Privileges and Punishments

Understand Your Privilege and Use it for Good | UCL Department of Chemical Engineering - UCL – University College London

It is interesting to me that my context of privileges growing up was very much about my desire to succeed and be independent. The better I was at doing the things that were expected of me the more freedom I was granted - and so privileges was something I strived for and certainly when I didn't live up to expectations, punishments were appropriately handed out too. But what if privilege is something that I received just because I was me - and punishments or just lack of privilege was something that others got just because they were them. And you couldn't do anything to earn your way out of the situation. This is very much the topic we discussed in my second wonderful mutual mentoring session - recognising that this reality often exists in the situations that my black colleagues have faced. But it also the situation that may of us who have education, employment, relative safety, financial stability, also have over others who face poverty, financial emotional or practical insecurity, violence or trauma. This buzz feed test is interesting to explore your own privilege and try and understand what has enabled you to have that privilege. https://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/how-privileged-are-you One of the really interesting things that we talked about was how to use your privilege for good - and where, when and how to do that. The topic is a good one - as we also recognised that we have worked for some of the privilege we both have experienced. Whilst my skin colour has given me a privilege that I am often not aware of, my hard work has also earned me much of what has provided security for my family. I also know that my skin colour provided me a step up in some situations that others had to work harder to participate. This video illustrates that point very well.

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Through my studies as a psychologist and naturopathic nutritionist I am personally very interested how trauma impacts behaviour and potential in individuals experiences. The trauma that has been expressed by some of my colleagues in their life experiences equates to real barriers which privilege would have protected them from. In the book "The Body Keeps the Score", the author explores how many of these traumas are interpreted and diagnosed in our classrooms and meetings rooms as behaviour that classify as lazy, inattentive, detached, lack of engagement. We spoke about how perhaps we have to recognise that people's past experiences - especially if they were traumatic, can often lead them to places that they don't really "show up" in the anticipated way that society expects. We explored the topic of what this might look like in a corporate setting and how we as leaders can try and meet each individual with an openness that would allow them to access their potential. We agreed that asking questions - using observations and then reflecting on what it makes us think will help to both uncover our own bias in the situation - but also to see if we can reengage the other person in the dialogue. I really have enjoyed how these topics on mutual mentoring have also given me room to integrate them into my learning as a leader - and I hope that for my mentor I am able so share back some of that insight too.