Image Description: A soft, blurry, dreamy illustration of three abstract purple flowers on thin green stems against a dark blue background. Small white dots float around them, resembling pollen or fireflies. By Eva Corbisier via Unsplash.
We are living through so many transitions in the nonprofit sector, as with elsewhere in the world. People are leaving long-held roles, teams are shrinking, and organizations are rethinking how they survive in a time when everything, from funding to trust, is shifting. The sector is being reshaped in real time.
And while the headlines often focus on who’s leaving or what’s being lost, I’m starting to believe that change doesn’t have to feel like loss. It can also be an act of love if we approach them with care.
Leaving Well Is a Form of Leadership
After nearly 13 years at IISC, I’m in my own big transition. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to leave in a way that feels honest, grounded, and caring – for myself and for the people I’ve worked alongside. And, my cheerleader self is on full display this fall.
When a key leader departs or several staff members move on, the focus often lands on logistics: files, budgets, and inboxes. But the deeper work is emotional and relational. My own “transitional hygiene,” as my colleagues call it, has been equal parts planning, presence, and cheerleading. I’m handing off pieces of my job to other current colleagues as we are not re-hiring for my role (budget constraints!). What keeps bubbling up is how caring and skilled my colleagues are. So it is cheerleading in the best sense – not some false “rah, rah, you can do this” but rather a deeply grounded sense that others can master the spreadsheets and the tasks and that, in fact, they will bring fresh eyes and ideas to the table. They will improve on my contributions and leadership.
That realization has been healing. Instead of feeling like I’m disappearing, I feel like I’m passing something on.
How to Make Transitions Healthier for Everyone
In the nonprofit world, we often treat leadership changes like crises to be managed instead of opportunities to grow collective capacity. But what if, without being Pollyanna-ish about it, transitions were seen as opportunities for renewal?
Whether it’s one person leaving or major shifts or an organizational closure, here are some practices I’ve leaned into:
Start with care, not checklists. Before diving into to-do lists, take a breath together. Acknowledge what’s changing and what’s hard about it. That small moment of grounding makes everything else easier.
Document, but don’t dump. When you hand things off, don’t just send a pile of folders. Share the story behind the work – why certain choices were made, what relationships need care, and what you’ve learned along the way. In fact, ask what files might no longer be needed and when it’s more important to offer a frame than a set of to-dos, which really need updating anyway.
Honor relationships and the work you have done. Tell people what you’ve valued about working with them. It sounds simple, but it builds connection and confidence when the ground feels shaky. In a meeting about one of our most significant clients over the last ten years, after tactical sharing about relationships and ideas, we waxed for 20 minutes about how meaningful the work was/is, how awesome it is to see change in the direction of racial equity in a large system/network, and how much we enjoy being together as a team.
Build continuity into culture. Cross-train regularly. Share leadership. Make sure that knowledge lives in the community, not in one person’s inbox.
Grieve. Leave time for where you and others feel grief and loss. In not skirting by this, you are building strength and connection into the system.
Celebrate and mean it. It turns out that when you take time and celebrate others, they want to do the same for you. Genuine appreciation creates confidence, which creates continuity. In my transition meetings, I say, with real belief, that I know they will elevate the work to another realm.
A Transition Toolkit for Nonprofits
Here are some things I’ve found useful in my own transition and in supporting others through theirs:
Transition Documentation: Outline key processes, relationships, and decision criteria. Use plain language like “what future me would want to know.” Reflection Template: Ask departing staff: “What have you learned? What unfinished questions remain? What advice would you give your successor?” Peer Learning Check-Ins: Pair departing and remaining team members to share context, insights, and gratitude. It’s not just about transferring work, but sharing wisdom. Onboarding Continuity: Build onboarding systems that emphasize culture, not just compliance. How do new staff learn who you are as an organization? Celebration Rituals: Closing circles, storytelling sessions, or shared meals mark endings with gratitude. They reinforce the community even through change.
The Real Legacy of Leadership
At its heart, leadership transition is an act of trust. Trust that others will hold the mission. Trust that the organization will evolve. Trust that letting go can be a form of contribution. When we treat transitions as part of the work rather than an interruption of it, we open the door to institutional renewal. And, we create room for new leadership in expected and unexpected places, in ways that many of us profess to do. It is true that Facilitative Leadership™ makes room for others to shine and lead. So here’s to every cheerleader holding the pom-poms of purpose right now. May we all leave and arrive with care, courage, and celebration.
How does your organization mark transitions? What would it take to make change a source of renewal instead of fear?
Author’s Note
From Miriam Messinger: In my experience, it is hard to end well: to feel good about oneself and one’s contributions, to shift work to others, and to know that you are leaving folks well set up. After nearly 13 years at IISC, I’ve learned that the heart of a healthy transition isn’t about perfection but about presence, celebration, and trust. This piece is both a love letter to my colleagues and an invitation to the broader field: let’s model the kind of endings that make new beginnings possible. I’m happy to be part of a great ending for me at IISC.
Ready to Lead Through Transition with Care?
