Helping organisations combat discrimination and promote equality
...and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn’t always just-ice.
The Hill We Climb, Amanda Gorman , 2021
Debate, campaigning and action on inequality and discrimination have been a part of the social sector for many decades. The Black Lives Matter movement, the #MeToo movement and the global pandemic have once again thrown these issues into stark relief. In recent times, and particularly around racial justice and sexism, leaders in charities and foundations have had to face some hard truths.
Many have looked afresh at their organisational contexts and actions, and had the realisation that – whatever their intentions – they have been part of the problem. From recruitment processes through to working practices, from policy priorities to service design, many social sector organisations have enabled and upheld inequitable power dynamics and racist systems.
For some organisations, the immediate response has been to post public statements of support, conduct a one-off training for staff, or to hire a single equality, diversity and inclusion professional. On their own, these responses can seem superficial and short-term.
At Lucent, we have been thinking about how to support organisations to go deeper and bring about the long-term transformation required to address different forms of bias and discrimination and to promote progress on equality. We want to work with those who have a desire to leave their organisations, and ultimately society, in a better position than they inherited. We want to help leaders move beyond a sense of shame about past inaction or lack of knowledge, and offer support to those who simply don’t know where to start.
And we know this, because we are on our own journey. We have long recognised that work on strategy and work on equality and anti-racist, anti-oppressive practice should go hand in hand. But, in our early days, Lucent focused more on the strategy side and we knew we had a gap to fill. That is why, when adding to our team of consultants, we looked for individuals who could supplement their strategy experience with deep and personal experience tackling inequalities.
Across the new team, we started by sharing our own stories, experiences and approaches. We had all worked on equalities issues before, but in different contexts, at different times, and with different experiences of what worked and what did not. And we wanted to start a conversation with you by sharing the four principles that will inform our work with, and support to, social change organisations in future.
Equality and strategy are stronger together
Work on strategy and work on equality are at their most powerful when done together. Too often, even in social change organisations, work on equality is a bolt-on activity. Experience tells us that where equality is not core business with clear priorities that drive daily activity, it is neglected or left undone.
By the same token, work on equality and anti-racism needs to be strategic. It needs a compelling ambition, a clear motivation and a series of achievable but stretching short, medium and long term goals. And it also needs to be comprehensive and cover both internally facing issues – such as staff and board representation – and externally facing ones – who you reach, how your programmes are designed, your organisational focus and priorities.
Acting on both equality and strategy together has a positive multiplier effect. And while it might seem like tough work at the beginning, those organisations who put both into action reap rewards and create a virtuous circle whereby, for example, a more diverse staff can help accelerate programmatic diversity and impact, and vice-versa.
Identity is complex
While diversity is often spoken of in binary terms, identity is complex. No two people have the same identity, background and life story and we all experience a mixture of relative privilege and oppression. Our identities can change over time and, at points in our lives, different elements of our identity can feel more or less important. The goal is to have service users, staff and board who can be their whole, full selves when in contact with your organisation.
Our approach embraces this complexity and combines an understanding of the many strands of equalities thinking with anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice. We know that all equalities strands have distinct histories and manifestations. We also recognise the importance of understanding intersectionality - that the lived experience of someone who has had to experience racism, sexism and ableism together, for example, is likely to be quite different from the generally accepted orthodoxies of any of the individual ‘isms’.
Diversity brings benefits
Problem solving, decision making, creativity, team morale, leadership, quality, safeguarding, insight and analysis all benefit from being the product of multiple perspectives. And for all ambitious social change organisations, creating impact requires moving out of your comfort zone and connecting with new people, new organisations and understanding new and emerging challenges.
Prioritising work on equality has other benefits too. Taking even small steps on the diversity journey will help you build new organisational muscles and competencies. In time, it will give you the confidence to be honest about what you don’t know and to recognise that, because this work is ultimately about human relationships, it will never be “done”.
Rather you will become confident to approach new challenges with curiosity and empathy and to be on a constant journey of discovery about other people’s lives, how oppression and power dynamics have affected them, and how you and your organisation can better support them.
Change means digging deep
Change of this type requires getting underneath the skin of your daily work to identify underlying assumptions and biases. Terms such as meritocracy, cultural fit and risk can mask long-standing prejudices, operate as code for what is familiar, and reinforce discriminatory practices. Discussions about “hard to reach groups” problematise people and often ignore the reality that it is the institutions themselves that are “hard to understand and access”.
These assumptions and biases are part of the hidden fabric or dominant culture of an organisation and can play a role in oppressing and excluding your staff and the people you serve. Without this deeper cultural work, you are at risk of setting yourself up to fail. For example, if you recruit a more representative Board but do nothing to change the Board culture, at best you will end up failing to get full value from the diverse perspectives around the table and, at worst, end up excluding and alienating your new recruits.
Over to you
Our thinking will continue to evolve as we learn and grow. To help us, we would love to hear more about your ambitions and challenges in addressing these issues, and what has worked for you.
We’re always keen to hear about how our thinking relates to yours, how it can be refined and developed to reflect your own experiences and what else we could be doing to help organisations tackle these critical questions.
Please share any questions, concerns or uncertainties you are facing in your own organisations as you think about how you promote anti-racism and broader efforts on equality.