Equity, Interdependence, and Collaborative Leadership
Our weekly Community Calls provide peer support, discussion forums and guest workshops for retreat center leaders and allied organizations. Keep checking back for more of these videos here in our blog.
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JEDI stands for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. It’s a helpful lens for retreat centers looking to deepen their engagement with anti-racism, decolonization, and social justice. It’s also a helpful lens to explore how centers might reimagine their organizations and reemerge post-pandemic.
Today’s Community Call was a JEDI Series Discussion, connecting the RCC community with the work of our peers at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme). iBme offers in-depth mindfulness programming for youth and the parents and professionals who support them. Their curriculum guides teens and young adults in their development of self-awareness, compassion, and ethical decision making, empowering them to apply these essential skills to their lives and communities.
Tonya, Sarah, and David from iBme shared their organization's journey toward greater equity and interdependence, and showcase some elements of their organization's recent transition to a collaborative leadership model. You can read iBme’s 10-Year Equity and Interdependence Progress Report and visit their EI Dashboard on their website.
Here are some key takeaways from our conversation.
iBme’s Perspective on Equity and Interdependence
The best place to speak from is our own lived experiences. Every organization is unique.
At iBme, the Equity and Interdependence frame arises from the belief that equity and justice are fundamental components of mindfulness. With that approach, equity requires more than acknowledgement in the moment. Yes it’s part of a practice, but it’s more.
Mindfulness asks us to be clear in the moment. This clarity helps us cultivate more compassion and wisdom for the next steps (accept then act).
1) accept what is happening/what is present
2) clearly move in to action
3) question and lean in to wisdom
iBme regularly partners with 15-20 retreat centers (pre-pandemic) to offer their programming to teens, and is an allied organization deeply invested in the survival of retreat centers.
Because the iBme organization was historically led by a team of non-diverse folks from the dominant culture, there was harm created by not having diverse experiences represented in the staff, and a lack of richness in the community and in the programming being offered.
Hallelujah the Saviors Are Here
Rachel Smith’s poem, Hallelujah the Saviors Are Here, illustrates the difference between ‘true educators’ and ‘self-proclaimed saviors.’
Who are the saviors that Smith describes? When you picture them in your head, how do they look? Act?
Smith says that the saviors come to “white out our stains and give our souls a little bleach.” What do you think she means?
How does Smith distinguish the “saviors” from the “true educators?” Do you see this distinction where you work or in other spaces?
Imagine a world where “Hallelujah the Saviors are Here” is not an ironic title for a poem about urban education. What does that world look like?
Gathering Data + Designing Curriculum
Last fall, iBme pulled together focus groups and conducted key informant interviews with individuals to learn more about what was needed in their organization. This included gathering data on the experience of iBme staff, youth focus groups, program and retreat participants, teacher advisory group, communities of color, LGBTQ+ groups, etc.
Topics of research included DEI vision, present commitment, policies/training, community building, accountability, decision-making, belonging and inclusion, and empowerment.
They designed an Equity and Interdependence curriculum including monthly calls where the community can get together to share curated conversations specifically through the lens of equity, an option which wouldn’t normally be available or prioritized. iBme also offered staff training — half day work focused on individual identities and group identities.
Insights from Community Call Participants
“Even if I have good intentions and a sincere heart, it doesn’t excuse me of being arrogant (just because I’m not malicious, doesn’t mean I get a pass)”
“The power of spoken word and how much meaning and insight was packed into 2 mins and 23 seconds”
“I hold sacred the space of RCC for these type of Courageous Conversations! RCC is birthing TRUE EDUCATORS”
“A beautiful way to open up the discussion around white savior complex”
“How can we support the “true teachers,” not out of the ‘“savior model” but as listening supporters? Thank you for sharing this poem”
Overview of Collaborative Leadership at iBme
For iBme, the Collaborative Leadership model came straight out of their equity and interdependence work. “We know where are roots are, so we have to ask, what does it take to bring more equity into decision making?”
Core aspects
Vision and values
Shared understanding of work together, the system at large, and day to day vision of how we can function
There are also unexamined values that we are trying to tend to. We need to name them, because they show up (checks and balances)
Decision making
Everyone is opting in to all tasks, through a 1-5 scale to determine willingness* and interest
Resource allocation
Dissolved ED position
Shared budgeting process, each staff member holds a piece, including shared salary discussions (including historical privileges)
This includes stipend amount with contract workers (teachers, etc)
Information flow
Because of decision making, more people need to know
Mapping out who needs to be looped in at different phases
Feedback
Embed into the system a web of feedback that we are offering to each other
Ex: sharing one appreciation and one opportunity for growth in most meetings. What worked, what didn’t work?
The more closely you work together the more often you should be providing feedback
Conflict resolution
Willingness* is baked in, are you willing to hear?
Nonviolent communication framework
Did this to prevent burnout, to be collaborative, to support each other
Create an organization with high trust (unlike most orgs)
* iBme uses the term ‘willingness’ — everyone is coming to each task and project with true willingness, not just because they have to. Willingness may also come from knowing it is part of the job — to ensure the organization is in a good place.
Facilitators:
Tonya Jones, David Macek, and Sarah Wrean of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme)
Through in-depth mindfulness programming, iBme guides young adults in developing self-awareness, compassion, and ethical decision making, and empowers them to apply these skills in improving their lives and communities. iBme’s vision is to support future generations of heart-centered, diverse leaders who are prepared to respond to the challenges of their time with focus, resiliency, and compassion for themselves, their communities and the global environment.
More notes, visuals, and an audio recording of this session are available at the link below.