Dear ICFAD colleague,

It is my greatest honor to present to you today. I hope you found the content valuable and useful.

As promised, here are the key takeaways.

Takeaway #1: One primary aim is to develop skills of an equity-centered leader.

Equity centered leaders can identify, assess, and remedy inequities within the organization’s programs, practices, policies, and processes. They can ask the difficult questions, challenge the status quo, and call out long-standing biases even when difficult and uncomfortable.

Equity-centered leaders:

There are three stages of development you will experience as you journey towards equity-centered leadership: reflexivity, critical consciousness, and social change agency.

Reflexivity

Critical Consciousness

Social Change Agency

Takeaway #2: Equality applies to human dignity, whereas, Equity applies to systems and resources.

Equality applies to human dignity—all people are created with value and all people deserve to be treated respectfully. Everyone should be treated according to human worth. Everyone is valued and seen as having value. This is equality. 

Equity applies to systems and resources – each person is provided the systems and resources according to their skills, talent, role, potential, etc. to ensure success.  

When we conflate equality on the individual level with equality within systems, we attempt to treat all individuals equally in every situation and every context, ignoring their uniqueness and minimizing their perspectives and experiences. Then, we don’t provide the systems and resources needed. When this occurs, we inadvertently devalue them.

Takeaway #3: Four “Pieces” of Equity-Centered Cultures

The primary aim is to create an organization where all constituents, stakeholders and members can genuinely connect in their own meaningful, unique, authentic way, ultimately contributing the best of themselves to the organization’s greater purpose. This includes people, place, process, and power. 

Takeaway #4: Equity-Centered Change Pipeline

Transformative change must be strategic and systematic to create systemic change. 

Takeaway #5: Equity-Centered Change Cycles

The Equity-Centered Change Cycle combines the Four “Pieces” of Equity-Centered Cultures and the Equity-Centered Change Pipeline to ensure all change processes take every aspect of the organizational culture into account. 

Finally, it is essential to remember that creating and fostering an equity-centered workplace culture – one that accepts, values, and leverages the strength among differences – can be challenging. It takes time. It takes strategy. It takes patience. Transformative change is simply the cumulative result of taking one small, actionable step each day that addresses issues of inequality and inequity. Celebrate all wins – big and small – as you see your organizational culture shift. You can do this! Everything you need is already inside of you!

My best,

Dr. Nicole Robinson

Coming Soon January 2023

Leadership Micro-Coaching Session

Are you interested in participating in a Leadership Micro-coaching session? Join Dr. Robinson and other organizational leaders for a 1-hr Q&A session at no cost to you!

Download the 30-day “Small Steps, Big Change” Action Planner

Take a small, actionable step each day to create and support equity-centered processes and practices.