White person leading an EDI talk to a room full of black people. How would you feel?

[EDIHelp]

Hello. I know I'm in Black MNers, but thought this was the right place to post my query so hop it's ok that I'm white. I hope you can help me out here. I've name changed as this is very outing.

I'm very new in a job, tiny company, and my boss has asked me to lead on an in-person EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) talk/workshop for 30 mins or so this summer. The issue is I'm the only white person in the whole company and I don't feel this is appropriate or sensitive. I have asked if we can do it together, but she'd rather I took the lead as I have group facilitation skills and experience.

So, if you're black and went to a training session/workshop about EDI lead by a white person, how would you feel? Or has this happened to you before? Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you.

Do you have a HR background so you can speak about systemic issues in your organisation? Do you know what are effective vs ineffective (bias training) edi policies? Are you up to date with edi research and practice? I think that's more relevant than your ethnicity particularly if it's a general edi talk rather than around race.

What is the point of the talk?

Are you asking this question of every ethnic minority. I endured a lot of racism as a child. Would I personally care? not really if it’s part of your job e,g you are the company training officer. But I can see some people not liking it.

I'm not black but I would think its a bit of an odd choice. Having said that my DH was heading up a women in business group at his work place and delivering presentations etc I couldn't believe there werent complaints as I thought it was insulting to the women in his company which is huge so plenty of choice! In saying that though not one did complain or at least outwardly make any comments that they were unhappy.
Sorry this doesn't help you! I also imagine some black people will find it inappropriate and some not probably

I'm your typical white EDI professional and this is a situation I've been in a few times - but I never do this any more. I pass this sort of work onto a colleague who can speak more powerfully to the audience from a shared perspective. Or (more usually, but I'm now self-employed) I just don't take the work, and say they need to find a black-led company to do it. I think this is one area where you need to have some lived experience perspective to deliver in any meaningful way.

@Sockmate123 believe me many women will have been furious/not bothered to attend but will not have had enough confidence in HR that it wouldn’t have been career-limiting to complain so they’ll have said nothing. But they will have lost all confidence in the company’s support for women and will have lost all respect for your DH accepting the gig.

EDI isn’t just about race, you know.

I think it’s fine. You are sharing your professional expertise. I assume that in this context your personal experience of discrimination (or lack of it, if that’s the case) is not relevant.

I disagree. Having men getting involved with these things and not letting edi be 'womens work' actually shows women it's being taken seriously. But (and it's a bit but) it does depend on how it's handled i.e. is it a man mansplaining women's experiences? Or is it a man who understands their privileged position and is leveraging it to genuinely create change?

What's the focus of the talk? If it's about race then that's going to be a problem. If it's about disability, or sex discrimination, or a really broad talk that covers all the protected characteristics then that's fine surely? You might have a protected characteristic that no one else in the room has?
I would acknowledge that your personal experience is limited, as is everyone's unless they have every single protected characteristic (is that even possible?) and that different people will have had different experiences and give an opportunity for discussion?

Depending on the talk and the content.
I'd lead and coordinate the event/ day and also head up a section (sexual orientation or whatever) but I'd invite a few other speakers from different areas of the business to cover the topics or area more related to race / diversity / whatever

So if there are 4 topics you present 1 and have 3 people to cover the other 3

(I'm Caucasian)

EDI is not just about race she is probably greatly experienced and good at her job.

Came here to say the same thing. I would just be glad its a woman leading it and not a middle aged white man.

No, no HR background. Went on a workshop and have done some online training re: EDI, but don't feel remotely qualified if I'm honest. But there's no-one else in the company qualified either. Teeny tiny company where circa 90% of staff are operational and client-facing. I think the talk is to ensure staff are up-to-date with current legislation, terminology, rights, policies, language, what to do if they face discrimination, and a general discussion on inclusion in the workplace. But I need to plan it with my boss and get a clearer brief.

I do indeed, thanks.

You've assumed my gender here ;-)

(I'm kidding. I am indeed a white woman. With zero protected characteristics. The only time I've had one was when I was pregnant).

As it's a tiny company it'll probably be fine. I assume everyone in the company knows one another? Your boss was maybe thinking about EDI more broadly than race, especially as they're an all black company apart from you.

Yes, this is what I was thinking. It's only a short section of some in-person training. I have met most of the team now and they're all really lovely. I would just introduce the topic then ask them to get into pairs or small groups to have a discussion. Then I'd help my boss take feedback and she can finish the section. That's about as much as I'm comfortable with I think.

I'd be more worried that someone giving EDI advice doesn't understand what protected characteristics mean. You have a number of protected chararacteristics including sex, race and sexual orientation

You probably have several protected characteristics - I wouldn't say you have none.

Just came to say this.

OP you dont know enough about this. Go back to your boss and say you need to bring in a specialist to ensure legal compliance. You could end up causing huge problems for your company if you don't understand the basics of what protected characteristics are.

You need to do some more research before running it if you think you have zero protected characteristics, we all have them, you have a sex, age, ethnicity, beliefs, etc.

EDI is more than race.

Thanks everyone, just what I thought. Completely under-qualified in every sense, so will just explain I can't do it. No funding to pay someone, so boss will have to do her own training and lead on it if she wants it doing.

I think that’s wise. Bad EDI (by which I mean poorly thought out and delivered by someone without expertise) is less than useless. Far better that you own it and don’t have to take responsibility for it.

I was going to say I tick quite a few of the EDI categories but would be more interested in evidence based knowledge and experience of the workshop leads than anything else.

The fact that you are considered suitable to deliver training workshops on EDI simply because you are an effective facilitator, in an area on which you have no specific expertise, says a lot about how seriously your organisation takes the subject. Why do they want to do it at all (beyond ticking a box)?

The real challenge if there is nobody qualified in the company is the plethora of really bad quality companies who have seen this as a nice little earner or who are well meaning but lacking expertise or coming in with an agenda.

I’ve led this internally a few times (its always an “extra” for us, not a full time paid job) and we ended up developing our own materials and people due the the quality available on the market. In particular avoid organisations that “deliver” unconscious bias training in a two hour one off session - it can’t be done.