Sustaining the Momentum: Celebrating Progress and Navigating Challenges in the Pursuit of Systemic Change
The paths toward a more equitable and inclusive world need to be traveled at a marathon pace, not a sprint. As a diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging (DEIAB) consultant, I have witnessed both significant strides and numerous challenges in recent years. The road ahead is looking like it will bring about additional roadblocks and challenges.
To keep the momentum going, we must find ways to make this work fun and pleasurable, celebrate our victories, learn from setbacks, and nourish ourselves to sustain our commitment to systemic change.
Celebrating Progress: A Catalyst for Continued Action
Recognizing and celebrating our achievements is a crucial part of sustaining motivation and inspiring further action. Here are a few ways we can celebrate progress:
Acknowledge and Amplify Success Stories: Share stories of individuals, teams, and groups that are making significant strides or impact related to this work within your organization. It’s important to share the successes far and wide both of the DEIAB work and the people behind this work. We want to do this in thoughtful ways that also involve the consent of those being highlighted and shared. Some people do not want to be recognized in this way and others will tolerate or even feel honored by it. Check-in with those whose success stories you want to amplify, provide options for how the organization would like to do that, and take in their input. Here’s an example: let’s say you want to highlight the work of an ERG. You might ask the ERG how they want to share their successes with the organization or present 2-3 options for how they could share them and let them decide what would feel best in this scenario.
Recognize and Reward DEIAB Champions: Consider the information from above when acknowledging efforts and work of people who have been working for DEAIB and other efforts to better the culture and wellbeing of the organization. Yes, it can be really nice to have big public acknowledgments, awards or public recognition, but be sure to connect with those who are championing to see what would also feel authentic to them. Acknowledgments don’t always have to be a billboard or big announcement. Consider the follow options as ways we can also recognize champions of change:
Scheduling a 1:1 meet up over a beverage or meal to really connect and let someone know how vital their work has been and continues to be.
Writing a personalized note expressing true gratitude and sharing specifics about their impact.
Sending a thoughtful email that speaks to the importance of their contributions
Providing a bonus or raise
Providing additional time off
Giving a gift card or voucher. While a small token of appreciation, these efforts don’t go unnoticed.
Above all, when acknowledging someone's service, work, or contributions, it’s really important to highlight specifics about their innovative, thorough, or thoughtful approaches, the impact of the initiatives, and ways that their work will continue to ripple out—moving your organization in a more inclusive direction.
Celebrate Milestones and Anniversaries: Mark significant milestones, such as the anniversary of a DEIAB initiative or the achievement of a specific goal. Create opportunities to organize events, workshops, or webinars to reflect on progress and inspire future action.
Navigating Challenges: Building Resilience and Adaptability
Despite progress, setbacks and challenges are inevitable. To maintain momentum, we must develop resilience and adaptability. Here are a few ways to do that:
Embrace a Growth Mindset: A few ways I like to practice cultivating a growth mindset is through self reflection, taking the time to notice the obstacles we are facing, and see what are we learning from the challenges of facing them. I work to notice when I am feeling down about a setback or something that isn’t going well and reminding myself that if it was easy, this would already be done. If I get into my it hasn’t yet or “not yet” mindset, I can remember that I'm working towards something meaningful and that hasn’t happened…. yet.
Build Strong Alliances: Collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations, creating networks of support. Share your experiences, resources, and strategies for overcoming challenges. If there aren’t other people or groups within your organization, look outside to similar-sized organizations or to professional conferences and groups that can help provide support and perspective.
Prioritize Human Well-being in the Process: First, make sure you’re prioritizing your own well-being. It’s essential to sustaining your efforts. Practice self-compassion, seek support, and prioritize activities that promote your mental and emotional health. We don’t have to burn ourselves out to take time off. Take time away and create firm boundaries around what you will do and won’t do to support yourself along the way.
Set More Realistic Goals: This doesn’t mean abandoning liberation for all, think about which goals are incremental and which are transformational. We certainly need both and not all the work we do can be transformational. If many of the goals now are transformational, consider breaking down that goal into smaller, more incremental steps along the way. We can celebrate the victories of completing incremental change. This doesn’t mean making more work for ourselves by adding an event that celebrates our victories, though. I suggest finding ways to celebrate without adding additional labor. Think about a check in question that asks people to celebrate what is working or going well, think about something that would feel like a relief to you and others, cancel a meeting, have a meeting outdoors (I live in Los Angeles so this seems like a great idea year round), or find a special spot to meet at that is close by that would feel cozy.
By celebrating our successes, learning from the challenges, creating holistic processes and meetings, we can foster care, resilience, and energy to continue to drive systemic change. Remember, the journey may be long, but it does not have to be painful and arduous. When we make the work pleasurable, we are more likely to sustain our efforts and continue to want to work towards systemic change.
Let's keep the momentum going!
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Practices for Finding Your Center and Voice in a World of Suffering
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