How to Manage Resistance to Racial Equity
The key to sustainability is for exeuctive leaders to recognize resistance to racial equity and create a plan for working through it.
Identifying Resistance to Racial Equity
When I think about resistance, I think about roadblocks. Imagine you are driving on a highway. You are on your way to visit family or friends. For the most part, it is smooth sailing. You experience slowdowns here and there, but overall, it is a smooth ride. Then you run into road work. Two of the highway’s lanes are closed. All the traffic is diverted into a single lane. The once moving traffic is now crawling. It is miles and files of stops and starts. Highway obstacles are an example of what resistance can feel like on the road to racial equity.
Here are some organizational examples:
- A policy analyst who avoids talking about the implications of racism in the team’s work. In meetings, they often grumble, “I don’t see color.” They push back at every opportunity. They have not bought into the directive from their policy director to use dissagregated data and a historical analysis in policy briefs and reports.
- A director of communications who consistently edits out any analysis that explicitly names racism in policy papers.
- A controller often talks about “the Blacks” and says racial equity has nothing to do with their job. They are there to do the books, and that is all.
- A vice president who sabotages racial equity progress. They question the purpose of doing race explicit work, frequently resist change, and refer to the usual way of working as the best and most effective for the organization. They often name racial equity as further evidence of “woke culture” inside organizations.
- An executive director who actively resists accountablity for an organization’s racial equity progress despite raising money and making commitments to staff. They say all the right things outside of the organization but does nothing to embed or sustain the work internally. For this person, the resistance can be intentional resistance or they are stuck in their own indecisiveness.
-A Board chair who actively resists taking on the work in the Board space and opposes the staff work.
In order for racial equity to become an organizational practice, it has to be cross-cutting. So, If you working to create better, more equitable practice, navigating resistance can be incredibly frustrating.
The Key to Unpacking Resistance
In my experience, the key to unpacking resistance is to understand its cause. Once you know the root, its is easier to find a remedy. Here are the most common explanations. The most likely cause of resistance is FEAR. It is the most likely and I find the most dangerous.
Fear can show up in several different ways. Here are a few.
Fear of a loss of power, proximity to power, or privilege
Fear of being thought of as incompetent
Fear of being called out as a racist
Fear of being called in to do better
Fear of learning something new that will challenge an established mindset
Fear is most dangerous when the person can’t (or won’t admit or acknowledge) the why underneath their fear. In my experience, this person is the most difficult to help.
Another Likely Cause is a PERSPECTIVE gap. In this instance, the concepts central to racial equity are far removed from the person’s view of the world and how they navigate it. Sometimes the stretch is too great, so the person is stuck trying to work into a perspective that they don’t fully believe it.
One More Likely Cause is a lack of COURAGE. A lack of leadership results in a failure to adapt to a new landscape that centers on racial equity. The causes above contribute to a lack of courage, but ultimately a lack of courage is a failure to act when decisive actions are needed. When resistance spirals, it is almost always connected to the lack of a shared organizational “why” to drive the racial equity work. Once you understand the cause, then it is easier to confront. Resistance shouldn’t be ignored, but it often is. Also, consider that resistance to racial equity can come from Black staff and staff of color, which looks a little different. It might be resistance to the status quo of the organization and how it currently functions. Or, it could be resistance to the approach to racial equity that the organization has chosen to take or to a particular consultant. Plenty of times, I have experienced resistance where staff don't think my approach is radical enough or that it takes too long to implement. All are difficult to navigate.
Sometimes resistance catches leaders off guard leading to painful experiences. This underscores the need to be direct and clear about what equity-focused means in your organization.
“Resistance presents nuances that have to be dealt with. You can’t ignore it. You’ve got to confront it because something underneath needs to be more deeply explored.”
Strategies to Manage Resistance Within Teams
Ignoring resistance doesn’t make it go away. In my experience, it is best addressed by directly emphasizing the underlying cause. Here are a few strategies that may help:
1. Figure out why there is resistance — this one is hard. Often, the natural default is Jane is a racist, or David just doesn’t get it. Yes, that can be true. But, could it also be because of one of the reasons listed above?
2. Identify ways to support the resistant person. What support can the organization offer to the person? I believe firmly that expectations around working more equitably should also come with opportunities to grow and learn. At the same time, work with the person to show them that likely many of the same skills they use in other parts of their work can be applied toward equity-centered projects. It’s not the job of staff who already support the commitment to bring the resistant person along.
3. Reaffirm organization values around racial equity. Adopt explicit expectations around performance that are connected to the organization’s mission. If the resistant person rejects the support offered above (#2), in that case, then this step -- reaffirming values -- becomes critical to helping them understand the organizational commitment and what it means with respect to their specific job functions.
4. Shift Project Tasks. This piece of guidance is critically important. If the work on the table is a project, leadership may need to pull back this person’s involvement. Participation in an equity-centered project by a resistant person (without support) is often not only unhelpful but can demoralize their colleagues. This step calls into question a bigger performance issue as to whether the person has the skill and capacity to perform as needed for the project, team, or organization. Ironically, this mismatch is also a fear, so it must be handled with care.
In my experience, when key staff resists, two things happen:
1. Either work doesn’t happen, OR other staff compensates for the gap, which creates a disparity in the expectations in that team or on that project. The gap is usually filled by staff who support the commitment, most often staff of color — not always, though. The imbalance in expectations can lead to resentment, which builds the longer the resistant staff member is given a pass. In my opinion, this situation is not sustainable, so the earlier resistance can be confronted, the better.
2. Organizations that make explicit racial equity commitments and follow through on them may experience a staffing shift. Sometimes that shift needs to happen to make space for people who already have a racial analysis and can add value to the organization’s perspective of the work.
3. There is a shift in the relationship and the person decides to leave the organization. I don’t always think this is a bad thing. Sometimes the stretch is too great for people. It’s okay to acknowlege that.
Executive directors, you cannot push through resistance to racial equity change. Instead, you work through it by emphasizing organizational values, commitment, and consistency. These actions can move resistant people forward and support staff who are dedicated and “all in” already.
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