DesignOps 2020- Day 2 Opener: Past, Present, and Future—Closing the Racial Divide in Design Teams (Session Notes)

Speaker: Vincent Brathwaite: Design Leader, Speaker, and Educator

—To begin, Vincent would like to thank the  entire DesignOps conference for letting him share his presentation today

— The message of the talk is how to close the racial divide in design

— This year people experienced more than they typically do in  a lifetime
  • COVID and Protests for Black Lives Matter have brought up a truth that was  long dismissed
— What does this have to do with design?
  • Everything. It’s a negative domino effect.
  • Unequal treatment of people by different races is being reflected in the design industry

—According to 2019 design industry survey only 3% of design industry members are African American/Black designers, while 71% of designers are white

An Overview of the Problem

— Race was first used as categorizing term
  • Until 18th century, it classifying something as belonging to a specific  race/sort/kind
— Race as ideology rose out of context of African slavery
  • After abolition of slavery race became a mechanism of summary focused on social differentiation
  • It had an emphasis on superiority vs. inferiority

 

— Per anthropologists Audrey and Brian Smedley, race is about profound and unbridgeable differences. It is designed to differentiate on people between origin and appearance, and to discriminate because of these differences.

—The power of race is in how it’s viewed, subconsciously and consciously
  • The lack of open discussion about race impacts design teams, preventing bridges from being built, and people from collaboratively working together

—How to fix this?

 

— Teams are group of people working together for common purpose. Brought together by mutual interest and expertise

 

— Every team is unique, and success of team can mean life or death for one person, or winning a championship game, or honor to another company

 

— Old proverb from 1300s safe to say that “Many hands make light work”, but light work is not equal to success for teams.

 

— So what does it mean for a design team to be successful?

 

— Vincent spoke with product managers across different domains and they said the following:

 

Tamara Petit: Product Design Manager at General Assembly

Bill Townsley: Senior UX Design Manager, Product Design at Capital One

Cory Grabow: Founder of Bruxton Group LA

Amir Elabbaddy: Senior UX Designer at Accenture

Terrell Cobb: Design Lead at Microsoft

— There is no single definition of success for design teams, as success varies depending on the team context.

— However, two components mentioned consistently
  • Structure and Communication
— Each design manager mentioned a form of structure to ensure coherent goals within the within team. Examples include:
  • Data in every meeting
  • Paying attention to diversity
  • Alignment with talent and experience
  • Starting with User Research

— Structure defines the parameters of engagement, allowing  a team to work autonomously

— Examples of Communication mentioned included:
  • Regularly scheduled meetings
  • Communicating on behalf of meetings
  • One just said “communication is key”

— In all cases, structure is defined, and communication of the team is evident.

— But what happens when no structure exists or there is a breakdown in communication?
  • Lack of either has led to bad outcomes that cost money or led to poor solutions that didn’t solve the problem at hand

— No structure and communication  is easily available when you want to talk about race
  • No words to communicate thoughts or emotions (due to fear of offending people or being misunderstood in what you said)
  • Race is complex so people often avoid it, or push it to the side

— The lack of discussion is why the topic of race is so relevant, and race has been given space to grow in its impact and complexity.

 

The Solution

— The solution comes with language
  • Language is defined as method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured or conventional way
  • Language needs  communication and structure, like teams, to succeed
— How to use language:
  • Use structure in language (specifically four components)
  • Can be shared in formula that can be used when you share with others, but people don’t see it when engaging on topic like race
  • This lets people agree/disagree, yet still progress to a common goal
— Language is effective, but needs further support
— Context is key, the environment or supporting evidence that surrounds us when we communicate
— Language work best when context is agreed upon. Examples include:
  • Networking event
  • DesignOps 2020
  • Your department
— Context unites us and provides relevance for structure discussion
  • Context exists, but can be unspoken and impressive
— Example of clear context allows people to enter agreement.
  • If informal, mention the context of the meeting immediately
  • Make people aware of things that need to be discussed

 

— Context becomes a catalyst and an undefined space for communication
— Assumed goal of design teams is success. But problem we are facing is racial divide in design teams
— To talk about racial divide, you need to talk about context, and a defined structure to allow effective communication
  • Effective communication + structure = success design teams
— Context applied to communication and structure is key to resolving racial divide in design teams

 

The Structure

— What are four components of structure to use?

