social justice Archives - Inclusion Strategy Solutions

Diversity & Inclusion / EEO, Equity#Access, #AntiSemitism, DEIBA, diversity, eeo, equity, Homophobia, inclusion, Islamophobia, racism, Sexism, social justice

Each year I endeavor to start anew with a fresh, positive outlook. I wish that for you, as well. Each of us has to navigate our private, personal struggles as well as the macro challenges that we are confronted with as a community. War, death by guns, food insecurity, climate change, racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and on and on. Typing this list is depressing in itself but much more so when I reflect on where we are globally as compared with say, January of 2009. So, I have tried to follow the adage and stay silent as I do not have much to say that is very ‘nice.’ Having to fight back against a relentless assault on democracy, equity, justice, inclusion, diversity, and access is not nice. It is not easy. It is not cheerful. It is exhausting and depressing to have to fight against those who are intent upon dragging us all back to the good ‘ole days when only a small percentage of people had any rights at all.

I am not trying to ruin 2024 for you, I am actually trying to encourage you. I do not have to cite any recent events (unless you have been fortunate enough to have been completely unplugged for the past three or four weeks) for most of you to think “Here we go,” and then, perhaps let out a sigh of resignation.

The arguments against diversity, equity, inclusion, and access are old tired screeds that had no basis in reality when they were hurled by ultra conservatives in the 1990s and have no basis in reality now. Based on substantial research data and results, we know that we do better work when we work with diverse groups of people. We know that people with diverse experiences, perspectives, and communications styles think differently, resulting in problems being solved more rapidly and especially, more effectively by diverse groups. We know that the more education people have, the less likely they are to experience unwanted pregnancy, poverty, and violence. We know that creating equal access (true equal access) brings engagement, success, and joy—actual joy to people in their work and in their studies!

So, why are those who yell the loudest being given so much bandwidth? Why are their distortions of the truth being repeated by well-meaning intelligent people on social media and across the dominant media outlets? Why are public and private institutions making bad decisions about how to effectively manage free speech and remain committed to being diverse, inclusive, and accessible?

Because bullies win by yelling and making a lot of noise—bluster. Bluster is distracting and upsetting and very effective at keeping us from doing the critical work that we must continue to do.

My resolution for 2024: remain focused. Focus is a critical function when there are those intent on distraction us. Disturbing us. Ultimately, disappearing us. Every fascist regime throughout history has silenced those fighting to save democracy—journalists , academics, advocates, and activists—by disappearing them.

We will not be disappeared. I will not be disappeared. I know that silence equals death. In that knowledge comes the understanding that I must speak up. I am not talking about having an urgent need to express my thoughts and opinions. I must speak up as a witness, advocate, ally, and activist. I have been in this space of speaking up for those who have been silenced since I was a child and so, If I cannot speak up, who can?

We are a diverse nation. We are a diverse planet of people. We need each other to thrive or none of us thrive. Those who seek to rob our inclusion, equity, access, and value know this and so they will do their best to divide us—create wedges between us based on our differences—and conquer us. This is also a very old tactic. It is a very effective tactic and that is why it is dusted off and used again and again by those seeking to rob us of our rights to vote, to speak, to pursue happiness. They twist words and meanings to confuse and diminish their effectiveness. They state things that they know are patently untrue and wait for the bickering and debating to keep everyone distracted and then chip away at laws—rights and protections—that took centuries to attain.

Yesterday I was speaking with my dear friends Derrick Kikuchi and his husband Craig Wiesner (owners of Reach and Teach and activists for social equity and justice as well as providers of a sanctuary that gives us “hope that does not disappoint”), and they reminded me that I am not alone.

As a practitioner of EEO/DEIBA one can feel isolated, targeted, and alone. We need to remind ourselves and each other that we are not alone. I am here for you. You are here for me. We are here together fighting the good fight, doing the important work.

Maintaining focus is absolutely critical. It is hard to keep our focus when we are distracted, or disturbed, silenced or disappeared by bullies yelling lies and threats. I will stay calm and speak the truth. I encourage you to do the same.

This is not about politics. This is about protecting ourselves, our planet, and the future.

If you need an affirmation or reminder as to why you must continue to do this work that is exhilaratingly exhausting, please reach out. I am here for you—with you—as your ally, advocate, and friend.

Wishing you peace, love, joy, and inclusion in 2024, and beyond!

~ Wendy

Wendy@InclusionStrategy.com
Inclusion Strategy Solutions LLC

January 10, 2024

Blogaccountability, affinity group, affirmative action, cultural, cultural assessment, diversity, diversity council, eeo, Empathy, employers, equality, feminism, global, hiring, inclusion, independence, innovation, intercultural, Interdependence, leadership, mentoring, multicultural, on-boarding, organizational development, racism, recruitment, relationships, sexual harassment, social justice, strategic plan, strategic planning, strategic training, training, women

With Judy Issokson

‘X’ Marks the Spot

We work in places that can be marked on a map with an ‘X’. Those places are occupied by people who come from many other places, with multiple perceptions, and experiences. The walls of our workplaces look and feel solid, but they are porous. Personal experiences and responses to all that occurs in our respective worlds seep into the workplace and impact the relationships that used to be separated (or so we thought) by political, religious and class differences. Regardless of where we are on the political or religious spectrum, regardless of our race, gender, or national origin, we all have thoughts and feelings about what is happening in our world and the impact of those events on our lives.

