Roman Ružbacký
October 23, 2021
You always remember a moving story. You might not remember all the details, but you often remember how you felt. The power of personal story telling gets you to the heart of the matter, unlike any policy, procedure, metric or strategy.
Around 1997, I entered the field of what was then called, Equal Employment Opportunity, after starting my career as an analytical chemist. I would work away in my laboratory, often in solitude. It was an exact profession, requiring precision, timeliness, troubleshooting, critical interpretation of data with room for some creative thinking.
My experience of poor behaviour was a turning point in my career. My analytical skills were put to better use in helping people navigating their way through complex issues and poor behaviour. It took me seven years before I could find paid work in my field. I got rejected for volunteer roles too. But I persisted. I managed discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment complaints until 2015. I’ll never forget the stories. I had some great teachers who helped me along the way. Complaints handling experience gave me some experience in finding where the systemic barriers and issues were hidden in employment practices and culture.
I have contemplated abandoning the work numerous times. There’s a lot of bones of good intentioned people and change makers along the highway. I got comfortable with uncertainty. My strength lay in being an enabler, an influencer, a doer in the engine room, an ally, understanding my privilege and place in the conversation and regularly checking on my biases.
When I am a little more comfortable with you, I can share more things about myself over time, once I have built some trust and feel safe to do so. I won’t do this every time, because sometimes when I have shown vulnerability, I get blamed for it. This will help you understand me a little before we work together.
So, my message is, work on your relationships. I have seen many departments over the years, chained to the desk, writing strategy after strategy, which end up collecting dust on shelves. Yes, they are important guides and tools to help you unlock the organisation’s potential to create, build or sustain an equitable and inclusive culture. It takes years to build trust and respect. And only people will bring your words and work to life.