Posts tagged #acknowledgethehurt
Say the thing
Say the thing

We know that feedback can be hard to hear.

It is perhaps one of the hardest things we ask leaders and others who align with power and privilege within their identities and their organizations to do when we do DEI work.

However, it’s the organizations that can work through the tough process of hearing difficult feedback that often make the most progress in shifting workplace culture to better serve their mission. We do a lot of scaffolding so leaders understand that feedback is a gift, even if you don’t like the wrapping paper, that it isn’t personal, that systems of oppression, although they manifest differently, show up in every organization, and that in order to change something, you first have to be able to name it.

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Co-creating inclusionAlethea Fitzpatrick#feedback, #truth, #acknowledgethehurt, #workplace, #inclusiveleadership, #inclusiveworkplace
Now is a good time to focus on needs
Now is a good time to focus on needs

As DEI consultants, we hold space for a lot of grief and trauma. In 2021 alone so far, our team has conducted almost 50 one-on-one interviews with staff, not to mention countless hours of small group meetings and sessions, workshop facilitation and DEI coaching.

Staff of all backgrounds, identities and levels of power and privilege are carrying a lot of hurt. We create space for them to say the things they cannot say elsewhere in the workplace. By creating anonymity (we do not disclose to our clients who we have interviewed) staff can be more candid, knowing they are protected while also knowing that we will take our findings back to the organization. It's not just venting.

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Co-creating inclusionAlethea Fitzpatrick#staffinterviews, #inclusiveworkplace, #inclusion, #acknowledgethehurt, #workplace
Do not give up your power by depending on others changing
Do not give up your power by depending on others changing

What has helped me to shift out of self-pity and despair has been to focus on the ways in which I can meet my needs, rather than all of the ways that other people or the current circumstances are failing to meet my needs.

It has reminded me of how we give up our power when we depend on others changing.

It doesn’t mean that we don’t need to hold people accountable, but that we can do so while still staying connected to our agency.

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Inclusive LeadershipAlethea Fitzpatrick#pandemiclife, #agency, #acknowledgethehurt