During Summer 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, I participated in a conversation with evaluators who were both working as independent consultants and on staff.
A question was posed:
How can we keep equity at the forefront?
At the time, most of my client organizations had turned their attention to shifting to remote work. One client was already working remotely before the shelter in place orders began. However, they did experience drastic shifts in their programming.
Staff had to figure out what was “essential” and what wasn’t in terms of how programs were implemented and how these changes would impact staff capacity.
Being nimble is a way of life for my clients. We discuss how this nimbleness can be applied to how they think program implementation. At this time, clients were making quick decisions on which programs were still operational without being in person. If programming could no longer operate as intended, we questioned 1) what can be learned from this, 2) how can they pivot programs deem essential to their work, 3) what qualifies a program as “non-essential”, and 4) how can they make a “non-essential” program more “essential” in the future?
While we focused on supporting our clients, we also felt the uncertainty in our work as evaluators. From paused projects to adjusting how we work, we were challenged with examining current norms, creating new ones, and discovering for ourselves what equity looks like during an pandemic that has illuminated racial, economic, and other public health disparities.
How can equity focused questions lead to organizational change?
This activity is ideal for:
- Anyone leading internal organizational equity based initiatives
- Anyone interested in applying evaluative thinking
Here’s what you need:
- Schedule time for this activity, where you can work with minimal interruption. Make sure to schedule breaks!
- Whatever setup you use to capture your process (laptop, pen and paper, whiteboard, etc.). Make sure it’s kept in a place that you can refer back to
The steps:
The goal of this activity is to encourage dialogue within your organization on how to center equity in your work. Consider these questions:
- Beyond programming, what can we do to support conversations AND actions that center equity in our work?
- What questions, processes, and/or tools can be useful in helping our organization center equity? (And how?)
- What opportunities can we leverage that will support centering equity in our work?
- Are there any tension points that need to be named and addressed before we begin this work?
I’ll leave it up to you to determine how this activity flows. It may be more convenient to have everyone in the same space together. Due to scheduling AND stakeholder roles and power dynamics, this may be an issue. You can try:
- One large group
- Separate stakeholder groups
- Individual conversations
You can also develop processes for getting anonymous feedback.
Let’s process
The above questions are a start. As you stakeholders share, more questions may arise. How will you take action on what you’re hearing?
Becoming data driven means developing a process for prioritizing your findings, and only you can determine what that looks like. Think about your current capacity to implement what you’re learning. Determine this based on what may be easiest to address, where the most capacity lies, or where the most buy-in is.
Key takeaway
Centering equity is a continuous process. Providing opportunities for stakeholder feedback AND developing an action plan may encourage that buy-in to trickle in.
Try this activity and let me know how it goes for you (or if you need support.)
Raise Your Voice: In what ways are equity focused conversations happening in your organization? Share below in the comments section.
Was this useful? Subscribe to the Raise Your Voice newsletter, and explore my consulting services.
