“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” – Henry Ford***
Think on this…
Someone under your leadership comes to you and tells you they feel that are being treated unfairly and they believe it is discrimination. What’s your next move?
Whether we want to admit it or not, bias and discrimination not only exists but it can exist right in front of our eyes if we aren’t keeping eyes and ears open to see it. There are multiple ways of protecting your organization from common barriers when investigating bias and discrimination but they only work if you’re committed to using them.
The following are common sense ways to protect an organization from barriers to investigating bias and discrimination. They are nothing scientific; not even profound, but simply practical lessons I learned from experience.
5 Tips for Protecting Against Barriers when Investigating Bias and Discrimination
1. Leave No Stones Unturned
The famous phrase, “leave no stone unturned” emanates from a Greek legend about a military general who buried a large treasure in his tent and was then defeated in battle by the enemy. Individuals wanting to obtain the treasure sought direction from the Oracle of Delphi who advised them to move every stone to find it.
To neglect one stone in the search could result in overlooking and forfeiting the treasure! When seeking the valuable treasure called information, get all the data, access all of the sources and utilize all the resources that exist. Don’t stop until you uncover the full story. To do anything else is to skew the outcome of your own investigation and jeopardize the integrity of both you and the organization you represent. When we ignore opportunities to uncover truths in any investigation, we are not subject to a barrier but we actually introduce the barrier ourselves. To protect our organizations from barriers, I would advise anyone investigating an accusation of bias or discrimination not to assume anything, one way or the other and to exhaust all angles.
2. Spend the Time the Situation Requires
Stephen R. Covey, was quoted as saying “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” His premise was that if we refer to time as an “investment” as opposed to the “spending” of time, we are more likely to invest it in things we deem valuable and important. If we invest time in looking into human behaviors and decision making in discrimination cases, we might actually help resolve issues that could ultimately erode the strength and success of our organizations and its people. Without the people, we have no organization!
Some years ago, I was speaking to a human resources manager about the importance of leaving no stone unturned when investigating a discrimination complaint. This manager responded by saying she would like to but she just didn’t have the time to do it. She not only stated she didn’t have the time but indicated no one in her department had the time to spend that much time on these issues. I don’t need to express to you how serious allegations of bias or discrimination should be viewed. Seeing it any other way can result in emotional, psychological or even physiological harm to the individuals involved. People lose jobs, lives, relationships and mental health in the midst of these allegations. While someone’s world is spinning out of control and we have the means to stop it, should we really withhold assistance because we don’t want to invest the time it requires? When we withhold the investment of time, we sanction the violations against the individual(s) and become a part of the problem, not part of the solution.
3. Don’t Jump to Conclusions
We as human beings have a tendency to support the people we believe in or who believe in us. Such individuals may have grace with us. What is grace? It is unmerited favor. That means, they really haven’t earned the favor but we give it to them anyway. Why? Because we are charmed and reward those who show alignment and commitment to what’s important to us. If someone treats my children well, I am likely to treat that person favorably, even though I may have no clear idea what is motivating them to do so. It’s human nature. We are nice to people who are nice to us.
If someone makes a disturbing accusation against someone that I view favorably, I might be inclined to want to defend the accused because of my relationship with them. Just because I like someone or that someone has always been nice to me does not guarantee they are playing nice with others. I cannot jump to conclusions. When someone screams bias or cries discrimination, objectivity is a must. Be kind to all involved but remain objective and guard the integrity of the investigation.
