Kim Scott is all about creating workplace environments where everyone can really be their best selves and reach their growth potential, and her latest book “Just Work” offers a valuable framework and set of tools to help address many of the workplace injustices that too many of us have endured over the years.
The book is timely because it reflects how the traditional norms are fundamentally changing. The future of work will center around a workplace that respects everyone’s individuality while also enabling them to collaborate effectively so we can ultimately do our best work.
Becoming an Upstander at Work
To create that ideal workplace, leaders have to understand that it’s their responsibility to create a just work environment — and learn how to be what Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo calls an upstander.
In my conversation with Dr. Zimbardo in episode 18, he talked about the bystander effect. That’s when we observe injustice happening, but take no action or even confront it. An upstander is someone who takes action in these situations.
And I think being an upstander when you see bias, prejudice, or bullying in the workplace is something that many people have wanted to do but have never felt they had the ability to do. So it's wonderful to now have a framework and a set of tools so that we can all collectively work towards a better workplace.
The Why Behind “Just Work”
Kim’s first book was “Radical Candor: How to Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.” But she had a conversation that helped her realize that being radically candid isn’t equally easy for everyone — particularly people of color who already have to navigate bias and stereotypes.
Kim realized that she, like almost all business leaders, had played a role in preventing Just Work in the past, both in the sense of justice and in the sense of just getting stuff done.
We aren’t usually doing this on purpose. But when we don’t use our power to be upstanders and make work a place where everyone feels supported, we are still perpetuating injustice.
What are Workplace Injustices? (And How Do We Respond to Them?)
Workplace injustice is not a monolithic problem, it has specific parts. And if you can break a big problem down into smaller parts, it becomes easier to solve.
Kim identifies the root causes of workplace injustice as bias, prejudice, and bullying, and the way we respond to each problem is different:
Bias is unintentional. It's an unconscious thought that we have, but not a conviction or belief.
Kim shares a real story of a situation where two teams were meeting to negotiate a deal. One team was composed of two men and one woman. As the other side filed into the room, they ended up sitting by the two men leaving the one woman alone at the end. That woman was the one that had the most expertise for her team and was the one who could win the deal. However, the other side was only addressing questions to her colleagues.
This is where a male co-worker was able to use an ‘I statement’ to be an upstander. When he stood up and said “I think we should switch seats,” it made everyone realize what was happening, made a victim of injustice feel more respected, and allowed them to get back to work. That’s often all it takes to address bias; kindly making people aware of it.
Prejudice is a conscious, negative belief about another person, usually rooted in cultural stereotypes.
Kim shares an experience that her business partner witnessed. They were hiring and the best candidate was a Black woman with natural hair, yet the hiring manager said they couldn’t hire her because of her hair.
The best way to deal with prejudice in the moment is with an ‘It statement,’ as opposed to a ‘You statement’ or ‘I statement.’ A You statement (e.g. You are being racist) can feel accusatory and make the person defensive. An ‘I statement’ (e.g. I don’t think we should do this) frames the situation around conflict.
An ‘It statement’ reframes the situation a little more objectively: it is illegal not to hire someone because of their hair, it is an HR violation not to hire someone because of the way they look, etc. But also an ‘It’ statement also draws that line between one person's freedom to believe whatever they want, but they can't impose that belief on others.
Bullying is simply being mean with the intent to cause harm.
This is where you might want to deploy a ‘You statement’ like ‘you can’t talk to me like that’ or ‘why are you acting like this?’ It pushes the other person away and asserts that you’re not going to submit to their behavior, and bullying is usually about trying to assert power or dominance.
Too often many of us default to staying silent because we don’t know how to respond in those situations. However, it’s important to identify the risk/reward of doing so. In that moment, you could give the other person an opportunity to do the right thing or the victim of injustice the support they need.
There are of course other workplaces challenges which occur. In particular, when you layer power and official authority on top of bias, prejudice and bullying that’s when you get discrimination, harassment, and physical violations.
If that is happening to you, document what's happening to you as you will want to build solidarity with others. That in the end will help you manage the situation better. Also look for upstanders. It’s actually a power move to call out to others because you are asking for an investment in you because you deserve it.
Conformity, Individuality, Coercion, & Collaboration
In “Just Work,” there is a 2x2 grid. The X axis is labeled conformity on one side and individuality on the other while the Y axis is labeled coercion and collaboration.
Source: Just Work
“Just Work” aims to optimize collaboration and individuality, but that’s not the case with a lot of our workplaces today. Many organizations today want nothing more than conformity, but that often explicitly excludes underrepresented people. And I think we’ve all experienced both subtle and not-so-subtle versions of coercion at work, and that doesn’t make anyone feel happier or more fulfilled.
This is where leaders have a huge responsibility to be upstanders — because they have the most power to be an upstander, combat injustice so that people feel respected as individuals, and facilitate collaboration.
Leadership Advice
Be open to criticism as a leader and solicit feedback. Your goal should be to lay your power down so that you can get on a level playing field and build real relationships with everyone on your team.
Key Takeaways
- If you think you’re experiencing or witnessing bias, try using an ‘I statement.’
- If you think like you're dealing with prejudice, try an ‘It statement.’
- If you think you’re dealing with bullying, try a ‘You statement.’
- If you’re not sure what kind of injustice you’re dealing with, just try one and see what happens. You can always adjust. Don’t let the fear of not getting it right the first time prevent you from being an upstander.
- It also gives the other person the opportunity to possibly do the right thing, or at least show who that person really is.
- You’ll get your sentiments out vs. harboring those feelings, which can cause that emotional stress over time.
- It becomes a learning opportunity to help everyone learn how to effectively address situations like that going forward.
- As a leader, it’s important to quantify bias and at each stage of the employee life cycle in order to prevent discrimination at your company.
- Make sure that there are checks and balances in your systems so that you're not giving unilateral authority to any one person. When a hiring manager has unilateral authority, for example, it's much more likely that they're going to abuse that power in a way that combines bias, prejudice, or bullying with power, which will result in harassment.
- If you are in a situation where the system is broken, there isn’t any objectivity in those senior leadership positions, and people don’t feel they can truly speak up, it’s okay to choose to leave the company if that is an option for you.
- When you get too much coercion and conformity, the result is a sort of brutal ineffectiveness.
- To resist that gravitational pull towards coercion and conformity, work with your team to create bias disruptors: create a shared vocabulary around bias, develop shared norms on how to respond to injustice, and check for potential biases that could be manifesting even when no one brings them up.
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