What do Spaciousness and DEI have to do with each other?
Spaciousness: My first ever four weeks of my sabbatical offered me insight into spaciousness. I went looking for it via a 4-day silent meditation retreat followed by 3 weeks of no client-facing meetings, and then time to focus on creating How to Build Transformative ERGs. I was seeking literal room in my day to slow down. I continue to try to find and make day-to-day spaciousness. A year and a half later, I’ve learned that, more than ever, spaciousness is whatever we make it to be. It’s not the perfect number of breaks in the day or some magical number of meetings that feels like not too many. It’s building and finding flow in whatever comes my way. There can be spaciousness in one minute and spaciousness in three days. Or none if I don’t create spaces for slowing down, for something to begin to feel spacious.
You might be asking, what does this quest for spaciousness have to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Most people who reach out to me are up against the clock. We have timelines and due dates, and usually people are reaching out with those in mind. When folks reach out on a deadline, that is something we can work with, and I share with clients some ways of slowing down even within a deadline-driven project. We start each meeting with a few grounding deep breaths. I book longer times with coaching clients so that the 30 minutes after our meetings are just for them not for racing into the next meeting (can you think of other meetings you might time block in this way?) In coaching meetings we may dive into a specific area that could use support or need to be addressed but some questions or concerns arise. There are often tools that can be lifted from that one coaching call that can be applied across areas of an org (i.e. if we are looking at a mentoring application, the ideas gained and knowledge learned from that one application could have aspects that are relevant to any application across the org).
Allow for timelines to be flexible: We can not do DEI work on a 4-week or 6 weeks or 1-year timeline. Yes, we can set goals, and yes we can meet deliverables and expectations, but we have to allow for ebb and flow in all of our processes. Timelines can help us but they are not the only way to measure our success. Find ways to allow for timelines to shift and be flexible, as we have a lot to take in each day, week, and month and we are human. Let’s honor that humanity.
Transformational change is possible: I see it for my clients, and I created a workbook that focuses on how to start an Employee Resource Group that engages in transformational change. It’s about valuing the process of creating that group as much as the outcome of that transformational group. It’s about slowing down, allowing for setbacks, and learning as we go.
