Today is the 1-year anniversary of the George Floyd death. The hope is that the day passes with proper remembrance and reverence. It should be a day that we all consider where our country still is in terms of equality and human dignity.
As a manager, you can use the day for 2 different purposes.
First, prepare to have discussions around the event. Don't push it or even lead it, but be prepared if employees want to discuss it or you see the anniversary is impacting performance. You don't have to do anything other than listen respectfully and understand how it impacts everyone differently.
Second, you could take the time to personally reflect how you as an individual and the company have changed since that event (or have not changed). I know many companies that put out statements about the event and then haven't really done anything towards the commitments they made. Are you one of those people? Is your company guilty of this?
One thing you should not do is try to control the day. You may be tempted to communicate that this should be a normal workday and we have to realize that is in the past. That is the absolute wrong message.
We can't expect that things will be solved in one incident or in one year, but we can keep the conversation going and keep working towards a better tomorrow.
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