Blind in One Eye & Can’t see out of the other

Blind in One Eye & Can’t See Out The Other

I’m blind in one eye and I can’t see out the other. This is a phrase, my grandmother used to joke about growing older. My mother would also talk about how old body parts can’t be exchanged at the Federated store. Both of these phrases remind me of the need to change. They need to improve. They need to get better.

The Whitewashing of Professionalism

Professionalism is whitewashed. Code switching has been the order of the day for generations. Going along to get along has been the recipe for survival. It’s been that way so long that we pass it from generation to generation so that our kids can navigate the work world. But it seems like we’re blind in one eye and we can’t see out the other.

Shrinking Into Survival

Teaching black and brown bodies how to survive at work is old school. It has been necessary for a long time. A lot of my friends are reverting back to those dangerous practices under this new governmental regime. Stay quiet. Keep your head down. Get your money. Go home. We had a nice run of trying to be authentic. Laughing in the workplace. Speaking with African-American vernacular. Making cultural references. Now we need to put the suit and tie back on. Do not wear Jordans. And White wash yourself into professionalism. Even when that means you only show up at work as a shell of yourself.

Working Without Margins

So many capable people are out of work. Maneuvering through the malice is hard to do. We are doubling down on working without margins even when that tanks innovation and productivity. We are soldiering up and preparing for the long winter of “if I don’t do it, then they’ll find someone else.”

False Choices We Inherit

Do we honor output highly while churning through employees? Do we care about people to the detriment of productivity? We don’t have to. What if high performance and honoring humanity could both be realized? Employees’ experience at work is defined by their relationship(s) with their organization, supervisors and peers.  It is a supervisor’s responsibility to create the conditions necessary for employees to have supportive and generative  relationships with them,  their peers, and the organization

Supportive, generative work relationships between managers, reports, and teams require personal growth and targeted work from all parties.  This is the ideal for every HR department I’ve interacted with.

Going Backwards

We had a moment of sight and our organizations have run away from it. We have returned to being blind because survival seems to require it. But building a workplace that succeeds today requires us to move beyond our blind definitions and behaviors around what professionalism is. We need to move away from doing things one “right way.” We need to shift away from approaching conflict in ways that are protective rather than generative. Work places need a disciplined way to stop doing more and more while providing less and less quality. There is an alternative.

So What Can We Do?

How do we see clearly and lead humanely in a climate that rewards conformity and silence?

One thing that helps managers see clearly is their ability to cultivate trust in the information they share. This can be as simple as building a follow up habit that is time specific. “I’ll loop back with you in 2 days let you know where we stand.” And then doing it. The ease that this small move creates impacts our workspaces. Even if it’s just a progress update before something is completed. Leaders who provide this type of follow up can start to expect mutual sharing from their teams who form a habit of closing the communication loop.

Here’s one concrete step that can change the tone of your entire team: predictable follow-up. Say it. Mean it. Do it.

Keep it Simple:

“I know Kenan. This isn’t ground breaking.”Good. It’s not supposed to be. This is a friendly reminder to pull it back out and do it when things get hairy. This is the time when your team needs your consistency and modeling the most.