Minority voice in majority spaces

People from minoritised groups (PMGs) — people whose gender, ethnic background, disabilities or long-term health conditions mean they are in the minority in a social setting compared with their dominant counterparts — are often overlooked, categorised as having only that ‘lens’, or seen as playing the [insert minoritised identity] card when sharing an opinion or viewpoint.

It is important that PMGs understand how to establish or reclaim their presence in spaces where obstacles are created by design (structural inequity) or by choice, whether accidental or intentional. Understanding your leadership voice allows you to speak from a place of conviction that is positively disruptive.

1. What is your leadership voice? Identifying it is a first step to future-proofing your career and being heard. Speak on the out-breath, pay attention to your body language, sit up straight and, when you enter a room, move to the front. You are there to share your voice, not hide your talents under a guise of humility. The loudest person in the room is not necessarily the most intelligent.

2. Understand your subject matter. Be able to succinctly identify or describe key issues related to your work or the topic under discussion. This might include having a grasp of the latest statistics, thinking through how you can mitigate challenges, and building on opportunities to strengthen interventions or current best practice.

3. Establish a firm line and present options. Set reasonable expectations about what suggested interventions might achieve, given the time, resources, opportunities and limitations available. Acknowledge desired outcomes, then outline the next steps and decisions that need to be made.

4. Zoom out and use objective insights, while leveraging your unique lens. Facts and figures can support your viewpoint, but they do not always provide the nuance of lived experience. Use storytelling, alongside data and evidence, to bring key issues to life for people who may not share that experience. Chip and Dan Heath describe ‘sticky stories’ as stories that spark immediate attention and stay with people long after they are shared.