Advancing Racial Equity
Community of Practice
December 10, 2013
TAKE IT UP!
It’s All About Leadership
It always seems impossible until it's done.
No one is born hating another person because of
the color of his skin, or his background, or his
religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can
learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love
comes more naturally to the human heart than its
opposite.”
Here’s what we are going for today . . .
 Connect with each other and with our ‘Racial Equity’ work
 Talk, share, reflect and learn together as a ‘Community
of Practice’. GIVE AND GET ideas, tools, resources.
 Connect to some ideas for “taking it up”
 Practice – using each other – talking about and leading
‘equity work’ inside your organization
Community Agreements
An invitation to try these on
• Show up (or choose to be present)
• Pay attention (to heart and meaning)
• Tell the truth (without blame or judgment)
• Be open to outcome (not attached to
outcome)
• ADDITION . . . Maintain confidentiality
TODAY’s BIG IDEAS
1- Taking it Up
2- Relational Trust
3- Nondiscussables
4- An Equity Imperative
5- Leading with Grace
YOUR ORGANIZATION is a
‘Living System’
Technical
Relational
Adopted from Dalmau Network Group
We don’t want to be so processdriven that important business
can’t be completed, NOR so
product-driven that
unproductive dynamics are
ignored…
Update from Thrive
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
WHAT’s HOT?
WHAT’s COMING UP?
Hopes and Intentions for the future
On your post-it . . .
📌 Events or happenings coming up
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Ideas for meetings
Strategies
Tools
Resources
Contacts
Connections
Taking Leadership for Equity
“Those who practice leadership for equity must confront, disappoint,
and dismantle and at the same time energize, inspire, and empower.”
Sharon Daloz Parks, Leadership Can Be Taught
Share an experience when you
have taken leadership for something
that matters to YOU?
What does YOUR leadership look like in your organization?
Nondiscussables
“The health of an organization is
inversely proportional to the
number of nondiscussables…
The fewer the nondiscussables,
the healthier the place. The more
nondiscussables, the more
pathology in the culture.”
Roland Barth
Pair share
What role does trust play for you in
your job?
What does it take for you to trust your
colleagues?
Relational Trust
“Relational trust facilitates the development of beliefs,
values, organizational routines, and individual
behaviors that affect results.”
Trust in Schools - Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schneider 2002
Relational Trust
Helps to . . .
“Reduce the vulnerability that people
feel when asked to take on new tasks
connected to practice.
Relational Trust
“ Is the connective tissue that holds
improving and changing organizations
together.”
Relational Trust
Critical attributes that build relational trust
include:
• Respect – Do we acknowledge one another’s ideas and dignity?
• Competence – Do we believe in each others skill and ability to
fulfill our responsibilities effectively?
• Personal Regard – Do we care about each other both
professionally and personally?
• Integrity – Do we keep our word? Do we follow through?
Vulnerability-Based Trust – Patrick Lencioni
Fundamental Attribution Error:
Human beings tend to falsely attribute the
negative behaviors of others to their character
(an internal attribution)…
While they attribute their own negative
behaviors to their environments
(an external attribution).
Vulnerability-Based Trust – Patrick Lencioni
Overcoming the Fundamental Attribution Error:
…team members come to understand one
another at a more fundamental level; they learn
how they became the people they are today. As a
result, there is a far greater likelihood that
empathy and understanding will trump
judgment and accusation when it comes to
interpreting questionable behavior.
THOUGHTS ABOUT . . . .
developing and improving
relational trust at my work
place . . .
SO THAT we can continue to
work toward the goals of
advancing racial equity
LUNCH BREAK
An ASSERTION about your role as a leader
Your job requires you to support the learning, growth and
development of others . . .
How do you feel about that part of your work?
Leading With Grace
Who do you
know in your
life that moves
through the
world with
grace?
Keys for Leading With Grace:
Warmth
Openness
Attunement
Concern
Care
Empathy
Genuineness
Respect
Distress-free
Brain Fact
Our emotional system is a
complex and error-prone
system that is quite resistant
to change. Emotion is often a
more powerful determinate
of our behavior than our
brain’s logical/rational
processes.
Robert Sylwester
Emotional distress interferes with
intelligent thinking and caring
behavior.
The Social Brain
When a human being senses
a threat, …The result is
literally less oxygen and
glucose available for the brain
functions involved in working
memory, which impacts linear,
conscious processing.
David Rock, SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with
and influencing others
Brain Fact
The brain has been
observed to “shut down”
when negative psychological
feedback such as threat,
criticism, and failure result in
the defensive measure of
downshifting.
John Abbott
NEGATIVITY BIAS
The brain’s primary job is to scan
its environment for threats. The
social brain is twenty times more
focused on negative comments
and actions than on positive
ones. Experiences like being
criticized, ostracized, or labeled
are like Velcro and compliments
and positive actions are like
Teflon.
THINK ABOUT . . .
SOMEONE I DO OR WILL ‘LEAD’
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How do I feel about my relationship with this person?
What might be challenging for ME about interacting with him/her?
What is my goal or intention for our next conversation/interaction?
What am I trying to influence?
When might be a good opportunity to approach this person?
What’s my next move?
“Helping Trios”
Find 2 partners
Share and help each other
get ready for the
conversation.
15 minutes each
Core Competencies of a Leader for Equity
Equity
Imperative
Design
Leadership
Instructional
Instructional
Leadership
Leadership
Social
Emotional
Leadership
Facilitative
Leadership
© 2012 National Equity Project
Developing an Equity Imperative
Some indicators . . .
 You understand and acknowledge power, privilege, and oppression
as factors shaping inequitable outcomes.
 You champion a vision for equity and enroll others to participate.
 You have the courage to respectfully interrupt conversations and
behaviors laden with unconscious bias.
 You publicly commit to a specific equity result.
 You guide data collection and analysis to reflect the complexity of
equity challenges to surface root causes and foster insight.
Getting Ready to Lead for Equity
When have you been…? What
caused you to be this way? What
can you do to overcome it?
When have you been…? How was
this encouraged? How can you be
sure to remain this way?
Passive
Active
Distrustful
Trustful
Pretending
Authentic
Insecure and Powerless
Confident and powerful
Fearful of emotions
Accepting of emotions
Moving It Forward
“It is not up to you to
finish the work, but
neither are you free not
to take it up.”
The Talmud