Seasons of Leadership Mini-Series: Why is now the time to talk about this?
Hi again everyone!
I’m back again with another installment of our seasons of leadership mini-series. If you didn’t get a chance to read the first issue of this series introducing the seasons of leadership framework or last week’s newsletter where I talked about my own autobiography around seasons of leadership, I encourage you to go back and check them out before reading further.
Today I want to focus on some of the reasons that this concept is so important right now, in this moment. First, I want to say that it's always important and always relevant in different ways. And my experience (both personally and in my work with individuals, organizations, and movements) is that we are most acutely aware of the winters, especially when we don’t expect or plan for them. When we are in spring (planning), summer (producing), and fall (seeing the fruits of our labor) we often feel energized, proud, full of possibilities, and highly motivated. When we are in the winter (rest and reflect) we often feel depleted and low. Especially when we have crash landed into a winter and when we don't have the language to know that this is normal, expected, and necessary.
At this moment I see many places where the movement for broader equity and justice is in a winter.
We are under intentional attack from the outside. We are also experiencing the wear and tear of a sprint, of urgency culture (continually fueled by the 24 hour news cycle), and of a barrage of truly terrible world events.
Many of us who have been doing equity and justice work for a long time are very very tired. We may be feeling powerless. And quite frankly we are getting older. I have grown into adulthood in “the movement”. I first got involved in Black Lives Matter in 2014 when I was 26 years old, and have participated in many other movement efforts since then. My life now looks very different than my life did in 2014. And I have learned a lot in the past 10 years. My approach is different. And that's ok.
I am also learning (and starting to slowly accept) that this is a natural and normal process that many amazing activists have gone through before me.
I recently met with a one on one coaching client who said something like “my younger self would yell at me that I’m a sell out”. I feel this so deeply. In fact in one of my own coaching sessions I had recently said something very similar to my coach (isn’t it funny how that happens?). What does it mean to “be a sellout”? What does it look like to acknowledge out loud that there are different roles in the movement and there is space for all of it? Thank goodness for 26 year olds! And thank goodness for 36 year olds, and for 56 year olds and for 86 year olds… there is so much wisdom to be learned for all of our benefits.
Someone recently spoke to me about the ecosystem of activism. I love the idea that we are building a diverse biosphere and that through this diversity our movements get to thrive and grow and become healthy.
Unfortunately what I have personally seen in recent years is a culling of diverse thoughts and beliefs in some of our movements through purity tests and a harshness to how we engage with one another. I understand (and have participated in) this type of thinking. When we can see so clearly the world we want to build and are faced with powerful forces who want to uphold the status quo, it makes sense to want to assess who is 'on our side'." And my sense is that this approach is not moving us closer to the just world we yearn for. One of the consequences of this approach is that it creates conditions where some people may be afraid to speak up for fear of being called out and losing belonging. It also leaves little room for people to make mistakes, to learn, and to grow. And quite frankly it can alienate people from wanting to organize with us.
I also see the seasons of leadership framework playing out inside the DEI movement right now. In 2020 we came out swinging. There was a renewed interest in doing DEI work inside of workplaces and practitioners responded. We reached a lot of people and did a lot of good. I know I’m really proud of being a part of this effort. And now our movement is facing new challenges. And we have gathered so much data about what has worked most effectively. At Canopy we are talking a lot about focusing more on the solutions rather than the problems. When we started we wanted to name racism everywhere. Our theory of change was that if we could point out inequities loudly and clearly and teach others to see it and name it then they would be able to fix it. This is important and we’ll keep doing it, AND we have learned that this is only part of the strategy. Our theory of change now is to build individuals’ and teams’ capacity to build compassionate and inclusive cultures that are resilient. So that everyone can thrive regardless of their identity, so that people will bring forward issues they are experiencing, and so that the individual, team, and organization can handle and move through the conflict and disequilibrium that this might bring up. The energy of focusing on capacity and solutions rather than problems is so refreshing. There is a lesson for the broader DEI movement in here too, and for organizations that are doing this work. We get to change and adapt. Sometimes it's in response to outside forces like anti-woke culture and sometimes it's because we learned something from the last round through the cycle. Or both!
Once again the seasons framework is liberating. It provides a longer term view. It normalizes the moments we’re in and reminds us that we’ve been through this before and will go through this again. The world will keep turning, the ice will melt, the flowers will bloom. And with each rotation around the sun we will be a little bit wiser and more intentional and I hope more inclusive in how we do this work and invite people in. As a coach one of the roles I see myself playing in the ecosystem is meeting people where they are and supporting them to see what’s possible and within their power to change. I am so deeply grateful to the coaches (both formal and informal) who played this role for me. I was once oblivious. I did harm unknowingly and was defensive when it was pointed out to me. If I hadn’t had such amazing teachers along the way I would still be there. I try to bring this compassion to every interaction I have.
I am continuing to meditate on the lessons we’ve learned as a DEI movement, as an organization at Canopy, and that I have grappled with myself from the last cycle through the seasons.
I am focusing on the concept of biodiversity in our equity ecosystem and the strength that comes from there. Nature knows the way. My hope is if we build from there we will thrive.
This is the final installment of my seasons of leadership mini series. Thank you all for engaging with me throughout this journey. I hope you found some of the nuggets that I’ve shared here nourishing, connecting, and that your curiosity has been sparked to think differently about yourself, your organization, and the movements you are a part of. I invite you to add this framework to your tool kit and come back to it as you need it.
As always, I’ll close with a few reflection questions.
What are some ways that you see the seasons of leadership framework reflected in shifts and changes in the broader DEI movement?
How has your organization made adjustments based on lessons learned in previous cycles?
What possibilities do you see for your organization and the movements that you are a part of to move forward with greater wisdom and intention?
I’d love to hear from you. Send a note and let us know what has shifted for you as you’ve moved through this mini-series.
With love,
Tessa
