What My Viral Video About White Privilege Can Teach Us About Navigating Anti-Racism in the Workplace

A short video I recorded about white privilege that went viral on TikTok and Instagram (it was adapted from an excerpt of my book The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace ), highlighted a few points that are worth discussing.?

The term "white privilege" refers to the social and cultural benefits that a person gets because of their race and social status.?

Rather than criticizing specific people for the colour of their skin, white privilege is about acknowledging the truth about the structural and cultural benefits that Black people are denied.?

There is nothing more to it.?

Still a sensitive subject?

When I read some of the comments, I was struck by the extent of the verbal back and forth and the resulting arguments, which reminded me of the dangers of wasting too much time in an organizational context by convincing leaders and managers that they have privilege.?

There was a group of people who were adamant they didn't have a life of ease and comfort (even though I was crystal clear that's not what it meant), and there were some who believed the concept was racist against white people. There were others who fought hard to provide examples of privilege in action. And there were others who resorted to outright abuse (and subsequently got blocked).

This is one of many concepts that are still very emotive therefore there is an increased potential for this discourse to lead you in circles, making you wrongly believe that before you can go on to identifying and addressing systemic racism in your workplace, people must first realise and accept their privilege. This acceptance becomes the end goal, and I can promise you, on its own, it is far from enough.?

A few years ago, my team and I were speaking with a company that initially requested our assistance to tackle racism within their organization. We explored supporting their HR and DEI teams to use root cause analysis to assess the data and insights they had in order to adopt a more evidence-based approach to developing effective solutions that were anchored in the language of business and not that of social activism.?

It was a comfort to have this type of discussion with an organization because in response to the murder of George Floyd,?many companies believed they could use training on unconscious bias, microaggressions, etc. as a way to demonstrate they were doing something.?

That comfort was short-lived however, when the Chief People Officer (CPO) eventually came back to us and advised that had abandoned that approach and instead wanted to focus on raising awareness. And what topic did they want at the heart of that???

White privilege.?

Discomfort influencing strategy?

Fast forward a year later, and I met the same CPO in a different setting. When I asked how far they had come in fighting racism (as opposed to other efforts to make everyone feel welcome), they said in a shy way that they were still having trouble making progress.?

The white privilege program was designed by an external supplier, and it looked amazing. The original thinking was that focusing on hearts and minds and making it "fun" using language such as "innovation," "sprints" and "hackathons, was something that would help managers get to grips with white privilege. ?

Yet the team were unprepared from the emotive conversations that ensued. And it all centered around privilege – who had it and who didn’t - and that became the main and only topic of discussion.?In essence, the very thing that played out underneath my video on social media, was replicated in the workplace.

The CPO acknowledged that the reason they decided to go with this approach was because the “business wasn’t ready” and instead it was felt that raising awareness?first would ease people into at least talking about racism.???

“I should have pushed back harder.” ?

Doing the hard things first?

You cannot command and control racial bias through rules, an annual day of re-education, or a week of inclusion awareness. This format cannot change the way people think and behave – consciously or unconsciously – and therefore it cannot change organizational systems.?

When leaders don’t really understand racism or feel comfortable addressing it, investing in training as one of their main actions, is merely throwing money at the issues in a spray-and-pray fashion, desperately hoping something sticks.?

It is necessary to engage in the difficult but essential work of examining the ways in which systemic racism permeates within your?policies, practices, and leadership and inter-colleague behaviours and decision-making frameworks. This means taking a critical and analytical approach to understanding the underlying causes of systemic racism and then using this information to guide the development of effective solutions.???

When your position as a leader, particularly in HR, is dependent on demonstrating you are bringing everyone with you, that there is a sense of cohesion, lack of conflict and happy smiling employees, one can understand why the easy solutions, the less challenging?ones are prioritised.?

An anti-racist organization, as a concept, purely means a company that is alert to the way racial inequalities show up and takes active on-going steps to address the root causes and level the playing field for those most impacted.?

Making an impact involves acknowledging that discomfort will always be present and understanding the difference between actions geared towards alleviating discomfort and sustainable interventions that make a difference.???

Circular conversations about terminology may intellectually stimulate (and feed our egos), but they won't move your organization forward.

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In addressing systemic racism in the workplace, accomplished HR strategist Shereen Daniels pulls no punches.????

A gifted speaker, educator and entrepreneur, her direct, yet compassionate approach have seen her twice recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice and former winner of HR Magazine's Most Influential Thinker.???

As the bestselling author of The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace (Wiley, 2022), Managing Director of anti-racism advisory firm?HR rewired , Chair of her charitable foundation?The African Diaspora Economic Inclusion Foundation ?and Senior Advisor to?Lansons , Shereen is called upon as the go-to personality on both sides of the Atlantic to support executive board and senior HR leadership teams tackle the complex, nuanced and often uncomfortable dialogue surrounding racism in the workplace.???