The “Outsider-Within” Perspective of African-American Women

In my research on women of color, I have noted that many African-American women appeared to embrace an “outsider within” perspective. That is, they brought the knowledge and experience gained from being an outsider (e.g., African-American woman) to the role of an insider (professional or managerial employee). I hypothesized that having this outsider perspective helped them more readily recognize issues of unfairness and exclusion, as well as the subtle (or at least unacknowledged) privileges that accrue to those in power and that may be invisible to the empowered.

http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/advancing-african-american-women-workplace-what-managers-need-know

I would further suggest that the “outsider within” perspective, along with a lower degree of loyalty to, and identification with, an organization (as compared with same-level peers) should also help one avoid groupthink—conformity of thought and ignorance of alternatives that leads to faulty decisions. Groupthink occurs more readily among teams whose members are similar in background and isolated from outside opinions. By contrast, if at least some group members—such as African-American women –keep a distanced perspective and are confident enough to voice alternative opinions, the group stands a better chance of making sound decisions. Business leaders who value conformity at the top (and such leaders do still exist, in spite of outward protestations of commitment to diversity) need to take a closer look at their organization’s cultural norms, decision-making processes, and core values.

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Want to Make Positive Change for Women of Color? Step 1 is Courage

Years of research on women of color in business organizations have led me to believe that courage is crucial to combating bias. Yet, in my experience, I have encountered relatively few managers who have the courage required to buck organizational norms.

If leaders truly want their companies to include women of color, they have to prepare for profound change. What is this change, and how can we bring it about?

Recent research on inclusive leadership identified four traits as essential to being an inclusive leader: empowerment (enabling direct reports to develop and excel); humility (admitting mistakes, learning from criticism and different points of view, acknowledging one’s own limitations, and seeking help from others); accountability (demonstrating confidence in direct reports by holding them responsible for performance); and courage (setting aside personal interest to do what needs to be done for the good of the team and acting on convictions and principles even when it requires risk-taking).

One common example of courageous behavior at work is when a team member develops a unique idea that has never been tried before. Her manager may worry that his boss won’t like it and will be critical of him for authorizing his team member to move forward. In spite of the risks, a courageous leader will tell his team member to go ahead, and work with her to craft a compelling argument in favor of her project.

This is one level of courage, but managers and leaders need to kick it up a notch if they are going to make real change for women of color. As organizational theorists remind us, modern organizations are morally complex environments that impose significant ethical demands on their members. What we mean by “courage” is malleable and context-dependent.

This is where true leadership comes in. When you take a closer look at those charged with carrying out diversity-related change in many organizations, it’s clear why inequality continues to flourish. Many managers do not truly favor more inclusive policies—or they are afraid to “rock the boat” by enacting them. For example, a diversity leader may enact a policy that focuses on getting women of color into mentoring programs, without taking on the difficult task of ensuring that the mentors they are assigned are providing the same political support and “insider” knowledge to women of color as they are to white women.

In your organization, has a manager ever relied on superficial judgments and stereotypes when interpreting certain behaviors? Too often, sub-par performance from members of majority groups is still justified, rationalized, or otherwise forgiven, whereas similar performance from members of marginalized groups (e.g., women of color) is subject to intense scrutiny, attributed to overall incompetence, and frequently results in irreversible damage to professional reputation and standing.

In traditional, bureaucratic organizations, those who rise to certain levels and functions have more decision-making power than their direct reports. In some of these organizations, informal norms support rank-based mistreatment. For example, those who are senior in rank may publicly belittle a junior colleague and face no repercussions. It’s frequently more common in such environments for minority members to be singled out for this disrespectful treatment.

Women of color need managers who will challenge this behavior, and Human Resources departments that will oversee individual performance reviews and take note of any excessively personal or biased comments therein.

Modeling courage can prompt similar behavior across entire teams. If senior leaders truly want to make change, I encourage them to reward courageous behavior on the part of middle managers. Women of color need champions who are familiar with the obstacles they face at work—and willing to take the risks necessary to overturn them.

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