Whether your organization is preparing for a leadership handoff, restructuring, or renewal, IISC can help you design processes that honor both people and purpose. We’ll help you build clarity, continuity, and culture in times of change so you can move forward with confidence and care.
Image Description: Illustration of a person lying on their back in a field at night, gazing up at the stars. The sky glows with shades of blue and pink, and a shooting star arcs above. By Naila Conita via Unsplash.
In our July blog, we introduced five practices for organizations and networks seeking clarity in uncertain times. Over the next few months, we’ll explore each of those practices more deeply.
First up:Clarify Your North Star
The North Star has long served as a symbol of direction and survival. Enslaved people followed it as a guide toward freedom. The North Star imagery is both historical and gripping. In the late 1840s, Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany named their abolitionist newspaper The North Star with the slogan: “Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”[3][4]
This history reminds us that clarifying a North Star is not just about strategy; it is also about values. It is about orienting ourselves toward survival, justice, and our shared humanity. In today’s turbulent times, organizations are facing funding cuts, political attacks, burnout, and an increase in community needs. A North Star helps organizations maintain their purpose while navigating change. The image of the North Star is about setting direction and grounding us in a clear purpose, something we can’t do without.
With that historical weight and justice orientation, we want to write about this step in strategic direction setting with clarity and heft. It asks us to plan with the right balance of focus and creativity, and at the right altitude. Strategic direction requires us to stay focused like a laser to move our missions forward, while also building in the flexibility and shock absorbers needed to navigate bumpy terrain.
Why Clarifying Your North Star Matters
So what is the “right altitude” for our planning in turbulent times? We believe it begins by clarifying your North Star.
Ask: What is the core purpose that must remain constant, even as the world shifts? How can you stay emergent and responsive to crises while still focusing on building long-term power and transformation?
While clarifying your North Star might seem lofty in tough times, if we don’t know where we are heading, we are sure to get lost. The North Star is a belief and is directional; it serves several functions:
Reminds all staff, board members, partners, and network of what we are striving for.
Provides a compelling vision that keeps us going beyond the day-to-day of our work.
Establishes criteria that can help us determine what to pursue and what not to pursue, grounding us in a strong identity.
Anchor decisions, strategies, and culture in tough times
Helps folks decide whether this is the right organization or network for them
Without a North Star, organizations risk drifting with funder demands, political winds, or the crisis of the moment. With one, you can adapt without losing identity.
Making It Real
A North Star is only useful if it lives beyond a vision statement.
To bring it to life:
Bring the right people around the table: Those most impacted by your work must be part of naming and having a voice in the core vision and destination
Embed it in decisions: Practice using your North Star in daily decisions, big and small. This will help make informed decisions when conditions or funding change, allowing for a focus on key elements of a program.
Use Your North Star as Anchor/Compass: During times of stress or transition, let your North Star be a touchstone, helping you stay grounded in what is most important and purposeful even as conditions shift or a crisis emerges.
To begin, ask yourselves:
What do we want to keep aiming for, especially in the toughest of times?
How do we ensure that our purpose is reflected in our decisions, not just in words? Whose voices are missing in naming or refining our North Star?
Clarifying your North Star is the first step in setting strategic direction with clarity and purpose. It provides focus and steadiness while leaving room for flexibility and emergence. External forces will always shape our path, but a strong North Star ensures they don’t paralyze us. Instead, it grounds us in clarity and steadiness, positioning us for thoughtful, flexible, and equitable direction.
In our next blog series, we will explore how we can plan for multiple futures as a means to stay purposeful without being too rigid, keeping your North Star in view while preparing for the unknown.
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Image Description: An illustration of a black road with yellow dashed lines that curves upward and transforms into the nib of a fountain pen. The pen appears to write or carve through a cloudy, deep blue sky. By Allison Saeng via Unsplash+.
In today’s fast-paced and often chaotic world, organizations need a way to stay grounded and nimble while remaining visionary. Networks and organizations are, on the one hand, handling fast flying objects and, on the other, trying to be strategic and proactive.
If we only respond to challenges with fear to what’s coming at us, like increased community needs, staff burnout, or tightening budgets, we risk becoming overwhelmed with organizational fatigue and getting stuck in the muck.
However, we know many of you are also looking toward the horizon, seeking trends and partners, and asking what is most critical to ensure your impact in the community/sector is lasting and meaningful. We call this: building strategic direction for uncertain times.
Why We’re Choosing Strategic Direction Over Traditional Planning
At IISC, we approach strategic direction setting with a keen awareness of the uncertainties and emerging opportunities that organizations face.
Conventional strategic planning often assumes a stable environment. It involves a deep analysis of current reality (SWOT analysis), and typically emphasizes clear objectives, fixed timelines, and detailed implementation strategies based on what is known today.
Building alignment and accountability is of utmost importance, but in uncertain times, this kind of rigidity may lead to plans that are quickly outdated or otherwise fall short.
Strategic direction setting, by contrast, helps you stay attuned to a changing landscape, making sense of what’s happening, and co-creating a flexible path forward. The goal isn’t to create a rigid plan; it’s about identifying a clear direction that can evolve and pivot, leaving room for emergence, learning, and innovation while still providing clarity, focus, and purpose.
