If you’re like some folks I know, when it comes to race in the workplace, the level of instability feels high. You find yourself confused by the mixed signals, bewildered by the contradictions, and perplexed by the double-speak and ambivalent commitment from decision-makers. Because direct communication doesn’t seem to be a “fit for the culture,” you’re reading tea leaves and constantly trying to orient yourself to an ever-changing environment. The sand beneath your feet feels like it's constantly shifting with the turnover in the c-suite and the revolving door around your management chain.

In this post, I’ll share ways to use race analysis to:

• gauge the appetite of key stakeholders to do racial equity in the workplace
• create conditions for racial equity work to stay alive long enough to see results
• pace and sequence the organizational transformation you seek

You can use race analysis to read your environment, construct hypotheses, and test your theories of change. Review these nine ideas for inspiration.

Use race analysis to gauge the appetite of key stakeholders to grapple with race in the workplace.

1. Attune to the language people use to describe racial phenomena racism at work. 

What is the language used in the DEI goals and DEI strategy? Notice zones where explicit racial terminology gets used and zones where it does not.

Notice the language that you use. Do you find yourself using precise racial language? Mimicking the terminology gymnastics modeled by the internal communications/teams in corporate-speak?

Do you notice anyone using precise race language? What level are they in the organization? How do people respond to their racial literacy?

If key stakeholders use “diversity” as a placeholder for racial/ethnic categories, discern if it's an issue of not knowing the precise language, reluctance to use race terminology for fear of making a mistake, and/or aversion to the pursuit of racial equity in the workplace. Discern if it’s one, more than one, all, or none of these.

2. Do a landscape analysis, attuning to risk tolerance -

Where is the risk-tolerance zone wider vs narrower? And on what issues do these risk zones expand or contract? Expect these zones to be dynamic and for their expansion/contraction to constantly change depending on external and internal factors.

3. Attune to the stories of employees of color regarding the extent to which they experience equity in the workplace. 

If the issues they raise are longstanding, persistent despite internal efforts, and the unspoken rule is to look away, it’s not a signal for appetite. On the other hand, if there are people raising their hands to prevent, intervene, and/or repair harm, you have signals of a strong appetite. You might find yourself noticing both of these.  If you’re interested in learning how to navigate these dynamics in real-time, The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership is for you. Sign up at the link! 

Use race analysis skills to create conditions that keep the racial equity work alive long enough to see results.

4. The first condition you want to create for equity work is cloud cover.

Have a conversation with the people above you in the hierarchy in the organization. Be explicit about wanting to know the level of commitment to racial equity and DE&I. Is there a sincere investment?

Once you get a response, observe the extent to which their actions align with their espoused commitment. Then, across your context, look for areas of sincere commitment and areas of performative engagement.

Who wants to do authentic work vs frivolous tasks believed to pass as having done something, despite its inefficacy?

5. Assess the capacity of colleagues to see events through a racial equity lens -

This assessment of capacity includes your management chain, and cross-functional partners and their management chain. If you enroll in The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership you’ll get more details on how to apply this kind of assessment to your context.

<<Related: Don't forget to click here to download my free guide on how race moves through the operations of organizations. >>

6. Learn how the organizational boundaries respond to system racism education - rigid and/or porous? 

Get to know turf and street corners colleagues claim, especially when parts of the whole, don't realize they are a part of a whole or lose sight of the whole.

Use race analysis skills to pace and sequence the organizational transformation you seek with your equity leadership

7. Transformation for equity needs to be structured over an arc - there are moments where you’re in an on-season and moments where you’re in an off-season.

Use your race analysis skills to read the context to find out when are good times to oscillate between the two. If you enroll in The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership you’ll get more step-by-step details on how to orchestrate this kind of titration and oscillation.

8. In equity leadership, move at a pace that others' expectations for comfort can stand

My mentors and professors taught me that when you’re driving systems change you want to last long enough to see results, do it at a specific pace - a pace that disappointing others’ expectations for comfort can stand.

Pay attention to which signals appear when you’re in a productive zone of disequilibrium organizationally and when you’re not.

If you’re interested in learning how to navigate these dynamics in real-time, The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership is for you. 

9. Use sequence as one of many racial equity tools. 

Structure a sequence of catalytic engagements over time. One-off engagements may be low-hanging fruit that yields “early wins.” And, we know they are insufficient and yield very low returns - as far as actual behavior change or outcomes of more equitable processes.

So remember… you can use race analysis to:

• gauge the appetite of key stakeholders to do racial equity in the workplace

• create conditions for racial equity work to stay alive long enough to see results

• pace and sequence the organizational transformation sought

To tackle equity in the workplace is to take on the enormous task of pushing humanity forward. To hold the mirror up to a system that isn’t functioning with the highest operational fairness. 

Use race analysis to prepare for the arduous journey. And if you want the opportunity to rehearse in a lower-stakes container before testing out your ideas IRL, enroll in The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership.

If you liked this post, please share it with a friend. And, download these free guides and workbooks as gifts from me to you. 

Now you know exactly ways to use racial analysis to address racism at work, but what about integrating it into your DEI strategy? I’ve got Why race analysis should be the linchpin in your DEI strategy to address race in the workplace for you to read next to help you with that.

I help trailblazing leaders like you, who are stuck between mainstream minutiae and resistance from status quo keepers, pivot organizational systems from unfair to equitable.

When you enroll in The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership, you shift from:

• Risk aversion to fortified, unshakable leadership
• Mainstream generic approaches to unprecedented models for more racially equitable outcomes
• DEI burnout to tenacious healing and growth
• Martyrdom , reactivity, or inaction to honorable gamesmanship
• Misaligned and unclear to found providence
• Being an isolated load bearer to cooperative command

Work with me to expand your leadership capacity in care-curated leadership crucibles, sustained coaching, community, and battle-tested curriculum. If you want help applying these concepts, enroll in The Equitecture® Academy for Decolonizing Leadership.