#workplace — Blog — Co-Creating Inclusion

There’s a moment in our work, whether it’s during a particular meeting or whether it’s over the course of a more extended period of time, where the containers that we work to build create space for hard truths to be spoken or revealed.

Things that have been swept under the rug for niceness, people pleasing, fear of conflict, denial and avoidance become visible.

It’s progress, but often it’s so painful, an opening of Pandora’s box, that it doesn’t feel like progress. It feels like things got worse.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickNovember 19, 2023#progress, #change, #workplace

Is it “DEI” or is it “organizational management”?

A question that comes up from time to time in our work is some variation on whether an issue we have raised is “DEI” or if it is “organizational management”.

It’s a curious question, especially when it only ever seems to come from white or white appearing men about our work as women and gender-expansive people of color.

Collaborating with rather than deferring to HR

As DEI consultants at CCI, we are very clear that we are not HR. We are equally clear that DEI and HR need to closely collaborate - it is critical that DEI be integrated into HR practices, just as it is critical for DEI to consider the role that HR plays within the organization when it comes to creating a culture of equity, inclusion and belonging where diversity can thrive.

What we have found though is that HR is often seen as and therefore functions as the culture keepers, in other words, responsible, to varying degrees, for culture.

What does friendship have to do with it?

We talked a few weeks ago about people pleasing, and we’ve been talking on the CCI team about how this leads to folks trying to make friends and develop “personal relationships” in the workplace.

We want to work with people that we like, right?

And so it makes sense that we would hire people that we like, right?

What does DEI have to do with operations?

I know we’re a few news cycles out from the Southwest Airlines debacle over the holidays, but this post from Southwest pilot Larry Lonero titled “What happened to Southwest Airlines?” hit home for me, and I believe it’s important to keep at the forefront of our minds as we move into 2023.

Oooof. I’m sure this situation rings to true to anyone who has ever had to deal with any kind of large and flailing system, whether it’s an airline, cell phone carrier, car rental company, hospital, health insurance company, public school system, bank, or pretty much any aspect of the government.

Inclusive LeadershipAlethea FitzpatrickJanuary 8, 2023#workplace, #operations, #frontlinestaff, #feedback

When a culture is designed around its leader

There has been a post circulating about a certain CEO of a certain social media platform who seems to be rapidly running it into the ground, whether deliberately because of a hidden agenda or through sheer incompetence or both.

The post is by someone who was an intern at one of this CEO’s other companies, and they talk about how managing this person was a huge part of the company culture.

Inclusive LeadershipAlethea FitzpatrickNovember 27, 2022#workplace, #workplaceculture, #managingup, #feedback

Overworked but underutilized

Staff, usually those least aligned with power and privilege whether because of their identity, position in the organization, or both, are often expected to carry a heavy workload without appropriate compensation or support, and they are expected to do so with little complaint or pushback either.

The assumption is that they will work miracles with little time, money or other resources. Those who raise concerns about unrealistic expectations or lack of resources risk being characterized as “not a team player” or “divisive” or a “troublemaker” or they are blamed for being poor performers. Meanwhile, those with more privilege, usually white men, are the first ones to get money and other resources thrown at them to fix crises that they are rarely held accountable for.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickOctober 10, 2022#workplace, #workplaceculture, #workload, #overwork

What kind of leadership does it take to drive change towards equity and inclusion?

Leaders are often “visionaries” and “change makers” by definition. They have a vision for something that is different than currently exists, and they have the drive to make that vision a reality.

Not every leader is suited to driving change towards equity and inclusion however.

The harm of rushing in to fix things

Many of us, especially those who are “professionally” successful, have been trained to be perfectionists, over-achievers, and fixers.

If there is a problem, our immediate reaction is to ask - how do we fix this?

We see this all the time when we do DEI and culture work with organizations. At the end of our initial discovery phase we present our findings, and the desire to react with solutions, actions, next steps, and a resolution is so deeply engrained, it creates a palpable kind of fix-it itchiness in the room.

Committing to DEI as a concept is not the same as committing to it as a practice

In our work at CCI, we hear a lot from organizations who are very earnestly and firmly committed to DEI and racial justice as a concept but are lacking the commitment to it as a practice.

As with any decision, committing to it is only the first step. In fact, it shouldn’t even really be the first step if you don’t actually have any idea what you are committed to DOING.

Some wounds are not ours to heal

A friend shared some wisdom a coach had shared with her once - some wounds are not ours to heal.

This stuck with me because for the longest time, I thought ALL wounds were mine to heal.

I’ve become very conscious of how women of color, and especially Black women, are socialized to taken on everyone’s emotional burdens and healing except our own, when really the only wounds that are ours to heal are our own.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickApril 24, 2022#paternalism, #workplace, #hierarchy

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.

Internalized oppression: if we can’t see that it’s systemic, we have no choice but to believe it’s personal

Of all the pieces I’ve read about Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, this article by Elie Mystal hit particularly hard: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Long Pause Explained Racism and Sexism in America.

The article nails so much, from describing Ted Cruz as “the office manager who never learned how to use PowerPoint” to “the small-minded and condescending white people arrayed against her” on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the experience of watching her being put through “crucible of white approval.”

Oooof.

Transparency matters

Last 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.

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.

Recovering is not the same as vacation

Between the ongoing global pandemic and the Delta variant, the situation in Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida hitting Louisiana, as well as all of the usual horrors of the world, vacation feels like the last thing to be thinking about.

The fact is, in the midst of our team's August "retreat month" where our team puts a pause on external facilitation, meetings or calls, I just returned from a 2.5 week "vacation."

Yeah, those scare quotes are no joke.

What even is "relaxing" in a global pandemic? I feel like I've completely forgotten how.

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

When trauma and power intersect

It has long been my experience that white women, traumatized by patriarchy, become tools of white supremacy. White women talk about recognizing their privilege but what we also need them to do is recognize their trauma. Hurt people hurt people, and while that isn't an excuse and doesn't let anyone off the hook, it is a dynamic that I believe needs to be unpacked and reckoned with.

White women need to heal their trauma so they can stop causing harm to people of color.

It's not just white women either.

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.

Do you need to transcend your role in order to do your job?

We've seen it this year more than ever before - how demoralizing it can be to be hired to do a job and then punished for doing it, and to be "consistently thwarted in your ability to enact the values that brought you into your profession."

This has always been the case, but for some, the circumstances of the pandemic have exacerbated the challenges and obstacles of systems and roles that were never in alignment with the mission and values they were purportedly in support of.

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