How Do We Do It?
Engagement that builds buy-in and trust – We build buy-in and trust by engaging hearts and minds across our organization, including members, constituents, partners, board members, and especially those closest to the challenges and injustices we aim to address, because making a meaningful impact takes all of us.
Strategic collaboration – We design and facilitate collaborative processes that bring these voices into the conversation, helping you shape strategies and strategic priorities rooted in shared values and lived experiences.
Values-alignment at every step – At each stage, we work with you to ground in your values and mission, acknowledging but not being guided by fear or urgency.
Flexibility and creativity for complex times – We co-create a space for emergence, experimentation, and iteration to move forward in today’s reality.
Why This Matters Now
From movements to nonprofits to foundations, we feel and hear the impact of attacks and uncertainty on and within organizations. There is growing fear, stress, burnout, and internal conflict, as well as a hunger for clear and strategic direction, knowing that we can’t solve everything or be sure about the long haul. The cumulative impact of COVID, work, and health changes, and authoritarian practices, including against foundations and nonprofits, means that you need support, space for grieving, and thoughtful planning processes.
In this blog series, we will explore five practices to guide organizations toward clarity and momentum.
We consider this a love offering to our sector: how can we help you to get clearer, to shake loose what needs changing, and to be more healthy and successful in your work?
The Five Practices We’ll Explore in This Series
1. Clarify Your North Star
Ask: What is the core purpose that must remain constant, even as the world shifts? How can you stay emergent and responsive to crises while still focusing on building long-term power and transformation?
2. Plan for Multiple Futures
Ask: What are the factors we know or can imagine, and what is beyond? How can we hold the future lightly as we plan and move with purpose?
3. Design for Flexibility, Iteration, and Collaboration
Ask: Is our strategy flexible enough to adapt, and do we have strong processes in place to support ongoing experimentation and collaboration?
4. Center Equity and Building Power for Your Organization and Community
Ask: What are we building? Who are we accountable to? Are we building in ways that foster a more equitable future?
5. Strengthen Internal Capacity for Resilience and Well-Being
Ask: What do we need to sustain our people, funding, and infrastructure in the long run?
If your organization is seeking a more grounded, adaptive approach to strategy, especially in these times, we’re here to walk alongside you. Whether or not we work together, we invite you into this journey. We’ll be sharing more on each element in upcoming blog posts, so stay connected.
“How do we cultivate the muscle of radical imagination needed to dream together beyond fear?” – Adrienne Maree Brown
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Last month, I had the privilege of co-training the final session of a Facilitative Leadership™ for Social Change workshop at an organization that strives to improve the health of their community. It is a large system with a well-established hierarchy and a focus on deliverables.
At the end of the session, my co-trainer Marie Michael asked – on behalf of the two of us plus Marie’s co-trainer for much of the workshop, Kiara Nagel – “What is one gift you are grateful to have received from others in this space that we’ve created?”
Whoo! The tears and emotion were evident. Through that, here are some of the words that we heard:
The materials speak to me and allow me to know that I am on the right track and then have the tools to implement.
The gift of belonging – in a world that otherwise tells me I am not worthy, I felt worth and belonging.
I now have the ingenuity and relationship about what we are trying to achieve in our respective units.
As an introvert, it’s great to have this space and to meet people and learn ways to channel leadership as an introvert.
The gift of the listening heart; knowing I am not alone.
Inspiration. I am motivated and inspired to work differently and more collaboratively.
The ability to pause. Initially when I saw the time commitment I was not sure if I could commit. Now I realize I’ve used this time to pause and grow individually and not just “not be at work.”
I gained a community of like-minded people who I can bounce ideas off of and be challenged by when needed.
The feeling and energy of hope. One of the values where I work is hope (we do that for others but less for ourselves). I left feeling full.
Grateful to be in a space of mutuality where I can gain so much knowledge. Thank you for the materials and to everyone who shared deeply and honestly.
Facilitative Leadership™ for Social Change remains an enduringly impactful learning experience – and a transformative one for many who participate. It is gratifying for us to hear how the workshop is experienced so if you have a story to share, we invite you to share it here!
I went to synagogue last week to support friends who were leading the service and I got a gift in return. My friend Hilary shared some words that really resonated with me. I’ll translate them here as “this space is sacred.”
We create and move through spaces every day and all the time, at work as well as at home and in community. And, we are in times that can feel challenging, frightening, or even dangerous. And so how do we nourish ourselves and find the belonging that is a basic human need? Without being trite, I left synagogue reminded that I am already in those spaces and that I can do more to notice when the spaces I am in have elements of the sacred: belonging, grace, wonder, possibility, joy.
Here are some of the spaces I’ve been in just in the last month that I realize now were sacred, even if only for a moments:
At the dinner table in western Massachusetts, surrounded by the laughter of family who have only known one another for at most eight years, creatively weaving our connections as we anticipate the next generation
Floating in the ocean, swaying in the waves
Recently at a staff gathering where we were together in person for the first time in two and a half years…feeling the presence, seeing more than just the faces.
