EDI & LEAD FELLOWS MEETING

HOW TO BRING UP TOUGH SUBJECTS WITH LEADERSHIP WITHOUT HURTING FEELINGS?

Tony:

• Assume intent is good
• Use I statements
• Be open to dialogue

Those are the 3 keys to a good dialogue and make sure ppl don’t feel attacked. Be respectful.

• Always be willing to have the tough conversations with leadership, bc that’s what leadership is there for
• Respect boundaries without taking things personally

Once you start having these discussions it becomes easier over time – practice

Kacy:

• Is tough giving feedback to big groups so start off with smaller groups

Heather:

• Always best to speak from direct personal experience & acknowledge when you’re not
• Using specific examples
• Have an open mind, when the topic is something sensitive that the person/group feels like they can’t share
• Approach topics with curiosity

Patrick:

• If I’m the roadblock (as leadership) it might be tough to hear that feedback
• We all want the same outcome
• Important as leadership to not take it personal > know that a person does not mean to be rude and disrespectful and might come across as passion
• Talk to this person 1:1
• Trusting one another

ROADBLOCKS

• Training delayed
• Expectations: Were told that us getting training was a good idea –  researched – identified various trainings
• Reality: No funding – train the trainer model was recommend – requested one on one training from any of the lead fellows – were told to take the Implicit Bias training – Took PM Lite in UC Learning – we are being scrutinized in our goals & our plans because we need PM guidance but we were denied the opportunity to take PM training
• Getting stats/information/demographics
• Expectations: getting baseline data to track change and success
• Reality: No help from the VC office -  no return on the Return to Work/Employee Satisfaction Survey – No luck with HR – No luck with Central HR – Got the round around from everyone – pointing us back to Davyda - Were told to align with Pierre's Accountability Report (Inclusive Excellence Committee)
• Survey
• Expectations: Gather baseline data on our own
• Reality: Are we allowed to ask for this data? - We can't just put up the survey – bias/leading questions -
• EDI Page
• Expectations: Have a page were we can route people to – post it in Blink or the IPPS website – access to our mission/vision statement/objectives/goals
• Reality: content scrutinized - no location to post the content, even in the meantime. 
• Access to CLT
• Expectations: open dialogue between EDI and CLT
• Reality: questioned why we needed to attend meetings, scheduled meetings between EDI and LEAD fellows instead
• Exit Interviews
• Expectations: requested to be a part of/ participate (aligns with our strategy)
• Reality: questioned why EDI had to be involved- scheduled another LEAD fellows meeting to discuss why we needed to participate - questioned our goals/strategy

Overall Issues:

• Being told we can "make this what we want" "don't need to run this by us", but this not being true
• Requesting assistance, but getting advice on other topics not relevant to what we inquired about
• Feeling like there is no trust in us to make this committee truly ours
• Our frustration is being read as tension and that discourages discussion > need for this meeting
• Is leadership ready for change? Is leadership ready to be scrutinized without taking it personally?

NEED: we don't need an explanation for why things did not go that way originally. We would like help with how to move past the roadblocks and accomplish what we need.

Reflections on Roadblock discussions

HV wants to clarify that CLT is not concerned that the committee has not done anything

• Kacy: Intention is different than impact
  • Important to build trust as a group and work through them in an honest way
    • Regular cadence to meeting as LEAD FELLOWS to discuss roadblocks
      • Establish a cadence for meeting with CLT
• Heather:
  • Does not understand why we are so adamant about posting on Blink
    • Understands now with more context
• Ted:
  • Observation that we are at an amazing spot to have an EDI committee
    • We have more LEAD follows than any other place in the university > shame that we are not working together
    • It’s pretty clear that we are not working together
      • There is no trust in the relationship between our two groups and build relationship to accomplish the common purpose
      • This trust and relationship will allow us to be mad and communicate our frustrations
        • Being respectful and kind does not mean not being truthful
      • Once we can work together we can capitalize our skills and strenghts
• Tony:
  • Intent of LEAD Fellows is not to be a roadblock > so these feelings need to be worked through

Feel vulnerable with each other to be able to believe someone is being honest and acknowledge we are “wrong” or “right”