Social Change: A Radical Transformation of Diversity and Inclusion

Addressing domination and oppression is often an intense, but deeply rewarding experience.

While some people may feel enraged and others prefer to avoid conflict of any kind, many prefer to address the issues with compassion. Sometimes they hear for the first time how difficult and costly it is to navigate the unfair advantages embedded in the system. Folks in power begin to confront their own unconscious bias and take responsibility for changing the system. Not only millennials, but many others take a stand for inclusion, collaborating in order to ensure that policies and behaviors support diversity, innovation, and teamwork.

So how do you embrace people from all walks of life and facilitate groups so that people are heard deeply, valued for their contribution and acknowledged for their unique experience?

Deep listening. Heart connection. Needs awareness. Real conversations. Clear requests.

In this series we’ll explore ways of responding to bias, slights, and stereotypes.

NVC helps us have honest conversations and look beyond diversity to focus on inclusion and change.

To change the culture, we need to ask the difficult questions:

• Who is empowered?
• Who is included in decision-making?
• Whose needs matter?
• What happens when some people have a voice and others do not?
• How do we go beyond tolerance and truly value differences?
• How do we create an environment where everyone can show up authentically?

We can lean on the framework of NVC to create space for courageous conversations about systems. When people engage in developing their own understanding of issues and solutions, they connect and take action. They take a stand against systems of oppression and power-over. They engage in openhearted, practical conversations about inclusion — and they step into the challenging work of changing the systems and the culture.