In a zoom room of white anti-racists sharing vulnerable stories of failure and intentions to be in deep partnership and sibling-hood in multi-racial spaces
In a zoom room of mostly strangers exploring generative conflict
Perhaps harder to conceive, and problematic if held in the wrong way, I wonder how we can find or create sacredness amidst a world or workplace that feels challenging. One way I saw that was in a beautiful interaction between two clients. One is leaving their job; another, in tears, processing the endless change and loss, spoke to how much they appreciated that person and how in seven months the departing person had pulled them into community and increased their capacity for important work.
I know that I, and many of our clients, yearn for and need wonder and sacredness as we move through a world full of challenges, violence, and fear. And, in discussing how we sometimes choose what we see, I would be remiss not to also name that it is a world full of beauty, changemakers, and organizing, with much to celebrate.
At IISC, we try to bring joy and foster belonging as we work on challenging issues, thereby creating and noticing the sacred space in which to do our work. Please join us and share your stories of sacred space.
When I am feeling overwhelmed or disheartened, I remind myself that amidst the violence, many people are leading gorgeous campaigns for change. I also remind myself that there are white people who have done the work for freedom and anti-racist futures over the last 200 years. As white activists and consultants, we don’t always acknowledge or see our own lineages. So, here I name here a few, including some women and Jews, my ancestors, who stood up and took risks for their beliefs, acting in their historical context, often against the grain.
John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Peter Norman, 1968cr
Angelo Cozzi (Mondadori Pub.)
Public domain, Wikimedia CommonsVito Marcantonio, Public DomainAugust Bondi, T. E. Hopkins, Photographer – Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Ernestine Rose, Public Domain, Wikimedia CommonsLydia Marie Child, Creative Commons CC0 1.0
Peter Norman stood with John Carlos and Tommie Smith while they raised their fists and donned black clothing in support of Black Americans and Black power, and they all wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges (also calling out white supremacy and indigenous policies in his native Australia) at the 1968 Olympics.
Vito Marcantonio, an Italian-American congressperson from NY in the 1930s and 40s who stood with Blacks and Jews and against anti-communism.
August Bondi, an Austro-Hungarian Jew who was a close associate of John Brown and helped to liberate slaves
Lydia Maria Child, an author who wrote “An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans” where she raised the complicity of the north in maintaining slavery and was a member of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, which called for the immediate abolition of slavery (as some call for the immediate abolition of prisons).
Ernestine Louise Rose (early 1800s) who was a Jewish abolitionist and suffragette and (from a short reading of Wikipedia) a general badass who won a court case against a forced betrothal, traveled the world, married a non-Jew and sold perfumed paper.
These are just a few white anti-racists who I found online or had heard stories about. Who would you add to the list? Either white activists or people from one of your ancestries?
Especially for my white colleagues, white family and white friends…and for me.
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race, wrote: “I don’t know how many different ways I can express how it feels to know that this country will always offer up the violent destruction of our lives to young white men angry at their lack of purpose and power. We will never be safe until white manhood is defined by something other than the quest for domination over others.”
While we have varying political inclinations and levels of activism, we can probably agree that not speaking out or otherwise addressing “the quest for domination over” is not what white people ought to be doing in response to the murders in Buffalo and the racist violence that preceded it and will follow.
Many of us want to be a part of something larger such that our feelings, thoughts, statements and actions contribute to a movement of white people who are working collectively for a future of freedom and connection. This is a lifetime of work and, for many of us, our daily mission.
One thing that gets in the way is being overwhelmed.
As I awoke last week with a heavy heart about so many personal, local, national, and global issues, one option was to fall into being overwhelmed and to stay there. For many, it is a habitual response. One of my habitual responses is related: to avoid overwhelm and to carry on or push through, ignoring the depth of the pain. Neither is useful if the task is to be a part of a movement for change.
The history of this country is, in fact, overwhelming. It is overwhelming to recognize that this country is formed in the “quest for domination.” White colonists killed indigenous people for land and enslaved, abused, and killed Africans as a means of creating wealth and maintaining power. It is overwhelming to know white people brought their children to view lynchings. And equally overwhelming to know millions watched the video and listened to the words of Payton S. Gendron, the white man who killed or wounded 13 people, most of them Black, in Buffalo.
As a white person I know I/we need to hold this history, without excusing or dismissing it. It is hard and also both problematic and hard not to wrestle with it.
We need to build our emotional strength and integrity to name the violence and oppression and to confront it. It doesn’t mean that we wallow in it; it means we can’t ignore it or rely on silence or denial (“it wasn’t that bad;” “the US has good ideals;” “that’s so negative, can’t we just move on?”). And, partly as a result of the ways we have detoured from these heavy realities, the current-day level of racism and violence is incredibly overwhelming. That is why we need to act and create new ways of being
This week, as I continued to grapple with the mass murders in Buffalo, a white man gunning down our Black elders, and I learned of so many babies and teachers murdered in Uvalde, I am trying a new habit: I am creating space for grieving and also space to talk and strategize about steps I can take in response. Yesterday, I shed tears before a meeting. I am in fact overwhelmed but not stopping at that way station.