 

Equity

— Use language that is fair or impartial (don’t  use stereotypes)
— Make people aware when contributing your thoughts about race, and let people voice their thoughts
— Have all participants treat people with respect
  • When people discuss race must be.a shared understanding of contributions and roles
  • We know how to speak with friends because we know our roles and operate within parameters
— To speak with members of team, is to inform people with qualities that everyone has
— Hierarchy has to go away for exchange to be productive and constructive
  • When hierarchy disappears, the creativity is opened up
— From the book Creativity Inc:
  • There was an exercise where the name-cards of senior staff members removed and table re-arranged to muddle existing ranks
  • This muddle  of hierarchy encouraged people to think of themselves as equals despite rank differences
  • This technique led to more ideas being generated

 

Vulnerability

— Vulnerability is easier said than done
— Don’t be crying or hysterical at meetings. State you are aware of importance of what is being said, along with the knowledge you don’t have words to clearly express it
— Be transparent. Display ignorance with hope of it being corrected
  • Vulnerability creates opportunity to relate
  • Lets you show you are imperfect and open to be more informed
— You need to be seen as someone not afraid to make mistakes
  • Consider the motto “Fail Forward”— It suggests the opportunity for moving forward with mistakes
  • Be vulnerable and objective about what you know and what you don’t
— Vulnerability is strength and not weakness. It is trust about what people will/won’t do
— To be members of any team requires a baseline of trust. Being vulnerable akin to being able to work on a project as part of a team
— In short, remove judgment and be empathetic towards others

 

Investment

— Topic of race within team won’t go away easily
— It requires undivided attention and dedicated time
— You must demonstrate you care about the discussion

 

a. Listen intently to what is being said and by who
b. Take notes with intention of acting on information to promote change

 

— When you discuss race, you go deeper in thought and more considerate about what to share
— Not just being heard, but also having a clear call to action
— In case of race, goal is to create change for good for team and organization as a whole

 

Diversity

— Diversity means more than just race, it also means thought, language, and contribution people bring to a discussion
— Why does it matter?
  • Diversity gives gives everyone access  to each other’s blind-spots
  • It limits the influence biases can have in a conversation
  • It lets people consider different angles of problems
— Success of team is when each person can contribute something unique
— Finding solutions from unexpected places as a collective, helps you navigate uncertainty
— Diversity helps provide options and helps you find best solution available
  • Best conversations include depth and learning
  • Space must be created for diversity to survive and thrive
—To practically implement diversity, hire people who don’t have same cultural context or come from a minority background
  • Have a  succession plan for diverse leaders
— In particular, design talent can focus on black youth.
  • Future of design team comes from those who come behind us
  • As gatekeepers, we need to keep the door open to those who will keep torch going
— But why black youth?
  • Black youth are trend-setters for the American consumer and represent largest group of people of color in the marketplace
  • They are responsible for 1.4 trillion dollars annually, and carry influence in which projects to the rest of the population
— Not only should language be more diverse, and reflected in people having conversations about race.
— Closing racial divide will require radical change
— Take ownership of language to make it happen
a. Replace context with Race with talking and components of equity

 

A Formula to Follow

— Closing the racial divide helps navigate difficult conversation with less friction
— Formula doesn’t remove discomfort, but provides more intention when speaking with teams

 

— Per a Boston Consulting Group, companies with more diverse management teams
— Work with tech companies where innovation key to growth

 

— Companies with most culturally, ethnically diverse boards
— Measurement of successful design teams may vary
  • But you can see positive results

Success According to the Design Managers is as follows.

