5 Lessons from Decolonizing Management - Part 2

Last year, we shared 8 Lessons from Decolonizing Management - Part 1, covering 8 of the biggest takeaways from the first half of our 12-class curriculum. Now, with the Spring 2025 session of Decolonizing Management launching in March, we’re back with 5 more topics to dive into when you sign up!

This course for anti-capitalist leaders is loaded with helpful gems and tips for how to lead according to your core values and code of professional ethics. From HR Best Practices to coping with change, here are the four most important takeaways from the second half of Decolonizing Management.

1. HR can provide stability without staying stuck in the past

First of all, shout out to Nel from Now This Consulting, who is our guest instructor for this section. Moving beyond merely providing DEI trainings, Now This centers justice, anti-racism, and intersectionality while providing a variety of support for organizations seeking to make long-term structural changes toward liberation. Check out their website for more on the important work they’re doing.

In general, HR should do the best thing for employees and whomever is most affected while ensuring it’s done in a legal and sustainable way. You don’t have to do things just because “it’s tradition” or because it’s the way they’ve always been done. Raises, compensation, Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), and benefits are all flexible things you can change as needed. For example, does an executive need an adjustment for cost of living when they are probably already earning far above a thriving rate? Or if they do, they need the same COLA as everyone else?

2. You can operate as an anticapitalist in a capitalist system

Operating as an anticapitalist within capitalism is no easy feat, but it is possible to take small steps that make a big difference in building and maintaining a positive, human-first workplace culture. Some good guiding principles to follow include centering our values and centering those most affected by changes and workplace pressures; negotiating away from the status quo; standing up for our direct reports and understanding that we have more in common with them than with the financer or owner of our organization.

3. Workplace abuse can be overt or covert

Identifying workplace abuse is the first step in doing something about it, and it may manifest in ways that aren’t immediately identifiable as abuse.

It can be direct, as when someone uses racist, sexist, or abusive language and behavior against their staff or their fellow employees; or indirect, as when that same behavior is ignored or tolerated. In an abusive workplace, the employee who objects to bad behavior may be directly punished with write-ups or being placed on a Performance Improvement Plan, or indirectly punished with a loss of support within the organization. Sometimes it can manifest as unequal treatment, like staff being written up for actions that are normally overlooked.

4. Sometimes you have to blow the whistle

Whistleblowers rarely, if ever, experience positive consequences for what they do. Whistleblowers may experience professional consequences, or even be harassed, threatened, or killed, sometimes years or decades after they blow the whistle.

If and when it’s time to blow the whistle on a dangerous or immoral situation, you’ll know that the risk to your own safety is more than worth it to prevent others from being hurt. If that time has come, it’s best to enter into the process with as much foresight as you can get. Document everything, make a release plan for when you will deliver information and to who, and plan ahead as much as possible what might occur after you blow the whistle, including the possibility of your identity being revealed.

5. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst

Change - even “good” change - is inevitable, frequently unpredictable, often difficult, and usually involves grief. Change is also an opportunity to skill-up and expand, particularly in business. Planning ahead is the best thing you can do as you and your team navigate a transition.

When preparing for a change, be realistic rather than optimistic. Avoid sharing worst-case scenarios with anyone but fellow decision makers, but do plan ahead. For example, if you have the resources to overstaff, do so in case you lose crucial staff during transition and need to fill those gaps.

Most importantly, listen to your staff, take their feelings into account, and don’t push them - or yourself - into burnout with overwork. Burnout does not lead to good decision-making.

Why Sign Up for Decolonizing Management?

The second half of this Decolonizing Management course covers heavy, important leadership skills and ethical best practices for those wanting to operate as an anti-capitalist, equity- and liberation-driven professional within a capitalist system. We wanted to point out some of the great things graduates of this course have gone on to accomplish:

o Managers who take this course implement systems in their workplaces that create more economic options for their employees and staff

o Decolonizing Management students also frequently move into higher levels of leadership after graduation, such as being promoted within their organization to lead larger teams or bigger projects; replacing leadership who was not anti-capitalist; or being recruited into leadership positions at more progressive organizations

o Former Decolonizing Management students go on to teach others as trainers; with industry-specific presentations and speaking opportunities

o Decolonizing Management students continue learning more about how to bring equity and liberation into their industries as a daily learning practice, some by applying their knowledge to the academic environment by seeking out formal education in their field

If you’re interested in the full course, the Spring cohort of Decolonizing Management runs from March 5 - May 21. Sign up before February 26 to learn in community with a diverse group of nonprofit professionals committed to changing the way that we do business.

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