The number of issues and problems around us can indeed be overwhelming. But they are perhaps less overwhelming when we see that they are connected. The quest for domination, racism, and misogyny are the drivers of an array of issues: Payton and Kyle Rittenhouse and other white people who use guns to slaughter (often Black and brown people), police murders of Black people, policing in general, prisons as our form of punishment, anti-trans laws, occupation in Palestine, inequitable COVID deaths, and so much more.
When I am able to see white power, racism, misogyny, and concentrations of wealth as interconnected problems, I am reminded that our actions for freedom are also connected. You can be working against anti-semitism, seeing the root of othering and racism, or holding organizations accountable to building pro-Black practices and cultures, while someone else works on prison abolition. Prisons hold disproportionate numbers of BIPoC, trans, and poor people, and are rooted in control and punishment; hence, these issues are connected. And on it goes. As a white Jewish person in a multi-racial family I feel particularly pulled to work against racism, prisons, and anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim issues. Others may choose to show up in other places. We need to see the interconnectedness of these many issues.
And so, to white people who seek a better future for all, let us not be overwhelmed to a point of inaction or numbness, but instead speak out and take action. Silence is not an option. Inaction is not an option. As my mother, Ruth Messinger, a white anti-racist shero of mine, often says: “We cannot retreat to the convenience and the luxury of being overwhelmed.”
Photo credit: Mark McDermott, webinar for United for a Fair Economy
16 months ago, I wrote this piece and it is just as relevant today, not surprisingly.
I wrote: “We have to decide, particularly white Americans, if we are willing to step into a real period of reckoning and not just a temporary increase in awareness that is evidenced by the formation of committees and our participation in marches.”
I continue to be in the belief that we have to take the small steps and we have to find places of dreaming and action where we get clearer about the big steps. Those who are fighting and killing for white supremacy and power are getting ever more drastic. I hope to write about what a drastic yet grounded and loving white response looks like in this moment…and then to take that next step.
March 19, 2021
A friend said that as the snow melted in her Minneapolis neighborhood last week, the smell of smoke from the fires after Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd last summer was released anew into the air. This, as the trial of Derek Chauvin begins in Minneapolis.
This month is a cacophony of anniversaries and markings. It is a year since Louisville Police killed Breonna Taylor, about that since two men killed Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, a 25-year old unarmed Black man, and the start of the trials of Derek Chauvin and Kyle Rittenhouse.
Note that I am trying here to use an active voice after listening to a powerful podcast with Baratunde Thurston and Yahdon Israel talking about how racism and anti-Blackness is built into our use of the passive voice and tendency to make those impact the actors of a sentence[1]. [In other words] George Floyd was not killed by Derek Chauvin; Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.
This is an important time in our country. While our courts are a far cry from sources of healing or justice, it is critical that we use this system for positive change as much as possible, while we create better systems.
What will happen? We must:
Use this moment to make the courts an instrument of justice.
Work from outside the courthouse to say that we are ready to be a society with real accountability for wrongs that we have committed, both historically and recently.
Shift how we use language to ensure we are attributing actions to the perpetrators of the harm, in this case the death of another human.
Ask, each day, “what can I do differently in my organization to dismantle anti-Blackness and the destructive myth and perpetuation of white supremacy?” and then act on it.
Let’s be active now. In our language[2] and our actions.
In our organization and many others, people are tired and grieving. We have lost loved ones and we have lost access to aspects of our lives that we hold dear. And yet, we need to save energy for the important work and rebuilding ahead. We have to maintain energy in organizations so that the commitment and work does not end after a workshop, or after a team is set up, or after we hire a director of equity. These are just the first steps…
We have to decide, particularly white Americans, if we are willing to step into a real period of reckoning and not just a temporary increase in awareness that is evidenced by the formation of committees and our participation in marches. The smoke could be the signal of us all going down in flames or it could be the olfactory symbol of rising from the ashes and rebuilding our country.
[1] Baratunde called the podcast: “a meditation and conversation on analyzing the structure of headlines to reframe/revert the gaze away from the victims as racial objects back to the racial subjects perpetuating the problem….[in other words] George Floyd was not killed by Derek Chauvin; Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.” (“We’re Having a Moment” Podcast, Episode 4, 2020).
[2] In the same Podcast, Yahdon Israel (@yahdon on Instagram) reminds us that even well-intentioned campaigns like “Say her name” which helps us to hold up people who were killed and to focus on women as well as men; it doesn’t name the subject or actor and doesn’t name what we are doing or why. Don’t put those impacted in the passive action role: “Black people earn less than…”; “women are killed by men”; “George Floyd was killed”. Who did the killing and why?
Photo credit: Mark McDermott, webinar for United for a Fair Economy
A friend said that as the snow melted in her Minneapolis neighborhood last week, the smell of smoke from the fires after Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd last summer was released anew into the air. This, as the trial of Derek Chauvin begins in Minneapolis.
This month is a cacophony of anniversaries and markings. It is a year since Louisville Police killed Breonna Taylor, about that since two men killed Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, a 25-year old unarmed Black man, and the start of the trials of Derek Chauvin and Kyle Rittenhouse.
Note that I am trying here to use an active voice after listening to a powerful podcast with Baratunde Thurston and Yahdon Israel talking about how racism and anti-Blackness is built into our use of the passive voice and tendency to make those impact the actors of a sentence[1]. [In other words] George Floyd was not killed by Derek Chauvin; Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.
This is an important time in our country. While our courts are a far cry from sources of healing or justice, it is critical that we use this system for positive change as much as possible, while we create better systems.
What will happen? We must:
Use this moment to make the courts an instrument of justice.
Work from outside the courthouse to say that we are ready to be a society with real accountability for wrongs that we have committed, both historically and recently.
Shift how we use language to ensure we are attributing actions to the perpetrators of the harm, in this case the death of another human.
Ask, each day, “what can I do differently in my organization to dismantle anti-Blackness and the destructive myth and perpetuation of white supremacy?” and then act on it.
Let’s be active now. In our language[2] and our actions.
In our organization and many others, people are tired and grieving. We have lost loved ones and we have lost access to aspects of our lives that we hold dear. And yet, we need to save energy for the important work and rebuilding ahead. We have to maintain energy in organizations so that the commitment and work does not end after a workshop, or after a team is set up, or after we hire a director of equity. These are just the first steps…
We have to decide, particularly white Americans, if we are willing to step into a real period of reckoning and not just a temporary increase in awareness that is evidenced by the formation of committees and our participation in r marches. The smoke could be the signal of us all going down in flames or it could be the olfactory symbol of rising from the ashes and rebuilding our country.
[1] Baratunde called the podcast: “a meditation and conversation on analyzing the structure of headlines to reframe/revert the gaze away from the victims as racial objects back to the racial subjects perpetuating the problem….[in other words] George Floyd was not killed by Derek Chauvin; Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.” (“We’re Having a Moment” Podcast, Episode 4, 2020).
[2] In the same Podcast, Yahdon Israel (@yahdon on Instagram) reminds us that even well-intentioned campaigns like “Say her name” which helps us to hold up people who were killed and to focus on women as well as men; it doesn’t name the subject or actor and doesn’t name what we are doing or why. Don’t put those impacted in the passive action role: “Black people earn less than…”; “women are killed by men”; “George Floyd was killed”. Who did the killing and why?
Constitutionally, I tend toward
remaining calm and seeing possibilities. This might not be true for everyone. I
do know, however, that there is clear evidence that what we talk about
influences our moods.
With that in mind, I am sharing a list of
things I have seen amplified in the last week – things that contribute to
social health and well-being and long-term survival, even as we adjust to a
world that feels topsy turvy.
Intersectionality
Some people are taking this moment to
recognize that the Coronavirus, like all things, affects us differentially.
There is some attention to the fact that those who are already burdened because
of chronic health issues, or because fewer resources are invested in their
communities, or those who experience racism day in/day out, are experiencing
this moment on top of these existing inequities. And it is important to see the
resources and resilience that these highly impacted communities do have!
Lived expertise
We are reminded that, in fact, there are
people who have lived through similar times of epidemics and uncertainty and
lack of attention. How can we turn toward those who lived through and created
through the start of HIV/AIDS? What can we learn from disability rights
activists and people living with chronic illness? How can we use this moment to
honor the wisdom of those who have related life experience….and pay them for
their knowledge?
Slowing
Many of us experienced an extra busy week—our regular work and then we’re being called to use our personal or work leadership to think well about others, to plan for drastically different economic models, and to attend to family and colleagues. Amidst that, I also experienced a sense of radical slowing as I realized that my current pace of life is changing. I had a long business trip planned for March that would have allowed for slowing and I know I was craving that. I am going to ask myself how I can get that need met while staying put. This weekend, I let myself wake when I needed to wake rather than setting an alarm, and I then settled into each day at a slower pace.
Interconnectedness
There are people who are able and willing
to lead with generosity. I spoke with a stranger yesterday who said she had
purchased two rolls of paper towels so that she might share one with someone
who needs one, even though she had been laid off recently. I’ve asked a family
member if he would be willing to help parents working at home with baby sitting
if doing so can be done safely for all.
What are the ways that we can continue to
connect even if we are not in proximity? What are the ways that we can look at
those maps of disease spread and vectors and use it not to become fearful but
to see how we are connected globally?
Within a work sphere, we are connecting
with others in similar work to share best thinking and talk about everything
from joint responses to pooled resources. We are looking at networks that we
support and seeing how they are activating for mutual support and for the
sharing of ideas. We are asking how we can support one another as colleagues in
an increasingly virtual workplace. More on this as it emerges.
Care for our planet
Is there a way to live through this public
health moment and not be more aware that our planet needs our attention and
love? We should all know about the climate crisis and that shifts in behavior
on a massive and structural scale are needed to heal. And, I believe that this
global pandemic is a concrete example of what climate crisis in an
interconnected world looks like.
