Strawberry Words Self-Assessment Tool
Cultural Humility & Anti-Racism Self-Assessment
A reflective tool for leaders at every level. Both a mirror and a map.
This tool is designed to help leaders reflect honestly on their practice, both as individuals and as people with organisational influence. It works whether you lead a small team or shape an entire organisation.
It’s not about passing or failing. In order to grow in your practice, you need a starting point. This is that. It only gets better from here as you will know what to do to develop.
Before you begin
Take a moment to consider your own racial identity and how it shapes your relationship to this work.
If you are white, the questions ahead will largely ask you to reflect on learning, awareness, and action that you have chosen to pursue. The work is voluntary, even when it’s uncomfortable.
If you are a racially marginalised person, you may have been navigating these questions your whole life, not because you have chosen to but because you’ve had to. Your lived experience is a form of expertise that formal scoring cannot fully capture. Some questions have been written to acknowledge this directly; others invite you to read them through your own lens.
All leaders are asked to be honest about where they are, not where they feel they should be. This tool will serve you best as a genuine reflection rather than a performance.
Work through both parts honestly. There are no right or wrong answers. Score yourself at the end of each part, then plot your results on the Leadership Profile grid to discover where you are and where to focus next.
Click on your answer for each question. Your scores will be calculated automatically as you go, and your Leadership Profile will be revealed once you have completed both parts.
Your Individual Practice
These questions explore your personal commitment to cultural humility and anti-racism as a leader.
1 I regularly reflect on how my own identity, culture, and lived experiences shape the way I lead and make decisions.
2 I understand the difference between diversity, inclusion, equity, and anti-racism, and can articulate what they mean in practice.
3 I have a working understanding of how colonial history, structural racism, and whiteness shape workplace systems today, and I actively draw on this in my leadership.
4 I actively use my influence to challenge inequities, bias, and exclusionary behaviours, even when it’s uncomfortable.
5 I work to create environments where racially marginalised people feel genuinely safe to speak honestly. This includes advocating for that safety for others and, where relevant, for myself.
6 I actively seek out a range of perspectives, including from people whose experiences differ from my own, to challenge my assumptions and blind spots.
7 I understand that this is a lifelong journey and approach it with curiosity rather than defensiveness.
Your Organisational Leadership
Answer in relation to your current sphere of influence, not what others above you are or aren’t doing.
8 Anti-racism and cultural humility are explicitly present in the priorities and direction of my team or area, not just mentioned in passing.
9 I actively review or advocate for change in the policies and processes in my area, including recruitment, progression, complaints, and commissioning, to identify and address racial bias.
10 I take deliberate action to ensure racially marginalised people are meaningfully included in decision-making, not simply consulted or added as an afterthought. Where I am from a marginalised group myself, I also consider how I use my position to open doors for others.
11 My team or organisation has clear, visible expectations about respectful and inclusive behaviour, and there are real consequences when those expectations aren’t met.
12 I use data, including staff surveys, progression rates, demographic breakdowns, and grievance patterns, to understand racial inequity in my area and drive action.
13 I invest in ongoing anti-racism and cultural humility development for myself and those I lead, as a sustained commitment rather than a one-off event.
14 I engage with people outside my immediate team or organisation, including communities, partners, or critical friends, who can hold our approach to anti-racism accountable.
Your Leadership Profile
Complete both parts above, then click the button to reveal your profile.
Complete all 14 questions and submit your details to reveal your personalised Leadership Profile.
| Organisational Score 7–17 | Organisational Score 18–28 | |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Score 18–28 | Personal Champion | Transformational Leader |
| Individual Score 7–17 | Emerging Explorer | Systems Builder |
You’re at the beginning of your journey in both dimensions, and that’s a courageous place to start. The most important thing right now is to build your own foundation: explore the history and structures that underpin racial inequity, get comfortable with the language, and start small.
Look for one area, whether a policy, a meeting, or a conversation, where you can practise using your influence. Growth in both areas will reinforce each other.
A lower score here may reflect not a lack of commitment or awareness, but the reality of navigating systems that were not designed for you. Your lived experience is itself a form of knowledge this scoring system cannot fully capture. As you use this tool, focus on the areas where you have genuine agency, and be honest with yourself about which barriers belong to the system rather than to you.
You’ve done meaningful personal work. You reflect, you understand, you care. There is, however, a gap between your individual commitment and the change you’re creating around you. This is one of the most common patterns we see in leaders, and it often comes from underestimating the influence you already have.
Now is the time to turn inward learning into outward action: use your voice in the room, name what you see in systems, and begin to embed accountability into your team’s culture.
You may have developed deep personal awareness precisely because racism has required it of you throughout your life. The gap between your individual score and your organisational score may reflect not a lack of action, but the reality of pushing against institutional resistance, particularly when you are the person most visibly affected by what you’re trying to change. It is worth asking honestly: are you being asked to carry the emotional and intellectual labour of this work disproportionately, in ways your white colleagues are not?
You’re driving change in your organisation, and that matters enormously. Yet, without the personal foundation of deep self-reflection and humility, structural change can lose its roots. Leaders who build strong systems but haven’t done the personal work can inadvertently replicate the very dynamics they’re trying to dismantle.
Investing in your own learning now will make you a more effective and credible champion for the change you’re building.
Driving structural change from within a system that may itself be working against you is significant and often exhausting work. Your organisational scores may be strong while your personal reflection scores appear lower. Consider whether the personal questions fully captured the depth of reflexivity that lived experience demands, because it may well have. The invitation to deepen personal development in this profile is just that, an invitation, not a criticism.
You are demonstrating integration, personal conviction matched by structural action. This is rare, and it’s needed. Your focus now is on depth, sustainability, and expanding your reach. Are there people you’re bringing alongside you? Are you mentoring others to lead in this way? Are you sharing what’s working while being honest about where you still struggle?
Transformational leadership in this space means holding yourself to the highest standard while making the path navigable for others.
Reaching this profile is a substantial achievement, given the additional barriers you will have navigated to get here. The risks at this stage look different for you than they do for a white leader in the same position: burnout from carrying too much, isolation from being one of very few, and the pressure to represent rather than simply lead. Your focus now includes protecting your own wellbeing, setting boundaries around the labour you take on, and building a community of peers who can offer genuine solidarity and support, not just admiration.
A Cultural Humility Approach to Antiracism
Guidance for Compassionate Leadership and Culture
If this assessment has sparked something, the book takes you deeper. Written by Rebbecca Hemmings, founder of Strawberry Words, it offers practical guidance for leaders who want to embed cultural humility and anti-racism into everything they do, not just what they say.
Available now in paperback on Amazon.
Available on Amazon. Link coming soon.