An individual once filed a discrimination complaint for an organization I represented. On the surface, everything looked fine with no discrimination to be found. The policies and procedures of the organization substantiated what the individual claimed was discriminatory. I later decided to dig deeper into the matter and request records of varying kinds that I could cross check and compare to eradicate or substantiate his claim. Originally I had quickly concluded that the claim was unfounded but as I requested the records I wanted to view, I moved to a more neutral position. I wanted to review the facts as objectively as possible and was open to whatever the reports revealed. After a thorough review, I found the data was blatant and conclusive. While there was in fact a policy that protected the leadership’s decisions and actions with this person, the same decisions and actions were not applied to others under the same circumstances. If they were all of the same gender, race or other protected characteristic, we might have been looking at a case of unfairness. The reality, however, was that this individual, an African American, had been treated differently than any other employee under the same circumstances. Of all the individuals (and there were many), who committed the same act, he was the only person of color and he was also the only person who was penalized. That’s discrimination!
4. Don’t Stumble on the Isms
While racism, sexism, ableism and ageism are all inexcusable mindsets, the reality is that leaders in an organization may have a very tough time trying to prove these were the motivation for discriminatory actions. A person can have a prejudice against others based on these and other biases, however, they don’t have to act on them. Believe it or not, we all have biases; and we all have prejudices. We can exercise awareness and maturity to ensure we do not treat others unfairly as a result of these biases. This is the way we should behave even where no bias exists. Leaders have to be fair and equitable at all times. We cannot act on biases or on favoritism. If we want to reward people for going above and beyond, such rewards should be well thought out and applied consistently to all who earn them.
When someone acts according to their biases or prejudices, an investigator has to first determine if the behavior was inappropriate or unfair. In the process of talking with individuals who constitute the complainants, witnesses, policy experts and applicable others, you learn viewpoints, behavioral histories and stories behind the relationships involved. In some situations it may be very difficult to prove an ism was at the root of the unfair practice. If you cannot show that this is what motivated the behavior, you still need to determine the right or wrong of the actions taken and address them accordingly.
Inappropriate actions are inappropriate actions and should be treated as such. If there is a history of the same behavior and it is all directed at people from marginalized groups then you may need to dig deeper and go a few steps further to further prove the repetition of behavior and thus the connection between the ism and the actions. I have investigated situations in which individuals admitted having ism based beliefs that could have impacted their treatment of others. One individual couldn’t actually say with clarity that he’d acted on his bias but wanted to be forthright in admitting this possibility. Others, who had exhibited far worse conduct, made no such claims. Some will deny and some will remain silent. Either way, remember that truth and eradication around poor leadership or discrimination is what we seek in such investigations.
5. Apologize
When people feel they have become the victim of discriminatory practices it is hurtful and harmful. It impacts people, their families and more. Research conducted by APA Chief Executive Officer Norman B. Anderson, PhD, at Duke University Medical Center found that stress caused by perceived racism was positively correlated with higher levels of blood pressure. In 2003, Angela Neal-Barnett, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Kent State University, showed readers how microaggressions can produce anxiety in African-American women, in her research and published book “Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Women’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear” (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
A 2018 study in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development reported that 89% of clients reporting race-based trauma, identified “covert acts of racism” as a contributing factor in that trauma.
An American Journal of Preventive Medicine study in 2014 reported that racial discrimination accelerates aging at the cellular level. This points to why many African Americans experience health conditions like heart disease and stroke, earlier in life than their European American counterparts who suffer such maladies from when they are older.
When all is said and done in an investigation, those who feel victimized are looking to put their feelings of fear and anxiety to rest. Hearing the compassion of a leader as they apologize for what has happened, coupled with a promise to work continuously to stop such behaviors is a welcomed gesture. This cannot be done in lieu of rectifying the violations against the person but it helps when it is an accompaniment.
Closing Thoughts
Ultimately people are seeking protection, support and justice when they bring complaints to our attention. The least we can do, when given the charge to monitor and investigate such concerns, is handle the entire situation with compassion and integrity. That means we take it seriously and our actions show that we take it seriously.
If you follow these 5 tips for protecting your organization from the barriers to investigating bias and discrimination, we might be able to change the culture of the organizations we serve. This is how we can create more inclusive and equitable environments that actually accomplish the established mission and vision we committed to in the first place.