sure that one coping mechanism colleagues use is joking about it. If they are making running jokes, you know you have a problem – though if you are not from the minoritized group you may not know about it.

Not only are micro aggressions towards minoritized people normal in too many organisations, so are ways of thinking and behaviour that leaders and colleagues do not always recognise as things that need to be tackled head on in the interests of inclusion.?

Examples I have come across in the last two weeks alone include:

• Labelling people as the right or wrong “type” for an organisation
• Identifying people as “leadership material” based on outdated tropes
• Command and control management and leadership styles that crush innovation, productivity and spirits
• Managers abusing their power, such as turning down requests from those they manage, even though organisational policy gives them the agency and encouragement to say yes, e.g. to accommodate religious observances?
• Leaders openly declaring profits matter more than people - yes there are still leaders out there who think this…
• Leaders regularly cancelling meetings with colleagues at the last minute because something they deem more important came up. (Signalling that their people are a low priority)?
• Colleagues having to rearrange work, meetings and personal life because of last minute demands from their leaders
• Minoritized people year after year reporting poorer experiences at work in staff engagement surveys, with little or no meaningful action being taken to address them

These things become cultural norms which people, even leaders, feel are impossible to shift. But cultural norms do not have to be accepted. It just needs leaders to address them.

I’m reminded of Steve Jobs. Apple used to have a museum of its own history in the lobby of its main office. On re-joining Apple, one of the first things Jobs did was get rid of the museum. He didn’t want the culture of the company to be based on tales of its history. He wanted everyone focused on the future.?

All it took was for Jobs to decide - that was the norm before, this will be the norm from now on. And then follow through.

Are you a leader? What is normal in your organisation that you know is holding you back? Attitudes? How managers manage? An inability to attract or hold on to minoritized staff??Poor morale? Low trust in leaders?

All of these cultural norms are shiftable. If you are a leader, you just need to make a decision and act.

Can we help?

Want help with any aspect of your EDI journey? Reach out and to set up an informal, no obligation chat. Also, we will soon be opening our waiting list for the Full Colour EDI Programme for HR Leaders: we will hold your hand as you build everything you need – skills, confidence, concrete plans and practical actions – to drive change on EDI in your organisation.

Contact [email protected]

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