Happy New Year 2024
As we say Goodbye to 2023 and usher in a new year, I’m reminded of something DEI professionals like myself often say to people at the start of a workshop or session: Leave the details and take the lessons. It’s a call to keep confidential the hard things participants might share in the necessary vulnerability of talking about inequity. As I look back on 2023, the primary lessons I’ve learned from all of that vulnerability are hopeful. I see a positive trend of people genuinely working hard and digging deep in the name of social justice. So I am taking hope from all of those conversations- even the hardest ones where we’re trying to address harm- into 2024. Here are some other lessons I’ve learned or been reminded of in 2023 that I’m taking with me into the new year:
I still believe that people are good
We are all flawed and Bryan Stevenson brilliantly tells us that “each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done”. This is important for those of us committed to social justice to hold as a central value. No matter how deep our analysis, how often we’re talking about dismantling inequity, or how experienced we are in facilitating these conversations, we all can (and probably do) cause some harm. Let’s remember who our allies and co-conspirators are, that we won’t always agree on the details or even the approaches AND that there is an enemy out there; there are those who are actually and actively opposed to justice and committed to upholding systems of oppression. Just because someone who is with me in the struggle to disrupt those systems disagrees with me does not make them the enemy. In fact, it might make them my lesson. What are the lessons I need to learn from those in the struggle but with whom I disagree or are showing up in a way that is hurtful?
We all have a role in dismantling inequity
We don’t all have the same role, though. We need folks on the outside of institutions and on the ground calling for change. We need folks on the inside of institutions who are able to hear the calls, feel and see the need for change, see some strategies from a perspective those who are outside of the institutions can’t, and, therefore, can affect change. But those aren’t the only roles. We need educators, for our young people and adults. We also need skillful and compassionate facilitators who can bring people together to have hard conversations and surface some innovative and brilliant solutions. There are countless other roles. Can we find our own and be willing to work strategically across those roles?
Now is not the time to burn it all down
What is our vision for our workplace, our community, our country, our world? We absolutely could burn it all down. I even understand the impulse. There certainly are days when it feels like it’s all a mess. The question that arises in those moments for me is… What will we replace it with? We cannot underestimate systemic oppression. These systems weren’t built overnight and they won’t go away just because the visible signs no longer exist. Without vision and strategy, burning it all down puts those who are already most vulnerable in greater danger, and it results in simply replacing one system of oppression with another. Inequity is not divine; it is man-made. We can absolutely create something different.
It is okay to walk away
There are organizations and people I choose not to work with. Not every organization is ready for the CultureValue approach and CultureValue isn’t ready for every organization. That is ok. There are a lot of DEI practitioners out there. I am actively rejecting the myth of scarcity and competition in this work. I am leaning into honoring health (emotional, psychological, spiritual, as well as physical) which requires acknowledging capacity, and that we are all at different places in our journeys.
It also is okay to come back
In the spirit of recognizing all of our humanity, I also am sitting with timing. We all change. We grow. Growth doesn’t always look like a linear progression. Sometimes we experience what appear to be set backs. Sometimes we have to pause and rest. And sometimes that makes room and space for us to come back to a team or an organization. How can we do that in new and healthy ways?
What is important is that those of us who are committed to having equitable workplaces, organizations, and communities come together and work together. Let’s commit to having the hard conversations that bring others into the discussion, and create and honor shared values. Let’s be bold and courageous and loving. And… let’s be strategic!
Happy New Year!