As I write this, the news is still full of the racist riots instigated by far-right groups across the UK.

On LinkedIn, I offered practical tips for leaders on how to support their staff, particularly those who have ethnic minority backgrounds. As a woman of colour, I cannot describe the despair, fear and anxiety we feel due to acts of violence we are seeing around the country.
Friends and colleagues of colour have cancelled UK holidays, are thinking twice about when and whether they need to leave the house, minimising social events and huddling together with friends for comfort. This is the reality of how many of your colleagues at work will be feeling too. One Linked In contact described how we are now on travel warning lists for some overseas countries. This is real.

The practical tips I shared were viewed by nearly 9,000 people and reposted so many times I lost count. I think this reflected how helpless some leaders feel. They want to do something but do not know what.

If this describes you, let’s get practical. Here are some ideas.

• Reach out to your teams, tell them you care and are there for them. Many leaders sent out messages to all staff following the riots. I particularly liked the CEO who recorded a short video, which really gave colleagues a chance to see she was sincere.

• Reach out to any employee resource groups you have and offer to speak with them. Ask them what will make them feel safer, listened to, comforted, or whatever else they feel they need, then act. If there are things they need you can’t do, tell them and say why. That’s fine.

• Actively create spaces for people to come together and support each other.

• Work with your managers to ensure they check in with their teams regularly. These feelings won’t go away for colleagues of colour. Regular support and time to talk matters.

• Ask managers what support THEY need to be able to support their teams. Some will not know what to do.

• Actively encourage people to use sources of support if it feels right for them, e.g. employee support schemes, mental health first aiders etc, and make sure they know it is OK to access help during office hours.

• Reprioritise workloads. Some people are deeply upset and frightened. Reducing work pressures will help them cope.

• Follow up. A one-off message is not going to cut it. Find ways to check in. If you have an office, walk the floor. If not, ask to dip into people’s virtual meetings as appropriate. Your continued visibility and care as a leader will make a huge difference to people.

• Make sure you get some support for yourself. Supporting others through emotionally challenging times can take a real toll on leaders. Make sure you get support around yourself, whether this is from other leaders, a coach, family and friends – whatever feels right for you.

• Just listen. Resist the urge to fix things. You can’t. But you can help colleagues feel heard, and that really matters.

One more thing. This is an unpalatable thought but one we need to grapple with. One commentator on my Linked In post – a white woman – pointed out that people with views aligned with racist rioters may work within our organisations. They may not express their views openly, but these views will affect how they think and act at work.

At Full Colour, we regularly hear of minoritised people being poo-pooed when raising concerns about the behaviours of others. “You must have misunderstood” or “I’ve known X for years, she’s not like that” or even worse, concerns being labelled interpersonal issues which the complainant needs to contribute to resolving.

How equipped are you to deal with this as an organisation?

A well-known curse, often mislabelled as “Chinese”, goes: “May you live in interesting times.” That definitely describes now. This can leave us feeling helpless, but as leaders we have a lot of scope for supporting those personally affected.

Whatever you decide to do, the one thing I ask is that you do something, anything, but please act.


Srabani Sen is CEO and founder of Full Colour www.fullclr.com

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