A Workplace Conversation About Race

My sister, Tera Hurst, was the first person to talk to me about the difference between intent and impact. There is a lot of good intent right now in our society as we watch all the pain and anger in our cities, but as leaders, our job is to make an impact not just show our good intentions.

The hardest part of true change around race in our society is sharing power. We are not wired to want to share power - it is really scary.

 The greatest impact we can make right now is to share power. It is not to lecture our teams about the importance of equality or sending out executive narratives about our personal journey. We need to create space for our teams to find THEIR voice.

Here are four questions that we designed to help your people have transformational peer conversations this week about race at this moment in history. They are crafted based on my experience building social movements over the last 20 years and the psychology of personal and organizational change. They enable people to develop their voices, gain a platform to speak, and emerge as leaders who drive change.

At Imperative, we broke into pairs Monday at lunch and had these conversations. They were painful and hard. They were also inspiring as we each explored the personal work we need to do around race and the role our company can play in either supporting the status quo or truly helping create systemic change. It was only a first step but an important one.

Why these questions?

 1) When did you first realize the world isn't fair?

This is a question that Harvard professor and political organizer, Marshall Ganz, shares to help people find the source of their motivation to create change. We are born with a sense that the world is fair and just but at some point, that myth and the safety it represents are shattered. When we explore this moment in our lives it often reveals our values as well as how we define our personal POV on how to repair the world. It is also critical to building empathy for those who suffer injustice every day.

2) As you watch the pain and anger in the country right now, what thoughts and feelings are triggered for you?

We need to organize our thinking and process our emotions to move to act. When we do this with someone else it also helps us realize that we are not alone and share the overwhelming thoughts and feelings that we are all experiencing. Ideally, we also begin to connect the answer to the first question to the current moment in time and a path to act begins to emerge.

3) What is one area where you would like to work on your personal relationship with race?

This question moves people to action - within their realm of control.

4) Our company has power as an employer, buyer, and brand. What is one opportunity you see for us to make a positive impact? How can we lead right now?

Finally, this question helps people explore how their company may be increasing inequality in the world, and the incredible power the company also has to make a positive impact. It inspires people to become intrapreneurs who can find solutions that executives may not see from where they sit and with their experience in a broken system.

It is by trusting our people to have this conversation, that we begin to truly share power and open the door to true change.