The workplace is not a microcosm of our world, nor is it a metaphor of our world, it is our world. Just as our home, our community, our city or town, our state, our nation, is our world. So, when we are thinking about what we just read on Twitter or saw on the evening news, those thoughts come with us into the workplace and impact our relationships in that part of our world.

As one of our first steps to aligning communication, let’s make sure that we are using the same vocabulary.

Relationships: the way in which people, groups, countries, etc., talk to, behave toward, and deal with each other.

Social Justice: a fair and just relationship between an individual and society.

The Work

Creating inclusion out of our diversity, helping people to relate more indivisibly, teaching leaders to lead more effectively and communicators to communicate more successfully, is a type of activism. We work to raise people’s awareness that their relationships matter, that empathy matters, that inclusion matters. Our work is a form of social justice as we strive to help people treat each other fairly and justly.

Social Justice is exhausting. It’s big. It’s important. We may think it’s a mandate, and it is for some, but not for all. (ironic?) We may think it’s a right— and it is until it isn’t—or it was until it wasn’t. We may hear it’s a privilege- and it isn’t. It’s evidence that we have come a long way and that we have many more miles to go.

On the good days, there’s the organizing, meeting, defending, advocating, listening, collaborating, reading, scanning, posting, talking, campaigning, calling, aligning with others, learning and a sense of making progress.

On the not-so-good days, there’s the organizing, meeting, defending, advocating, listening, collaborating, reading, scanning, posting, talking, campaigning, calling, aligning with others, learning and a sense of defeat.

And as long as we maintain that Social Justice is big and conceptual, we lose. Sometime, somewhere, each of us has likely said or thought “how can my thoughts/actions possibly make a difference with ‘X’?” And then one day, we maintain that Social Justice is not big and conceptual. It is personal. Our thoughts and actions are engaged and activated. We are touched personally and emotionally. Sometime, somewhere, each of us has likely said or thought: ‘The status quo of ‘X’ is unacceptable. This is my fight and my right. I can help make a difference with ‘X’.” We engage and connect, and we fight for justice— a place where winning means our actions may have impacted others; a place where the hearts and minds of others have shifted to see, accept, adapt, embrace, perceive and live differently.

A Call to Action

In the workplace, the focus of diversity and inclusion, as well as leadership development, is frequently on sharing the ‘big ideas’ and explaining the ‘right thing’ (as mandated or spelled out in the law.) We comply with the bare minimum by signing up for classes in person or on-line. We complete the seat-time and check the box. The minimum standard is met. We have participated in the big and the conceptual.

And then one day at work we have an experience that triggers something personal. Whether it happens directly or indirectly, we feel the need to speak up, take action, and hold someone accountable for better behavior in “X”. We are on the path for taking action for the social justice in our immediate community— at work, at home, in our teams, or when we look in the mirror.

Just as an “X” marks the spot on a treasure map, so does it mark a spot for discovering the issues or insights that incite you to action; and if you are incited to action, you are likely to be intrinsically motivated to do the ‘exhausting’ work and be energized by it.

The first step in doing the real work of diversity and inclusion, as well as leadership development is to articulate your “X”. Next, the work becomes designing the journey to get there in the most meaningful way possible— “X”-ercising your right to make a positive difference— for yourself and others.

The Big Picture

When we work with clients to facilitate a more inclusive socially just workplace, we are the guides: a person’s path to empathy or an organization’s inclusiveness can only be accomplished and maintained by its citizens – those in relationship with others – for whom there is a great deal at stake. We do our best to never mistake the map for the territory.

In the next installments of ‘X’ Marks the Spot, we will share some of our most successful strategies and techniques. We will discuss how, for us, this work is personal and local and global and matters.

Onward!

Judy Issokson & Wendy Amengual Wark

March 6, 2017

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Judy Issokson, EDD, PCC
Owner, Issokson & Associates

Over the past twenty-five years, Judy has worked in multiple industries in both private and public sectors with internal and external clients eager to align organizational structure to emerging business needs, improve global implementations, define improved strategies for effective transitions, and fine tune organizational integration processes.

Judy holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Masters in Education from Northeastern University and a BS in English Education from Boston University. Her professional certifications include International Coaching Federation Professional Coaching Certification, Myer-Briggs Type Inventory, Facet5, Trust Works, Emotional Competency Inventories, Authentic Leadership, and various 360 assessments.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/issoksonandassociates/

Wendy Amengual Wark
Founder, Inclusion Strategy Solutions LLC

Wendy Amengual Wark, the Founder of Inclusion Strategy Solutions LLC has worked in the field of diversity and inclusion since 1988. Wendy helps employers to develop and implement practical and sustainable inclusion processes such as cultural assessments, strategic diversity planning, inclusive communications, customized training, mentoring programs, and employee resource groups. Wendy is in demand as a speaker and presenter at conferences and writes a blog on all things inclusion. She is writing the upcoming book, Let’s Not Be Polite: Overcoming Barriers to Inclusion.

Wendy has studied at Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; the City College of New York, City University of New York; and the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England and achieved several high academic honors, including Phi Beta Kappa and a Ford Foundation Fellowship.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyamengualwark/