Scene One: January 23, 2007:
Leaning into our discomfort around inclusion
Session Summary
Purpose of this session:
The purpose of this Session was for participants to get outside of their comfort zones in regard to diversity and inclusion. The rationale is that discomfort can be a precursor to learning. Learning is "a process that leaves us changed," not our situation.
Diversity is a concept that is not new to many people. However, this Session provided a new way to bring the concept to life. Everyone came to the table with their own idea of diversity, but Patti Digh and David Robinson of the Circle Project created experiences that forced people to look at themselves, not the other. This session prompted self-reflection in a way that got to the root of diversity, and what diversity work means: human connections.
Through experiential learning, participants discovered ways they can facilitate inclusion, not exclusion, personally and professionally.
Digh and Robinson emphasized that diversity work begins inside of each individual, true learning involves discomfort and lasting diversity work requires an examination of ourselves first, then our institutions.
The Learning Objectives for this session were:
To become proficient in the nine diversity competencies that help move my organization from exclusion to inclusion.
To explore diversity as a "wicked problem" and identify "tame solutions" that often exacerbate the problem.
To gain a better understanding of what diversity is and what diversity work means in myself and in my organization.
Process:
Patti says, "There's a difference between learning and training, but what people really need is learning. I might absorb information from a lecture but I don't necessarily internalize it. Experiential programs can help increase learning."
This was a highly physically and emotionally interactive session. There were no tables, only chairs, arranged in an inner and outer circle. Just the room set up caused participants to be uncomfortable from the start.
To create a diversity experience, Digh and Robinson (who is a theater director), introduced situations that forced people to reflect on their perceptions around themselves and others.
This learning experience was unusual because it invited us as participants to explore metaphors as a way to uncover our edges of discomfort about diversity and inclusion. There was an element of surprise in the various exercises because they exposed our blind spots and our assumptions in ways that we didn't anticipate.
Throughout the morning Digh and Robinson introduced each of the 9 Competencies for Organizational Change to move from inclusion to exclusion. Participants experienced first-hand what it means to:
- Reframe their situation/story from a negative to a positive
- Put down their need to be clever and pick up their ordinary
- Really see others and let others see them
- Find their boundaries and turn them into horizons
- Move from a vicious circle of exclusion to a virtuous circle on inclusion
- Embrace "wicked problems" and resist "tame solutions"
- Reflect on their "mask," or how they portray themselves to others
- Accept that each individual is as uniquely human as them
- Expand their boundaries by saying, "Yes, and," rather than, "Yes, but"
- Recognize their sphere of influence
Using the 9 Competencies, individuals can start to change the "structure of the land:" the systemic barriers that deny inclusion and engagement to many people. The idea is that behavior, like water, follows the structure of the land. If you want to change behaviors, you have to understand how they are influential by the structure, in this case, the organizational structure. The tools can be used specifically for the populations we're focusing on for the 2007 Series: people with disabilities, people of lower socio-economic status, people who are transgender/bisexual, people with body modifications and women of color.
Below are some comments from participants of this session:
- "Today brought understanding to an awareness that a collection of individual changes in behavior/awareness can make a difference."
- "I identified some of my edges in greeting people, the masks I wear and how these get in the way of really living and interacting."
- "Way too much metaphorical exercises and not nearly enough real take aways to implement- would have liked more "real world" corporate problems and strategies to resolve them."
- "Diversity is about change of the individual, one person at a time."
- "Each person has a dramatic effect in any situation - the triangle exercise was a great visual."
- "I was uncomfortable and challenged today."
- "On an organizational level this will be tough - the corporate structure is at odds with diversity."
- "Humanity has a place in our corporation."
Patti Digh and David Robinson of The Circle Project were the presenters for the first session, January 23, 2007, on inclusion and engagement in the workplace. Diversity and Inclusion Intentions are one of the main constructs of diversity and inclusion work.
Scene One was the first session of the 2007 NW Diversity Learning Series held in Seattle Washington, Life theater - Inclusion and Engagement: Challenging and Expanding My diversity Competency: Moving Beyond My Comfort Zone. The Series is organized by The GilDeane Group, publishers of DiversityCentral.com.