Organizational Activism: The New Way to Lead During Societal Tragedy

Organizational Activism: The New Way to Lead During Societal Tragedy

Organizations can no longer take the “this is a political stance” in this era of activism. Your organizations may be thriving today, but keeping your head in the sand will inevitably make it more challenging to retain your employees. I conduct DEI audits for organizations of all sizes. What I hear most often from employees is that organizations don’t thoughtfully respond during times of tragedy. The feedback is that organizations function like it’s business as usual, and as a result many folks are leaving because they are exhausted from not only the tragedy occurring, but also from experiencing trauma by the silence or lack of action. Organizations that are getting it right are seeing organic traffic to their open roles and an increase in representation. 

According to Harvard Business Review research at the University of Michigan and the University of British Columbia’s CompassionLab “has demonstrated that although the human capacity to show compassion is universal, some organizations suppress it while others create an environment in which compassion is not only expressed but spreads.” 

“Unleashing compassion in the workplace not only lessens the immediate suffering of those directly affected by trauma, it enables them to recover from future setbacks more quickly and effectively, and it increases their attachment to their colleagues and hence to the company itself.”

No organization should suppress addressing major societal events that impact people within your organization. Remember employees are the same human beings inside the workplace as they are outside the workplace. The pain won’t magically go away.

Recently, we have seen racial violence on a traumatizing grand stage from the graphic murder of George Floyd, the potential outcomes of the leaked opinion overturning Roe vs Wade, the racist killing of Black grocery shoppers in New York, elderly Asian churchgoers in California, and the Robb Elementary School massacre in a majority Hispanic community in Uvalde,Texas. Your employees are emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted.  

How did your company respond?

Many of my clients emailed me asking how to properly respond to employees during times of tragedies. I have provided actionable steps below that I recommend implementing:

• Identify well-informed and trained leaders who need to approve communication and actionable steps
• Create genuine communication that entails the actionable steps your organization will be taking
• Are you shutting down for the day or a couple days for people to take a break? Then include that actionable step in your communication. 
• You can access ACTIONS here. My only ask is that you donate to my favorite non profit, One Less Worry to help purchase food to feed thousands of people that are homeless and hungry every week in Rhode Island.
• In your communications be sure to emphasize that managers must check in with their direct reports to understand the support they need. Some may need an extension on a deadline. Some may want to participate in the organization's healing session. Some may want time off to protest or simply to process. 
• Post your communication in your “general, employees only, or societal issues” Slack channel, so that employees can engage. If you create a societal issues channel, then make sure to add all employees to the channel for greater visibility. Only send a company-wide email if you don’t have Slack or a forum that employees are active on. Slack is a great way to communicate during times of tragedy. If the CEO is not posting the communication, then the CEO should be commenting. A lack of response from the CEO sends a message to employees that they don’t care because it doesn’t impact them. 
• If you have a DEI leader who is Black+, Hispanic/Latinx+, Indigenous+, Asian+, or another ethnic or religious group, and a tragedy takes place that is targeted to their race/ethnicity, then give them a break. It’s psychologically exhausting and they should not be tasked with writing a message. Someone else should release them of that psychological burden. There were a number of DEI leaders who scheduled meetings with me to simply vent and cry about writing communication after the racially motivated mass murder of Black grocery shoppers. As DEI leaders vented to me, tears rolled down my face, because I could understand their frustration and pain.
• Hold Safe Healing Space for employees. Be sure to bring in a professional to host, don’t lean on your ERG or systematically overlooked employee.  I have conducted these sessions for many clients, so please feel free to reach out to me.
• Measure your response by extending a survey to all employees. Were employees happy with your action and response? 

Be sure to share this article with all leaders at your company!