Black History Month: An After Action Review for Organizations

Perhaps diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism (DEIA) are integrated into your organization’s initiatives year-round. In other cases, your company may have identified a lack of multicultural competence and started engaging in conversations to evaluate the organizational culture. Particular circumstances vary at offices across America celebrating Black History Month. Yet, before jumping into March, it might be beneficial to step back and take an honest look at how your organization honored Black History. What were the goals for Black History Month initiatives? Did the company meet the intent or miss the mark? What were the strengths of the campaign and what areas can be improved? These are only a few questions leaders should ask before highlighting an event as an unequivocal success and overlooking possible learning opportunities. This allows your organization to implement changes to daily routines once February ends.

FEEDBACK FROM EMPLOYEES

Collecting comments from employees at all levels can provide invaluable insight into how your organization’s Black History Month initiatives were received. Often, leaders make assessments at their level without considering their blind spots. Allocating time to gather feedback from several viewpoints is an essential phase in any plan of action. First, decide the method to collect feedback. There are pros and cons to each type of feedback method, and it is important to select one that fits your situation. Open-response group sessions can offer rich discussion, yet requires an environment of psychological safety. An employee might not feel comfortable stating an event was poorly resourced and thrown together at the last minute in front of the person who conducted the planning. Anonymous feedback surveys are fast and low cost, but information gathered may lack follow-up.

Once the method of feedback is selected, distribute instructions on how to provide professional feedback. If feedback is given in a group setting, the employee providing comments assumes a “sender” role, while a designated note-taker or leader assumes the “receiver” role. Senders should focus on explaining their observation, experience, and impact of specific events. Receivers should practice active listening, ask questions to understand, and collect diverse opinions. This is not a time to offer explanations or solutions.

Feedback and problem-solving should always be separate discussions. Try to collect feedback immediately after Black History Month events. Additionally, pay attention to how the feedback process unfolds. Do you have a high level of participation, or is there anxiety around providing candid feedback? Are senior leaders involved? Observing the feedback process can give additional information regarding multicultural competence and potential issues in the workplace.

REFLECTION INFLUENCES PLANNING

Receiving criticism can be uncomfortable, but take a breath before reviewing the notes. Approach the situation from a position of humility, empathy, and growth while attempting to spot any defense mechanisms that appear during the process. It might be wise to assign more than one person to analyze and discuss the results of feedback. Therefore, you can provide meaning to the comments and identify any barriers to DEIA that exist in your organization. Here are a few examples of feedback comments and possible issues in the organization:

• “Our leaders were not involved in planning Black History Month events. Instead, they

  assigned all duties to Black employees.” – This comment may point to white fragility and

  tokenism.

• “All the presentations focused on educating employees on well-known figures in the

  Civil Rights Movement, rather than celebrating Black history, culture, and

  accomplishments across other areas, such as art, academia, science, design, medicine,

  music, and business.”– Unconscious microaggressions may have caused organizers to

  leave out positive Black stories focusing in other areas.

Some may be tempted to point out that an individual’s experience does not necessarily infer a trend across the organization. Still, all opinions should be empowered and respected, especially marginalized voices. An essential part of evaluating your company’s Black History Month campaign is focusing on impact. After appraising how employees felt during and after the events, you might realize that the company’s intent to celebrate Black History Month fell short of its goals. Awareness and acknowledging mistakes is a necessary step before implementing any adjustments. Publish the notes for transparency or issue an apology if needed.

TAKING ACTION FOR CHANGE

If your company acknowledges a need for change, leaders can design a plan suited for its situation and goals. Perhaps the employees requested additional instruction after enjoying a multicultural competency workshop. Or maybe your organization wants to hire Black-owned businesses to support next year’s celebration. Turning a need or concern into a sustainable initiative or resource requires deliberate preparation and action. First, clearly define the company’s goals and desired future state. How will you measure or know when the company arrived at the goal? Next, outline the steps the company will need to take to reach those goals. In reality, the type of change and implementation may take numerous forms, from internal training to external consultants and professional assessments. If you need direction, look up professionals and DEIA resources that can help guide you. Once the plan is outlined, you can begin to calculate each stages cost, whether it requires funding, time, personnel, or other resources. Make sure you highlight any requirement that is essential to the success of the goal.

For example, next year’s Black History Month may demand advanced coordination with another

organization to partner for a regional event. Whatever the company sets as its next marker, leaders should prioritize their DEIA strategy while empowering the voices of employees in the process. Optimally, DEIA will be nested in the overall organizational mission and vision. The benefits of orchestrating a long-term DEIA strategy rather than short-term goals can be measured across performance, job satisfaction, recruitment, and retention efforts. One month will never be enough time to recognize the history, achievements, and racial injustices experienced by the Black community. As a leader, participating and paying close attention to occurrences during Black History Month may influence a strategic shift in the company’s commitment to its people.

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Jacqueline M. Thompson is a master’s student studying social-organizational psychology at Columbia University and works as a research intern for Legacy Consulting & Research Group. Additionally, she serves as an active duty Captain in the U.S. Army. This article reflects the writer’s opinion.

Jacqueline M. Thompson