How to Talk to Your Coworkers About Privilege

Vivianne Castillo’s post, Part II: The P-Word, inspired the Diversity Action Committee at Uncorked Studios to build an activity that helped us dig deeper into concepts of privilege.

Privilege isn’t easy to talk about. The activity helped us focus our conversations around it, and so we wanted to turn this idea into something concrete we could share with others who want to begin to understand and acknowledge privilege.

Our publishing strategists say it’s a terrible idea to immediately point someone to another blog post in the first paragraphs of your blog post. But, real talk: if you think a frank, measured, constructive discussion of privilege could be beneficial to you or your colleagues, start with Castillo’s work. Ideally, read all three parts, digest them, send them to your friends, discuss them, and then come read this. If you only have time to read one thing, read the one I posted above!

Here’s a big preface: I’m not an authority on this. I am still learning. I am a white, cis-gendered, heterosexual woman who grew up in a dual-parent, upper middle class household in suburbia.

I have never been stopped by the police for anything more than slightly speeding and even then I was let off with a warning.

I have, in my upbringing, considered myself “not really into current events” and “not really into history,” without much thought into those matters. I have now realized that my lack of affinity for current events and history is yet another privilege I hold. It is a huge privilege to not have to check the news to know if I would be able to marry the person I loved, or to know if yet another person of my race has been murdered by the people who are supposed to keep us safe.

I have never had to study the laws of a state to see if I would be allowed to use the bathroom I feel comfortable with.

I’ve never had to worry that my citizenship status would be stripped away and my parents deported.

I am privileged.

Now that I’m slightly more aware of these privileges I hold (I still have a long way to go), I’ve begun reading the news, listening to current events podcasts, and trying to counter the “turn a blind eye” attitude with a clearer vision of what’s happening in this country. Now that I know my aversion to history is likely shame-based, due to my ancestors’ horrifying mistakes, I’m trading in fiction picks for non-fiction.

It’s not a lot, but baby steps towards a Woker Me are helping me understand how to use my privilege in more positive ways.

In this post I want to talk about a workshop I ran with two of my coworkers to try and dig into privilege.

In our company, we have a small group called the Diversity Action Committee. I sit on this committee with a few of my coworkers. About every month we hold what we call a “Diversity and Inclusion Rally” where we try to engage the company with an hour-long meeting covering something diversity related.

In December, we adapted what we learned from Castillo’s post into a short workshop (complete with slide deck) on privilege. Here’s how we did it:

Step 1: Assign homework

Now that I have sufficiently explained to you how important it is to read Castillo’s blog post before beginning this workshop, I’m sure you are equipped to ask your coworkers to read it as well.

Create a printer-friendly version of the blog post and sent it to the office. Provide the link to the Medium post so that, if they want, colleagues can read it there. (I like having the paper copy because when I read things closely, I like to take notes, jot things in the margins, and highlight and scribble and doodle and otherwise make it my own.)

Bring a few more copies of the printer-friendly version to bring to the workshop because, inevitably, people forget to do their homework.

At the very start of the workshop, leave a few minutes for those who have not read it to do so, and for those who did read it to skim it and refresh their memory.

Step 2: Screen the video

In her blog post, Castillo links to a fantastic excerpt from Brene Brown on empathy. It’s a fun cartoon that helps establish the workshop room as a safe space where empathy is expected.

Step 3: Run the exercise

Make sure each participant has a Post-It pad and a Sharpie. Give everyone five minutes to write down areas where they experience privilege, writing one thought per sticky note. For example, my stickies said things like “White,” “cis,” “heterosexual,” etc., the stuff I listed above.

Step 4: Post ’em up

Direct each participant, one-by-one, to place their stickies on a central wall. If someone’s already said what’s on your sticky, place you sticky next to theirs when it’s your turn. Your wall might resemble ours, pictured at the beginning of this post.

If somebody said something that also pertains to you, but you hadn’t thought about it, you may have a blind spot of privilege you might want to consider and address. For instance, during our workshop one participant captured “American” as an element of privilege. I hadn’t even considered that!

At this point in the presentation we also placed a reminder to be open to each other’s experiences and maintain a safe space, because this can be the most emotionally challenging time.

Step 5: Discuss the results

Use the rest of the meeting time to discuss the trends you see in the stickies, and blind spots that may have emerged.

I created some discussion questions based around the blog post, which sparked some very intense but rewarding conversations. They’re in the slide deck we used.

I can’t speak directly to how all the participants enjoyed the workshop, but for me it was eye-opening and intense and amazing.

I discovered several blind spots — areas where I didn’t even realize I was privileged — and engaged in discussions that were uncomfortable but necessary for learning how to translate those blind spots into understanding.

I hope that this is helpful to you in some way!

Good luck, and let me know in the comments how it went!

I’m an Android developer at Uncorked Studios. The sign (metaphorical) on the wall says we “connect people, technology, and context to create meaningful change in the world.” The sign (literal, neon) on the wall says “Make Cool Shit.” We place equal emphasis on design and development to turn our clients’ innovative (and often experimental) ideas into something beautiful and functional.