- March 14, 2023
Who knew? Power is not the dirty construct we’ve come to see it as, and it isn’t a zero-sum game either — if, that is, people use it for good. That’s according to Liliana Blanco, inclusion & belonging lead, Asana. In this Q&A, Blanco shares this and other novel ideas, including how she helps people identify their power, then leverage it to create equity, not division. Read on. You just might find yourself thinking, “never thought of it that way,” with every point she makes.
This Q&A has been edited from Built In’s recent DEI webinar, which centered on our 2023 report, The State of DEI in Tech. Download the unedited webinar with two other panelists and moderator Catalina Coleman, senior director, DEI, Built In, as an on-demand recording.
Catalina Coleman: What are some best practices for people who want to offer company conversations or trainings about DEI topics like identity or anti-racism.
Liliana Blanco: Words have power. And words shape the world we live in. And because of that, I recommend folks think about conversations and trainings as two different types of containers you’re designing to hold dialogue. You have different considerations when designing each of those containers.
LB: When you want to hold a conversation that is intended to foster deep listening or allow folks from certain groups to be in community with each other, you want to orient that container around facilitation. Do deep work to identify the right facilitators and determine the right questions. And set up the expectation of psychological safety.
It’s about creating not only safe spaces but brave spaces, where people can show up and ask questions. So that is the kind of container you want to design for deep listening and community connection.
“It’s about creating not only safe spaces but brave spaces.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
LB: It’s a bit different when you’re designing a container to engender a new kind of learning: a training, a workshop or enablement. In that case, you start with those same principles: Create safe spaces, outline expectations, do deep thinking around the trainers.
But in addition, you need to think about adult learning methodologies. Adults need to be exposed to things at least three times for them to apply it to their own thinking. You want to spend most of your time having people put what they’re learning into practice in breakout groups to help that learning sink in. And you want to do a larger group harvesting of the learnings to ensure folks reflect on how they’ll apply that learning in the future.
“Adults need to be exposed to things at least three times for them to apply it to their own thinking.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
There is one other layer when it comes to DEI training. Sometimes these spaces feel challenging for folks, because these are growth spaces. When it comes to learning, we want people to get out of their safe space and be in a growth space, which means they’ll be challenged slightly. So you want to take care of adult learning needs and psychological safety while also ensuring people grow.
“When it comes to learning, we want people to get out of their safe space and be in a growth space, which means they’ll be challenged slightly.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
CC: You have some interesting thoughts on power and its relationship to equity. Can you share?
LB: I like to talk to leaders about the fact that work happens both in formal and informal networks. Informal networks include the people we know. Those networks have just as much or even more influence on our ability to contribute meaningfully to an organization and be successful as our formal networks. Formal networks — that has to do with our job and company hierarchy. Everyone at an organization should be aware of those networks. They should understand their centrality or the lack of centrality within those networks.
Power lies in those networks, and power is not a dirty thing. If you’re a central node in one of those networks — if people rely on you, if you have lots of connections, if you’re a bridge — power lies there. When we’re aware of the power we have, we can leverage it for good.
There are different areas of power: We might have legitimate power. We might have power through social capital. We might have access to resources. And we should reflect on our contingencies of power: Am I a bridge to another team? Do I have lots of visibility?
“When we’re aware of the power we have, we can leverage it for good.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
LB: If we’re from a majority group, and we want to be in allyship, then we leverage that power to be in solidarity with historically marginalized groups. We diffuse and share our power. When we have allies in leadership that understand their power, they can leverage it to further protect people from inequities.
“When we have allies in leadership that understand their power, they can leverage it to be in solidarity and further protect people from inequities.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
For people who are part of a historically marginalized community, I work to help lift literacy around the power people have. With my ERG leads, I do enablement to help them think about power. When folks from historically marginalized communities think about the power they have, and leverage and share that power, we can diffuse inequities.
