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.

Revisiting burnout

I won’t lie - I’m tired, although it comes in waves, and it’s hard to know if its from covid or just... all this. Burnout is coming up with some of our clients too, especially those on the frontlines of putting DEI to practice in their organizations. The work is tiring, and it can be hard to pinpoint what exactly is exhausting us the most.

I think, to some extent, it doesn’t really matter, or if you need an answer but can’t figure it out, it is probably all of the above. Figuring out the source can be helpful, but only to a degree, because what if we can’t change the source?

Inclusive LeadershipAlethea FitzpatrickJanuary 16, 2022#pandemiclife, #needs, #burnout, #selfcare, #DEIinapandemicComment

Those of us with kids in a pandemic are not ok

I've also been thinking a lot about the systemic and intergenerational roots of trauma, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, over-responsibility and depression.

I am becoming more and more aware of how, as women of color, we are socialized to make ourselves over-responsible for.... everything. And we don’t just make ourselves over-responsible - we are made over-responsible, used as workhorses while being undermined, dismissed, devalued and uncredited.

And those of us with kids in a pandemic are not ok.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickJanuary 9, 2022#pandemiclife, #parentingComment

Invisible work

The topic of invisible work has been coming up a lot lately.

Invisible work has been an undergirding principle of capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy since the beginning of time immemorial - and it is deeply embedded into every aspect of US history and the ongoing legacy of a country founded on slavery, genocide and colonization.

Of course, at the inception of this country, it wasn’t just invisible work, it was the violently coerced labor of chattel slavery without which this country could not have built a viable economy, infrastructure or culture.

That legacy lives on today - we no longer have slavery but we still have invisible work.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickDecember 12, 2021#capitalism, #1619project, #whitesupremacycultureComment

White entitlement leads to violence

Can we talk about white violence?

Can we talk about white parents who bought their son a gun as an early Christmas gift?

Can we talk about the kind of white entitlement where a parent either assumes their son won't harm others or doesn't care that he might?

The heaviness of grief

Things are so much better than they were for my family now that the kids are settled back into in-person school. That they are thriving seems like a miracle, and with my younger son just a few weeks away from being fully vaccinated, there is the sense that I can exhale just a little bit.

And yet, with the exhale comes the grief, multi-layered. Waves and waves of it, especially, ironically, at the weekend when there is more space for it.

It can be easy to numb ourselves through a variety of means, including throwing ourselves into work. The danger is that grief unnamed can come out sideways to exacerbate power differentials and systems of oppression.

Inclusive LeadershipAlethea FitzpatrickNovember 21, 2021#pandemiclife, #parenting, #grief, #selfcareComment

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, #inclusiveleadershipComment

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!

Pandering to funders

Ooof. It came to my attention earlier this week that an architect had resigned from UCSB's Design Review Committee over the university's proposed Munger Hall Project, a giant monstrosity of a student housing project where 94 percent of the 4,500 students would not have windows in their small single-occupancy rooms. Further, these rooms would be grouped into suites of 8 bedrooms per one bathroom. Oh and those 4,500 students? There would only be 2 exits to the building.

How could this be? Well, as the article explains, "The idea was conceived by 97-year-old billionaire-investor turned amateur-architect Charles Munger, who donated $200 million toward the project with the condition that his blueprints be followed exactly."

Did I say ooooof already?

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickOctober 31, 2021#architecture, #funders, #disruption, #feedbackComment

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????!

Co-creating inclusionAlethea FitzpatrickOctober 24, 2021#inclusiveleadership, #inclusion, #inclusiveworkplaceComment

Unresolved harms

A couple of weeks ago I found myself walking down the street in tears about something that happened to my family almost two years ago.

The anger, the rage, the hurt - it was so present, it surprised me.

Why was it coming up now?

It was because another family was experiencing something similar within the same community, even though for completely different reasons, and even though the community was now under different leadership.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickOctober 10, 2021Comment

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, #disruptionComment

Pandemic and back-to-school exhaustion

Pretty much everyone I know is exhausted. There is still a pandemic, yet we're pushing forward with school and many office re-openings as though everything is normal.

Even for those of us in best case scenarios where we are seeing our kids come back to life again with regards to learning, the transition has been hard and a HUGE cognitive load.

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickSeptember 26, 2021#pandemiclife, #schools, #parentingComment

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, #parentingComment

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.

Uncertainty is certain

If 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?

Dismantling oppressionAlethea FitzpatrickAugust 22, 2021#uncertainty, #inclusiveleadership, #equityComment

Deep, slow, intentional work

Just when some of us were starting to exhale, albeit tentatively and uneasily, with regards to the pandemic, the information coming out about the Delta variant over the past few weeks has been concerning and disheartening to many.

Speaking for myself, my anxiety is way up. I'm back to where a trip to the grocery store feels like a direct channel into all of humanity's hopes and fears, and I'm spending more time than I'd care to admit, or is healthy or helpful, "doom scrolling" on social media.

Co-creating inclusionAlethea FitzpatrickAugust 15, 2021#DEIinapandemic, #emergentstrategy, #communityComment

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, #inclusionComment

Inclusion isn't just about being nice to people

I've come to see that paternalism is my own personal kryptonite. I can't stand people thinking they know better than me what is best for me - and not just thinking it, but assuming and acting on it.

The truth is that I've experienced paternalism my entire life. It's everywhere - it's in the air we breath, and we're all, to varying degrees, socialized into it.

It's also pretty much a founding principle for most of our non-profit and mission driven corporate clients.

The thing that we find that organizations and their leaders don't understand though is that paternalism hurts them too.

Blog

JOIN SELF-COACHING FOR DEI ADVOCATES