We write weekly on the issues that are top of mind for us as we do the work of driving equity, shifting culture and co-creating inclusion with our clients. To receive these posts via email, join our free weekly email series, Self-coaching for DEI advocates and leaders.
The support that other folks need that we don’t can feel unfair because that support is very visible, whereas the support that comes to us in our privileged identities is often invisible, especially when that advantage often comes in the form of a lack of obstacles and barriers.
Read MoreA question that often comes up, especially from our non-profit clients, is on how to retain valuable BIPOC employees so they don’t leave for better paying opportunities elsewhere.
While race and class are not necessarily inextricably intertwined, the history in this country means that a huge racial wealth gap continues to be pervasive, and BIPOC folks, particularly Black people, face inter-generational systemic marginalization that means they are least likely to be able to afford being under-compensated.
What is an organization to do, particular a non-profit where funds might be tight all round?
Read MoreLast week we talked about how feedback may be painful but is critical for equity and inclusion. To follow up on that conversation, it also feels important to say that transparency matters.
I often like to say that the only thing worse than not gathering feedback is gathering feedback and then not sharing the results.
Seriously. The distrust and loss of morale that can be caused by this is not to be underestimated.
And I can’t tell you the number of times we hear from staff that this has happened when we start working with organizations.
Read MoreIf there is any lesson that the pandemic hammered home, it's something that has always been true but seems more so than ever: uncertainty is certain.
If uncertainty is certain - how can we design for uncertainty? How can we prepare ourselves and others for uncertainty? How can we create predictability and consistency with the context of uncertainty?
Read MoreAs you may know if you've read recent posts on grief and trauma and focusing on needs, trauma has been very much on my mind and in my heart lately. As this tremendously difficult school year starts to come to a close (or has already closed in some parts of the country), as vaccination roll-out starts to include our tweens and teens, and as pandemic restrictions start to lift and companies and organizations are in various stages of considering their reopening plans, you would think that this would be a time of joy and celebration... and it is for some, to varying degrees, but it is also a time where many of us are still processing and coming to terms with what we just went through, and the trauma of it all.
Not to mention that, as I have said before, the fact that DEI work is the work of dismantling the systems that cause oppression and trauma, as well as facilitating healing at an internal, interpersonal, organizational and systemic level has never been more clear to me.
Read MoreWhite supremacy (not far-right extremist groups but the mainstream system embedded in every aspect of our systems and culture here in the US and across the globe) deeply entrenched in people and organizations that are supposed to be there to help, that are the "well-intentioned" ones - I've come to expect it, yet it still cuts deep, so maybe I'm not as prepared as I tell myself I am.
Or maybe the day it doesn't cut deep is the day I lose touch with my own humanity - I don't know. It's a fine line.
Read MoreOne of the things we've seen at some of our client organizations as well as the communities we are part of, well-intentioned progress towards making decisions that are grounded in equity fall short when there is a continued reliance on top-down hierarchies, paternalism and lack of transparency that still doesn't include those most impacted.
What often ends up happening is that you end up with even more people not feeling heard.
Those who are aligned with power and privilege feel confused and threatened because a different kind of decision making is taking place that doesn't center them, but has not been explained - this often weaponizes equity as the reason no one gets what they need.
And those whose needs are supposedly being prioritized don't experience it that way either, because they weren't given a voice in the process, and they have no reason to trust that their needs are being considered at all.
Read MoreWe need white people to stop asking for "respect" and "kindness", and for "judgement free" space, and to be assumed to have "good intentions."
We need white people to stop saying they didn't mean to cause harm.
Because you may not have intended it, but the harm you cause is not an accident.
Read MoreChange is a funny thing. I find that people, myself included, often get stuck in either being resistant to change because it's happening too fast and is out of our control or not in the direction we wanted, or being frustrated and feeling like we're banging our heads into walls and screaming into the wind because change isn't happening fast enough. Sometimes it feels like change isn't happening at all, or it's one step forward and three steps back.
Read MoreWe’ve been having frank and open conversations with leaders and HR folks at our client organizations about what equitable and inclusive leadership looks like at this time.
Based on these and various other conversations across multiple sectors and communities, here are some of our takeaways.
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