EDI/racism advice

[Littlepinkstarsbyradish]

Im a white women in a big organisation who has responsibility for overseeing our EDI strategy (and yes I do get the irony of this, but my black and Asian colleagues have told me their reasons for not wanting the job)
My “deputy” is black, and I am fighting a battle for people to not automatically go to her for advice/guidance on issues to do with race

I suppose I’m asking how to say “come to me, not her” in a way that doesn’t come across as me sidelining her/removing her agency and doesn’t assume a “power hierarchy”?
it’s literally because I know it costs her a lot of emotional effort to constantly engage with these talks at work, and it’s draining. She has said she will have to step back from the brilliant work she does if it continues, and that would be a real shame because she’s brilliant.

any advice gratefully received

Do you give her agency to refuse cases and reallocate them to you? Or do you have a central way you could allocate cases?

I'd also consider whether you and other team members (if there are any) are seen as a safe place to have sensitive discussions with. There might be a reason other than race that people go to her.

In your shoes I'd be empowering your colleague to send things your way whilst also working on your credibility and visibility in the organisation. I'd also look at any comms you have issued and whether you can refresh them and/or set up a hub page and EDI inbox for things to be sent to.

Thanks, we do have proper systems in place and a central inbox
it’s more that colleagues don’t use the systems we both set up together, they just go straight to her directly to “have a quick chat” or “run something by her” and that’s really frustrating because we set up the systems to stop her feeling overwhelmed

Are the people coming to her white or black? Non white people very often feel more comfortable speaking to other non white people about issues to do with race, and white people far too often assume all brown people will be an encyclopaedia on all matters of racism simply because they are brown.

For your colleague, I'd support her by making sure she's got a good solid line for people who approach her that means she's essentially shutting them down as soon as she realises what they're after and refers them on to you. And then she needs to actually do it - unfortunately that's the bit you can't necessarily control, but she can't have it both ways - you have put the system in place, she needs to do her part with your support and backing.

How open can you be about the dynamic? Can you put out a very clear message (eg- speaking at an all-staff meeting) about how your role exists to take the pressure away from global majority/marginalised staff to do the heavy lifting around race? You can talk about the burden on black and brown staff to be unspoken trainers to the rest of the org, and how this unfairly takes them away from their actual roles, making it even harder to succeed in a biased world. You do have to follow it through by being supremely approachable!