#inclusion — Blog — Co-Creating Inclusion

We are not “the help”

I’ve had this blog post brewing in my head for a while, since before I read Ijeoma Oluo’s piece “We have the right to not be annoyed” where this passage hit home:

Y’all (the white people out of pocket in my comments and DMs) keep thinking that this is all for you.

The books, the talks, the work - all of it is for you. You are sure that I and others who write and speak on race wake up every day and think, “how can I help white people today?” I’m not being facetious. You really do view us, in our anti-racist work and in our very existence, as “the help.”

Oooof, yeah this hit home.

Feedback may be painful but it is critical for equity and inclusion

When I first started doing DEI consulting, I have to say I didn’t expect that so much of what we do would be about opening up spaces so our clients can gather feedback from across their staff.

However, it has proven to be one of the most valuable aspects of our work.

What we’ve realized is that we are hired to uncover the truths that may be painful for organizations to hear but that have the potential to be transformative if only they are open to it.

I should have done my research on IDEO

Last week I wrote about my experiences with some IDEO design thinking courses and highly recommended them. However, one of our readers, Malla Haridat, very generously reached out to note that IDEO has had some serious conversations pop up around DEI that I should know about.

Yikes.

And sigh.

I have to admit I was not aware, and absolutely should have done my research, especially before making a recommendation. I regret that Malla had to reach out and let me know.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickNovember 14, 2021#designthinking, #inclusion, #inclusiveleadership

Design thinking can help to build inclusion

Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods. - Interaction Design Foundation

Sounds like DEI to me!

A "chilling" tale about growth

The other day, a walk around the block turned into a trip to check out a new ice cream store in my neighborhood, The Social. Excited to check it out, I quickly though, hmmm, this seems an awful lot like a knock-off of Ample Hills Creamery, a local-turned-national ice cream sensation my family has been enjoying for years.

A sign on the wall shared the story of the company - the owners of The Social actually WERE the original founders of Ample Hills, but had to declare bankruptcy right before the pandemic.

I sat down to enjoy my ice-cream (Chocolate Fudge and Ooeyer and Gooeyer for those who might be curious) and to google on my phone... what the hell happened????!

The bell curve is a lie

I’m finding it increasingly obvious yet horrifying nonetheless how how quickly one’s needs stop being prioritized as soon as you no longer fall into the middle of the bell curve.

Your safety isn’t prioritized, not necessarily because people don’t care, but because systems aren’t designed that way.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickOctober 3, 2021#inclusion, #disruption

The power of inclusion

I feel like I'm seeing the power of inclusion - where you feel a sense of belonging and acceptance for who you are and not because you are working hard to fit in - play out in front of my eyes in real time with my own kids.

I see how much difference just a little bit of psychological safety can make. We see it in our client organizations too.

Co-creating inclusionAlethea FitzpatrickSeptember 19, 2021#inclusion, #schools, #circlenotladder, #pandemiclife, #parenting

Why are we crushing our young?

One of the things we're seeing through our work is that today’s recent graduates are entering the workforce with entirely different (and in my view completely appropriate) expectations... and they are getting CRUSHED. It might be a long slow boil or it might be quick and decisive but either way, it is pretty horrifying.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickAugust 8, 2021#workplace, #inclusion

Designing for spaciousness

This past week was "retreat week" for Co-Creating Inclusion. Starting this year, we have blocked off the last week of every other month as well as the entire month of August from workshop facilitation or any external calls or meetings.

This time is essential for us to take a pause from holding space for our clients and to regroup, process, focus on our own needs, reflect, strategize, build our capacity and more. Some of us also use it for vacation time.

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.

How the old factory model of education and the workplace is alive and well

Something I've been thinking about is how I managed to go through my entire education and graduate from college without any real idea of my true talents and strengths. I only knew the things I was good at that other people and systems wanted me to be good at - in other words, being a good student. You don't have to have any real self-knowledge to be a "good student" in the traditional sense. In fact, all too often, passion and curiosity get in the way.

The double bind of white supremacy

White 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.

Equity without inclusion is still oppression

One 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.

What happens after radical truth telling and acknowledgement?

One of the things that often happens when you open up the space for difficult conversations about racism and other form of systemic oppression that might be underlying the challenges and harm experienced by the most impacted in a community or organization is that it gets messy. It feels uncomfortable. It is often intensely painful.

Creating space for our own humanity

One of the things I've been thinking about is how we can create space to show up in our full humanity.

Sometimes what this means is being able to take off our hat as whatever role we are playing - professional or personal - and allow more of ourselves and our humanness in.

In other words, letting ourselves, and each other, just BE can actually be quite revolutionary.

Diversity, equity and inclusion on social media (Savvy Social podcast interview)

One of the things we've all had the chance to both watch and experience lately is how to practice diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) on social media. Some companies have been doing it well... others, not so much.

I recently got the chance to speak with social media strategist Andréa Jones about how to share on social media with transparency and accountability so as to lower the cost of speaking up and create safety within our communities. Although Andréa's podcast speaks mostly to digital business owners, the conversation we had can be applied to any business or organization.

Change can happen

Change 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.

What does equitable and inclusive leadership look like at this time?

We’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.

Myers-Briggs as a tool for inclusion (Girlfriend We Need to Talk podcast episode)

In my interview with Leana Delle on her podcast, Girlfriend We Need to Talk, we talk about how I use Myers-Briggs as a tool for unlearning assimilation, reconciling across differences and creating inclusion.

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