ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE: Black Workers Are Often Excluded From Strategic Planning Activities
A common complaint I’ve heard from Black workers and managers, over the years, is that they are routinely excluded from their departmental planning sessions because there is an assumption that African Americans can’t be strategic or that we aren’t capable of complex thinking. From deciding on which proposals a department or unit should respond to or deciding on goals and tactics, Blacks often feel totally marginalized and ignored in the workplace. From the Black perspective, many Whites in the workplace don’t seem to think we have any business being involved in a project, until the Whites have made every key decision. Once the work is at the point that assignments can be handed out, then (and only then) are Blacks often brought into the process. I once worked with a Black, female manager who was the only manager excluded from her department's weekly management planning sessions.
Imagine having ideas, but never being asked what you think. Imagine that no matter how vocal you try to be…after decisions are made, you are thanked for your suggestions, but they are never seriously considered.
Unfortunately, African Americans are often considered mere labor and not thinkers. Therefore, a relatively common problem we encounter is that Whites will hold meetings to plan out a project or response to a proposal and then they’ll tell the African Americans what they need to do, rarely giving information about the entire project.
Some Whites in the workplace prefer to own or be in control of everything. But, what they don’t mind sharing is THE ACTUAL WORK. So, they will retain the “sexy” parts of a project for themselves that require client interaction and/or decision making. As a result, Blacks are often boxed out of initial client contacts, when team leaders and select team members (often White) are bonding with the clients and becoming the individuals that the clients know by name and trust. By the time Black and other minority workers become involved, they are just cogs in the wheel—nameless people who represent the “work horses” on a team.
While some Whites choose to exclude and retain as much control as they can over every aspect of a project, these same people have an expectation that others (read: minorities) behave with a “team spirit,” not exemplified by their own behavior and supposed leadership.
Some White managers and coworkers think all African Americans need to know is the piece of work we are assigned to and nothing more. There’s a false perception that African Americans either won’t care about the nature and scope of the entire project, won’t understand the “big picture,” won’t have any contributions to make because the whole project will sound like “rocket science” to us, or that we simply “don’t need to know” all of that information.
The reality is that it’s easier to keep people in a box when you control information dissemination, as well as the ability to control a person’s work day and assignment levels. And, it’s easy to pigeon-hole people, when you intentionally stifle them. Taking away an employee’s ability to be a part of planning sessions/strategic planning virtually guarantees that this person will not be able to easily work their way into management or higher levels of work in a department. That person will remain a worker-bee and nothing more.
When African Americans ask about the details of a project, we are sometimes told we don’t need to worry about it or we will be promised that the project will be explained to us “off line,” which never happens. As we are boxed out of the project, we may be accused of being indifferent and apathetic about our assignments and there is a stunningly hypocritical curiosity as to why we don’t show a greater interest in our work. It’s often an unspoken, catch-22 situation.
This is just one of the issues that Blacks face in the workplace. The Black Factor will address some of the other issues in future posts.
What is your experience with being included in the strategic planning (read: “thinking”) part of projects? Have you been allowed to contribute ideas, on the front end, that shaped the way the project was conducted?
Imagine having ideas, but never being asked what you think. Imagine that no matter how vocal you try to be…after decisions are made, you are thanked for your suggestions, but they are never seriously considered.
Unfortunately, African Americans are often considered mere labor and not thinkers. Therefore, a relatively common problem we encounter is that Whites will hold meetings to plan out a project or response to a proposal and then they’ll tell the African Americans what they need to do, rarely giving information about the entire project.
Some Whites in the workplace prefer to own or be in control of everything. But, what they don’t mind sharing is THE ACTUAL WORK. So, they will retain the “sexy” parts of a project for themselves that require client interaction and/or decision making. As a result, Blacks are often boxed out of initial client contacts, when team leaders and select team members (often White) are bonding with the clients and becoming the individuals that the clients know by name and trust. By the time Black and other minority workers become involved, they are just cogs in the wheel—nameless people who represent the “work horses” on a team.
While some Whites choose to exclude and retain as much control as they can over every aspect of a project, these same people have an expectation that others (read: minorities) behave with a “team spirit,” not exemplified by their own behavior and supposed leadership.
Some White managers and coworkers think all African Americans need to know is the piece of work we are assigned to and nothing more. There’s a false perception that African Americans either won’t care about the nature and scope of the entire project, won’t understand the “big picture,” won’t have any contributions to make because the whole project will sound like “rocket science” to us, or that we simply “don’t need to know” all of that information.
The reality is that it’s easier to keep people in a box when you control information dissemination, as well as the ability to control a person’s work day and assignment levels. And, it’s easy to pigeon-hole people, when you intentionally stifle them. Taking away an employee’s ability to be a part of planning sessions/strategic planning virtually guarantees that this person will not be able to easily work their way into management or higher levels of work in a department. That person will remain a worker-bee and nothing more.
When African Americans ask about the details of a project, we are sometimes told we don’t need to worry about it or we will be promised that the project will be explained to us “off line,” which never happens. As we are boxed out of the project, we may be accused of being indifferent and apathetic about our assignments and there is a stunningly hypocritical curiosity as to why we don’t show a greater interest in our work. It’s often an unspoken, catch-22 situation.
This is just one of the issues that Blacks face in the workplace. The Black Factor will address some of the other issues in future posts.
What is your experience with being included in the strategic planning (read: “thinking”) part of projects? Have you been allowed to contribute ideas, on the front end, that shaped the way the project was conducted?
posted by S. Mary Wills at 9:07 AM
1 Comments:
All of the decisions are made bythe whites on my job. i don't know how blacks can force themselves into the process because we don't even know what they're discussing when they're discussing it. The only time we know we have any new work is when the whites announce the work we are going to do. They ask if we are available and if we are they tell us about our portion of the work.
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