Humor
Laughter is curative! I have been relaxed
and relieved this week with humor, from hilarious memes about bras as masks and
lesbians with lanyards solving the world’s crisis to silly jokes about farting
in public as a way to mask a cough. And laughter on the phone with friends and
colleagues about the absurdity of the moment. It is helpful that I live with a
very funny human being (thank you,son!).
Not knowing
There is a lot we do know and yet COVID-19
is surely a reminder that so much is emergent and not known. We are reminded
that knowing can only happen collectively—from decisions about whether and when
to close an office to determining how best to support an organization through
challenging times and how best to support hourly workers, many of whom
have no access to benefits. We must think together, more than ever, during
these challenging times. I’ve experienced the power of this all week at work as we navigate in this
moment, asking what individuals need, how we can support networks of leaders to
think together, and – all along the way – as we remember to admit what we don’t
know.
Creativity
Here at IISC we have been interacting
virtually more and more over the last two years, facilitating meetings and
connection through video applications. Colleagues are generating a lot of ideas
and willingness to share knowledge with one another and more broadly with the
world. Let’s be creative and equitable, thinking well about how to connect and
how to support those most vulnerable in this moment.
And, given that words matter so much, I am
adopting a rephrase that I heard this morning from my daughter: Let’s practice physical
distancing. Socially, let’s work, think, laugh and slow down together,
albeit remotely! Let’s be hyper-connected, spending time with one or two
people in our households or our apartment buildings or neighborhoods,
connecting by phone and text, with video when possible, and by taking walks and
smiling at others along the way
This week, my boss told me she loved me. It was not problematic, in fact it was beautiful. It was following a few days we had taken as the IISC network to get clear on our next strategic steps, considering how we are part of a movement of racial equity change makers.
While we have spoken for several years about how love is a central part of our collaborative change lens, we are doing an ever-better job of embodying it, first with ourselves and then with our clients.
Cornel West tells us that justice is what love looks like in public. He and others have revitalized a tradition that is more holistic and does not segregate love, both in the feeling state and the action state, from our work for equity. Many have preceded us who carry that wisdom. In gatherings of activists and change makers, I hear people yearning for our full humanity, to be able to have emotions as we work, to feel whole in our beings, to feel like we each belong. In our work spaces, especially when we are working at our life purpose, we yearn for satisfying and impactful spaces where we are paid what we need, can bring a wholeness, and can enjoy people and art. One of our labor foremothers in Lawrence, Rose Schneiderman, put it this way– “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”
Over the past five years, we have been trying to center love. We do that in light ways, by using the word, and by bringing a variety of practices to our IISC and client spaces: intentional breathing and meditation, appreciations, embodying joy and love as we start a day, reclaiming space and time for fun and playfulness and relaxation. While these can be light touch, they are also not to be underestimated. Too frequently, we and others, make it through many a work day without any of this.
And this year we have been committing to dipping our toes in further. Some of the ways we are experimenting with and aspiring toward love at IISC:
We prioritized a small group of practitioners to imagine what equity work with love at the center looks like and how that differs from an organizing or facts-based strategy
We let each other know that everyone belongs and that everyone is loved.
We take pauses before entering difficult work or conflict settings
We try to start our own and other gatherings from a place of vision and abundance
We are embedding more practices into our training and consulting and coaching work
Love is definitely an emotion and can be expressed in words. It can also be felt more fully if it is in everything we do from how we interact throughout the day, to how we design spaces, to how we use time and build in pauses, to how we deal with mistakes and conflict.
This week, as we gathered around what might be heady material, editing our theory of change and planning our next strategic steps, we used half a day to get to know each other and our cares through honoring ancestors, building an altar, and talking about our fears and anger. And this intent was spread throughout our time.
One activity that many found deeply connecting is described below. I am calling it “Greeting with love and joy.” It was intended to ground, to center joyfulness, and from there to greet one another in silence and with a depth of connection.
These are some of the ways the activities and spaciousness made me feel vulnerable, more willing to share more truth, more open to hearing others and more open to seeing them fully, less reactive, loved.
Love surely is the answer to many questions. And it is not easy. We need to honor the time it takes, and we need to take seriously how to prioritize and integrate love, especially during times of conflict, and in all our work, including finance!
We are curious how love comes to work for you. What are some examples? Where are you feeling challenged?
Greeting with Love and Joy
This activity starts with time in a standing meditation to get grounded and connected to the world around us, to “gather” some elements we might need and to recall a time of joy. We then spend time in silence, connecting to others in the gathering, by walking around and stopping to gaze at another person from that place of joy or love. We end with some music or a chant to allow people to shift back into sound and return to the circle.
Guided breathing to center and to gather elements.
Ask people to stand with legs shoulder-width apart and either eyes closed or gazing down. Lead them through a series of deep breathing:
into their centers.
into their length, grounding into the floor and connecting through the head to the sky, gathering an element from each place.
into their back bodies to feel supported by ancestors and into the front body thinking about their commitment to the work.
into their side bodies to connect to people on either side of them and in the broader community.
back to center to imagine a moment of joy or love, to envision the sound and smells and feel that so they can carry that into the next piece of the activity.
