London-based strategist, speaker and educator Shereen Daniels
What does it mean to cultivate an anti-racist organization? What does an anti-racist organization look like? These are questions that award-winning HR strategist Shereen Daniels sought to answer in her new book The Anti-Racist Organization. Daniels is a London-based strategist, speaker and educator who runs an advisory firm called HR rewired. Daniels sat down to discuss her new book, why she felt it was necessary to write, and what keeps her hopeful when engaging in anti-racism work with organizations.
Janice Gassam Asare: So Shereen, you just released your first book, The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace. What was the catalyst behind you writing this book? I know some people may have said to you, ‘We already have so many anti-racist books that are out already.’ Where do you think this book fills in the gap?
Shereen Daniels: From my knowledge, I think this is the first business book about racism written from a U.K. person. So, a lot of the feedback that I had as part of the work that I was doing is that because the American experience of racism and the voices of American writers and great American writers, almost overshadowed everything else...it felt as if this was still an American issue, because everyone's like, ‘Well, where are the British people about this? So, is it just an American issue?’ And I was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, it isn't.’ And then also, I think having a tone of voice that can speak to the alignment of our struggle...what we're trying to do and what we're advocating for, but maybe make it more relevant to people who are here and being able to almost help them connect the dots.
I think the way I articulate the foundations of systemic racism...the fact [that] it started with the English. So, while we're all sipping our tea...I'm like, ‘no, no, no, come back. No, it started here.’ And just helping them see, without going into detail because I didn't want to take them on that path, but just class and wealth and the economic aspects of racism, which people don't always lean into, aren't always aware of...is just a backdrop of understanding how this manifests itself in the workplace.
Asare: In the book, you talked about something called the four-factor RACE model. Can you speak a little bit more about that?
Daniels: The four-factor RACE model isn't to give people the answers; it's to give them an approach and an approach that is embedded with being intentional and thoughtful and reflective, and not just leaping into thinking that you know everything, or you want to be the savior and you want to come and do all of these things. And you know what we always say with any change program: it starts with self first. This is no different. But I context what that reflective piece looks like in an organizational sense. R, which is the first part [is] recognize the problem. [A is] analyze the impact. It's about understanding the value of both qualitative and quantitative data and not just going for data that you can quantify in spreadsheets and pivot tables. [C is] commit to action...reminding people to be clear on the problem statements, because sometimes where you can get a group of people together, they all want to make change. They all want anti-racist organizations and cultures, but there isn't universal agreement about what the problem is that they're trying to solve. So, you can never solve it then, or you can never alleviate the impact if you're not clear. And then [E is] empower for change. Recognizing that everyone has a job. So, you can't leave people on the sidelines. So how do you engage? How do you encourage people to keep leaning in, to keep pushing past their discomfort, to keep being pioneers of change without them feeling like things are being done to them rather than with them?
"The voices of American writers and great American writers, almost overshadowed everything else...it ... [+]
Asare: So, are you worried that companies will put less of an emphasis on and be less willing to resource and put money into this work because of the financial era we're entering into?
Daniels: Yes and no. I'm going to say yes in terms of, we can already see it happening...we're also seeing a shift in language away from when Black Lives Matter happened and the protest over the summer of 2020. Everyone felt quite comfortable to...specifically mention Black Lives Matter, and therefore to specifically mention Black people. What we've seen over the last two years is, it's like, ‘Oh yeah, we did that. We've had enough now.’ And we want to go back to diversity and inclusion and belonging, and we're really thinking about enhancing experiences for everybody, and so the language became back to being very generic. I think because of that, anytime there is a squeeze on budget and you have white people in majority leadership positions...it stands to reason that very few will prioritize this. And very few will keep going with the commitment to make change and really understand what that means and do really support the work underneath. The flip side is that was always going to happen irrespective of whether there's pressure or not...that's why racism has always been a challenge to actually make proper inroads in because the people who [are] most impacted are not in senior positions and we don't have agency to be able to prioritize our own communities, even within our workforces.
I always talk about my work being in two halves. One is helping leaders and teams understand the strategic imperative and the context so they can make better decisions about how they navigate this for the long term, not thinking that this is going to be solved in a year or two years’ time. The other side is empowering Black colleagues, Black professionals in the workplace in business to say, even though the organizations and the backdrop of what we're working with is not yet optimized for anti-racism, let's not give our power away. Let's remind ourselves of who we are. Let's remind ourselves what we've accomplished as a people, despite our continued depression, despite the continued reluctance to address the structural barriers that hold us back. And in so many cases, we're winning regardless.
Asare: The last question...I'm really interested in what keeps you hopeful. This work can be really exhausting and [at] times it can feel like we're back to square one. Are things really changing? Are people really doing it? Will I see any impact in my lifetime? What keeps you hopeful?
Daniels: I think what keeps me hopeful is the fact that I'm here through choice. And I have been able to maintain a level of consistency because this work is in alignment with what I believe I'm here to do. And I find lots of different creative ways to express myself and also bring people closer to this issue and also hopefully unlock the activist within all of us. And when I use the term activism, I don't mean standing in protests. I mean those of us that are brave enough to say this is not good enough, and I'm no longer going to be complicit in this system. I'm going to spend some time really thinking about how I undo internalized oppression and how I am an enabler of white supremacy and of racism and not protecting and defending and advocating for my community because I'm worried about what happens to me. I'm hopeful about the fact that I can keep tapping into our collective consciousness that says we're all connected, irrespective of ethnicity and gender and anything else. We're all connected.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
