A Point of View: I Am Here and I Matter — Creating Safe Spaces for Black Employees to Share Their Stories

It wasn’t until Saturday evening that I allowed the tears to flow. Sitting underneath a cotton candy pink sky, I put on Mali Music’s “Gonna Be Alright” and tried to let the music soothe me. And, when that didn’t feel like enough, I turned on Smokie Norful’s “I Need You Now.” 

I let the lyrics give voice to the words that my lips still struggled to form. Because in that moment, and in so many of the moments before, all I felt was a blend of defeat and despair. Though my tears streamed lightly, they came from a weary and heavy heart. 

Those words were the first two paragraphs of an email I sent to more than 600 colleagues on June 1, 2020. It had been seven days since George Floyd was killed at the hands of police, and my emotional wounds were still raw and raging. At the time, I was the president of our African American Employee Resource Group (ERG), and it was on my heart to share my story with those who would embrace it. 

My words ran through our organization like wildfire, ultimately reaching far more people than the 600 individuals on the original thread. Fortunately, I was not the only person who had the chance to share my story. Across the summer of 2020, I was able to bear witness to my fellow ERG leadership team members sharing their own courageous and heartbreaking stories in different forums—stories of tokenism, of being wrongfully pulled over by the police, of experiencing macroaggressions, of not feeling psychologically safe. These stories always invoked a chorus of “Yes, me too” from other Black employees who heard them. And, little by little, more employees began to share their stories—at town halls, in smaller conversations and at staff meetings. 

It’s no secret that storytelling is emerging as an indispensable part of many organizations’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategies. Particular as organizations hone in on racial equity strategies, storytelling is a vehicle for building inclusion and belonging, as well as enlightening others and creating shared meaning. Many organizations have moved toward curating conversations where employees share their stories in hopes of shedding light on experiences that others may simply not know or realize. In the Black community, in particular, storytelling is, and has always been, a vessel for honoring the past, reckoning with the present and illuminating a path for the future. Andrea Collier wrote “There is no question that storytelling for Black America is a way of saying ‘I am here and I matter.’” 

While storytelling is becoming increasingly more important, it is also fragile and complex. People’s comfort level with sharing their stories—particularly in an organizational setting—varies widely. It is not fair or appropriate to expect Black employees to want to share their stories simply because they are Black. The process of sharing is taxing, a form of emotional labor that oftentimes leaves people feeling vulnerable and exposed. 

The process of inviting someone to share their story and ensuring they are in a 100% psychologically safe environment to do so is nuanced. Here are some tips to support responsible use of storytelling in cross-cultural understanding: 

Always Ask, Never Assume 

When curating storytelling conversations, it is critical to always ask employees if they are interested and not simply assume that they will be. If you are thinking of asking an employee to share, start by setting up a call with them (do not just send an email!). Establishing that personal connection goes a long way in helping someone feel seen and heard at the onset of the process. If you don’t have a personal connection with the individual, work with someone who does. If an ERG leader knows that person better than you do, it will be more effective to have them start the conversation. 

Recognize the Uniqueness of Black People 

A question to ask yourself when you seek out the stories of others is “Why am I asking this particular individual to share their story?” If the answer is simply “because they’re Black” or “so white people can understand,” then you need to try again. What is it about this person—what you know, what you have experienced, what you have observed—that compels you to want them to share their story? Black people are not a monolith and neither are their stories. 

Be Vigilant About Ensuring Psychological Safety 

If you are asking an employee to share a story with a broader audience of colleagues, you must be vigilant—not just diligent—about ensuring that the space will be psychologically safe. Oftentimes, if an employee’s story involves something that happened to them in the organization, it is not psychologically safe for them to share within their own teams or even their own functions. You have to understand the space they will be in and the culture of that part of the organization. When in doubt, go a different route. If the space is not going to be 100% safe, it is not conducive to the employee sharing. 

Spend Time with Your Storytellers Before, During and After They Share 

So much of organizational work focuses on preparation and not enough on reflection. While it will be important to help prepare your storytellers and make them feel at ease, it will be even more important to support them after they share. Sharing takes courage, and the root of courage is vulnerability. Afterward, storytellers may feel doubtful, exhausted or simply contemplative. That is the time to truly take care of them—not by any sort of formal after-action call, but instead by just sending them an encouraging note and reminding them that you are there as a listening ear and open heart. 

We are all made up of stories—beautiful, layered, heartbreaking and important stories. We all deserve the space to shout those stories from the mountaintop if we wish. Bearing witness to another person’s story is a sacred and humbling opportunity, and it’s important that we treat it as such.