Walking activity
Now let that picture and feeling of joy expand in your body from a kernel in your belly, out through your body, and to begin to expand beyond you.
Walk around for a minute with your eyes mostly down, feeling your joy in your step.
Now, raise your eyes and with the joy throughout your body, stop as you encounter another person. As you encounter each person, you are invited to pause for 10-30 seconds, as you are comfortable, and gaze directly into their eyes. You are bringing your joy & love to the greeting, you are seeing them in their joy, and you are receiving the love and joy in how they are silently greeting you.
Continue this for at least 5-10 minutes so that people can greet most others in the room. Consider integrating virtual participants by having multiple video stations so that participants in the room can stop by those stations to gaze at their colleagues who are remote.
Invite people to return to the circle/their seats. I ended with a short song/chant that I know as a way to bring sound back to the room and transition out of this intense moment of connecting. You can also ask people to journal or share feelings or an appreciation after they return. The intensity is both in insisting that we are connecting from love and in the silent but powerful eye gazing.
The board and staff of Interaction Institute recently gathered to learn from others working to bring about racial equity and to talk about how we build a board structure that supports or propels our work in new ways. To start the day, we did an icebreaker I called, “Reclaim for Liberation.”
A colleague planted this seed. What are the qualities or traits we once had that have been taken from us—by family dynamics or trauma, by histories of oppression, or as we have become adults and try to live in the dominant culture? And which of these do we actually want back?
Sometimes, as we are reaching for liberation, we find ourselves fighting against what exists. What we need more of is the vision of what we are heading toward. And sometimes, we imagine that we need completely new tools and skills and ways of being to get to our vision. What if we actually know (or used to know) most of what we need for transformation?
Growing up in this culture and transforming ourselves to fit, particularly as women and/or people of color and/or queer people, we shed things that are not only elemental to us but deeply important for our ability to move forward. Much of this is related to how white supremacy impacts our ways of being and asks most of us to be much smaller than nature would have us be.
When we did the exercise below, people told each other short stories of what they wanted to reclaim for the journey. The words that came up included play, song, dance, carefree, silly, laughter. And then the members of each small group used their bodies to create a sculpture embodying the words and feelings of their group.
It would have been even more effective if we then had kept those ways of being fully present throughout the day, particularly when more challenging conversations emerged. I would like now for us to practice bringing those skills into difficult conversations and see if they help us to speak and solve together.
Try this meditation and share what you see in the group. Do more possibilities or new pathways forward emerge as a result?
Reclaim for Liberation
Allow 20-30 minutes, ideally.
Let people know that in this work for liberation we sometimes feel that we don’t have all we need for change. And perhaps some of what we need we have lost on the way or was taken from us. We are going to spend time individually and as a group reclaiming some of the lost qualities that can be important to us now.
1. Start with a guided meditation (5-6 minutes to set up and lead people in and out)
Ask people to take up space in the room; to spread out; can stand or sit
Get planted—feeling souls of feet on ground, butt on chair if seated; close eyes or soft gaze
10 deep breaths
Feel your body planted—feel the souls of your feet touching the ground, feel your hands resting on your legs or by your side
Roll each shoulder back—breath into your full breadth, feel connected to those around you
Hear the sounds of the room
Breathe to elongate—feel the roots shooting down from feet, up from the crown of the head reaching toward the sky—feel your full length and integrity
Ask people to travel back in years; begin to imagine a place you felt joy or lightness, a sense of freedom
What sounds do you hear?
What are you seeing around you?
Are there any smells?
Look around
Are you inside or outside?
Is this a place you recognize or a specific setting that is important to your childhood?
Are there people around you or are you alone?
Play in this space, enjoy the feelings.
Is there a piece of yourself that is present that you may have left behind? Is there a feeling or essence of that self that you want to bring forward and reclaim? Is there something (playful, clear, relaxed) that may be useful for your liberation today?
Draw people back to the room – come back into your body, hear the sounds around you, become more conscious of your breathing again, take time to come back into the room, and – when you’re ready – open your eyes.
2. In Trios (8-10 minutes) [decide in advance if there are any instructions needed about how to form trios—such as with people you don’t know or with whom you work less frequently]
Each person gets a minute to share the quality that you want to bring forward. Ask yourself: What did I see in my younger self that might serve me in my liberation work today? Share a picture, words or a posture.
Each group decides on a way to share back with the full group—encourage a physical sculpture or representation that captures everyone’s words or the quality of what was shared
3. Share back with group—up to 1 minute per group.
4. Ask people to call out some of the other words or feelings they want to carry into the day. You may want to capture some on a chart so you have a visual for your time together.
5. Decide as a group how you will keep pulling in these useful ways of being. This can be particularly useful if you have decisions to make or tensions to address. Ask people to consider an embodiment of their word or quality before engaging in such a conversation.
Make Meetings MatterJoin us on February 5 for a practical and energizing webinar that teaches simple facilitation practices to turn meetings into inclusive, focused conversations that lead to real progress!
