Let’s collectively imagine the following scenarios.
Allow yourself to tap into your empathy for just a moment.
Imagine a black owned national institution steeped in over 100 years of history that creates world famous ikons and generates billions of pounds.
Imagine such an industry knowing that 95% its members have consistently failed to promote any white employees to the position of manager even when they have the experience and qualifications.
Imagine this same industry consistently promoted underqualified black personal to high profile managerial positions while ignoring better qualified white applicants, even when that black employee had previously been sacked for gross misconduct.
Imagine being a white employee applying for job after job within this historical organisation. Imagine watching as equally or less qualified black employees fail in their roles time and time again only to be offered big pay outs when they are sacked for poor performance prior landing another great job within weeks.
Imagine joining this institution and being aware from your first day onwards that you will never rise above your entry level position.
Imagine if regardless of your ability or the contribution you have personally made by generating 100’s of millions of pounds to the organisation you have represented that you will never be offered the top managers role because you are white.
Imagine turning up for work knowing that images of you being abused by black people for being white would be broadcasted for the whole world to see on all media platforms.
Imagine if your you colleagues and managers all stood around while you suffered the shame and public humiliation.
Imagine any accountability for your abusers was reduced to token gesture that allowed them to return and continue their abuse of you the over and over.
Imagine this institution telling you it was powerless to stop your abuse for roughly 130 years but watching as they immobilise a devastatingly effective response to stop some of its members jeopardising the quality of its core business. A response so powerful it received backing by the prime minister of England and halted and plans to disrupt the institution within 24hrs.
Now imagine how undervalued you would feel as an employee that your pain and suffering was not meet with a similarly powerful response.
Imagine nobody caring because you are white!
Imagine people being ok with your pain because deep down they feel comforted by the fact that it is not them.
Now switch the colours.
You no longer need to imagine. This is just the experience of Black football players in the UK. This is their relationship with their employers at club level and their treatment by the Football association (FA).
How different is your organisation from the FA?
Would your Black employees agree with you view of the organisation?
Could your boardroom and management teams be more diverse?
What impact does conscious and unconscious bias have on your organisations efficiency?
Cliff Faulder
Recent Comments