I like to think of power as a good thing. Power is not a zero-sum game. If I have power and give you some of my power, I don’t have less power. We just both have more power. I like to encourage everyone to think about these networks to raise awareness about the power we all have and think about how to mobilize that power for good.
“I like to think of power as a good thing. Power is not a zero-sum game. If I have power and give you some of my power, I don’t have less power. We just both have more power.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
CC: Is the idea of a “culture fit” problematic in the context of DEI?
LB: The idea of “culture fit” is super surface level. It’s often poorly defined, and it sets us up to align with what we already have. And what we already have, for the most part, isn’t working. What we already have is lacking the diversity we need to be truly innovative.
We should think in terms of “culture adds.” Until we have different voices on every team, we put the burden on a very few people to foster inclusion and belonging. We need many people to bring different perspectives and ask critical questions. When we hire culture adds, it not only supports and moves forward our DEI goals, but it also ultimately makes us much more powerful organizations.
“The idea of ‘culture fit’ is super surface level. It’s often poorly defined, and it sets us up to align with what we already have. And what we already have, for the most part, isn’t working.“
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
CC: You have important ideas about feedback and equity. Can you share?
LB: I’m deeply passionate about the power of feedback for people velocity. Research shows that folks from historically marginalized communities often receive less feedback, and poorer quality feedback, than folks from the majority. Over the course of a career, the exponential impact of that holds people back.
“Folks from historically marginalized communities often receive less feedback than folks from the majority. Over the course of a career, the exponential impact of that lack of feedback holds people back.“
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
In recognizing that systems of feedback have a deep impact on folks’ ability to progress within our organization, we’re targeting our feedback culture and metrics this year. Managers are at the front lines of creating equitable outcomes for people, so we are working to ensure they feel empowered and capable — and that they understand the impact of that lack of feedback.
If we see managers giving more feedback to certain folks and holding back on other folks, we work with those managers to coach them one-on-one. We operate like internal consultants. We ask: What is happening here? What is showing up for you? And what might be holding you back?
CC: Other best practices around feedback?
LB: Yes. It’s important to give improvement feedback but also positive feedback. We all have blind spots about the ways in which we can improve but also about our zones of genius, where we spark creativity and innovation and connection amongst our teams. Sometimes, we don’t know the ways in which we show up that are magical. Leaders need to doubleclick on that. They need to give us feedback about when we’ve shown up in a magical way.
“Sometimes, we don’t know the ways in which we show up that are magical. Leaders need to doubleclick on that.“
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
CC: How can we support DEI leaders who are beginning to experience burnout?
LB: I was in the non-profit space for 20-plus years, working on issues of social justice, and the way I was able to stay alive was by centering joy. I know that sounds really abstract and almost silly, but there is intentionality. I’m intentional about connecting with the people that I care about, centering love in my work, centering love with my colleagues. That keeps me fed. It keeps me able and empowered to draw boundaries.
“The way I was able to stay alive was by centering joy.“
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
CC: Boundaries. Curious to know more.
LB: I have this framework: consultation, collaboration and co-creation. Burnout happens when you ask for my advice and you’re not doing anything with my advice. Burnout happens when you invite me to solve problems that I have no power to solve. If that happens, I just hold all of that, and I feel bad at the end of the day and year.
“Burnout happens when you ask for my advice and you’re not doing anything with my advice. Burnout happens when you invite me to solve problems that I have no power to solve.”
-Liliana Blanco, Asana
What I do now is this. I say: Hey, organizational partners. First, when do you want me to consult? When I consult, I’m going to give you my advice, and you might or might not take it. Second, when do you want to collaborate? In that case, I’m going to do a piece, you’re going to do a piece. And when and what will we co-create? I also ensure we agree on what we’re going to roll out ahead of time.
When those things are not clear, I feel spent and burnt out. But I can continue to do this work because, in combination with centering joy, I do set those boundaries and expectations.