Tamara Petit: Product Design Manager at General Assembly

Bill Townsley: Senior UX Design Manager, Product Design at Capital One

Cory Grabow: Founder of Bruxton Group LA

Terrell Cobb: Design Lead at Microsoft

— Quality of design team is measure of team success
— Engaging with topic of racial divide with team using formula, and success here means being able to face everything else against us
— We are against a future that is unknown and full of complexity, and we need all the hands we can get

 

Putting it into Practice

—Vincent tells a personal story:
  • Vincent and a white colleague were instructors at a UX design course, and they received two simultaneous responses from two Asian females and a Black designer. All three designers were assigned to the same project, and had come to know each other very well.
  • The white co-instructor told Vincent there needed to be a conversation with the Black designer, under the assumption that the Black designer’s near immediate response to his Asian female team-mates was making the Asian team-mates uncomfortable.
  • There was an assumption on behalf of the white co-instructor that the Black designer was going to start a conflict with his team-mates, and the white co-instructor wanted to get ahead of the conflict.
  • Vincent told his colleague that they should wait until reason to speak about conflicts in the team that actually appeared, and the instructors didn’t end up speaking with the team at all.

 

—Afterwards Vince had a conversation with his colleague, and told him that he was upset about  the colleagues’s comment and the suspicion he seemed to have towards the Black designer.
  • But Vincent  was curious about what the colleague meant and why he said what he said
  • His colleague thanked Vincent for bringing the issue up, but pointed out he didn’t mean anything in terms of ill and intent
—This entire incident fit within the framework of Race (talking + equity, vulnerability, investment, diversity).
—The discussion resulted in a working relationship that was stronger and Chris and his co-instructor trusted each other more.

 

Conclusion

— When we learn to become resilient we embrace the spectrum of human experience.
— Let us close the racial divide, so that we can move forward.
—Race should not separate as intended, and let us succeed as design teams
—Formula will open door to conversation, use it as way to transcend unbridgeable differences created by race.

 

Questions

  1. How do we contribute to fighting racial divide outside U.S.?
—Ask questions and get access to your blind-spots.
—Engage in the conversation. No prescribed way to appear in global perspective.
—Might not as prominent as it is in the United States
—Ask the questions, and be curious about what you can do to close the racial divide or add to a conversation
  1. Advice or guidance on hiring?
—Best way is to go with resources you would not normally use like HBCUs, and organization with Urban League, and connection with communities of color
—Ask question about partners we don’t have currently and figure out talent we want that is more diversified.
—Goal of building an ongoing dialogue and relationships over time and (Afro-Tech Conference)
—Have your eyes open to around you
—HBCU graduate and went to Howard University (MLT and Black Student Unions)
  1. How to tackle educational divide for Black designers?
—Deals with going into organizations and universities and develop partnerships with them.
—Creating program that allows for you as organization for people to come to you. Create structure where people can be aware
—Lack of awareness is not due to lack of interest, but people are not coming to lack of black talent
  1. What to do when you are the “only one” or person of color on team?
—It requires figuring out who you can talk to first, and establish relationship with individuals you could partner or meet with and further conversation from there
—Be able to take moment and address it with someone you feel comfortable with, letting process unfold as process takes places
—If you are aware problem is there, have responsibility to work to address it
—If conversation doesn’t happen, people will continue with thinking that could lead to negative consequences for others
—Lean in to vulnerability
  1. Do you see practices for increasing creativity and innovation for closing racial divide?
—Yes, they are aligned, in that there is level of curiosity in approaching solution
—Same level of curiosity has to begin when engaging with race, and equitable for all
—Need shared understanding of facts for this to happen though
—Angela Glover Blackwell and Stamford “Curb-Cut Effect”
  1. How to contact?
—Vincent can be found on LinkedIn. That is best way to communicate with him