Creating
Cultures of Belonging
We support organizations committed to creating cultures of authentic belonging, where diversity flourishes, and different beliefs, perspectives and worldviews are seen as strengths. All people, regardless of: ​
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race - ethnicity - gender - age
sexual orientation - faith - physical ability​
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Deserve to feel an embodied sense of:
Valued, Honored, and Uplifted
We envision organizations as places of belonging, where people: ​
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Feel heard
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Feel seen
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Feel valued
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Feel communal strength
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Feel differences are celebrated
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Feel emotional well-being is a priority
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Feel leadership embodies a willingness to learn and grow
Building Equitable Organizations
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Communal Wisdom - DEI change-processes that collect feedback and ideas from all voices within an organization
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Creating DEI Leadership Teams - That are diverse, represent various positional roles, are empowered to consult on policies and practices
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Re-Imagining Organizational Values - Creating new values that embrace celebrating differences, empower diversity of thought, and reward people for authenticity and speaking up ​​
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Redesigning policy - Assessing current policies and practices that may cause exclusion or unfair treatment, and redesigning them through a lens of equity and belonging
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Diversifying Hiring & Promotion - Building equitable practices into all hiring & promotion policies, scaling outreach to build relationships with underrepresented communities
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Inclusive Facilitation Training - Training staff in facilitation practices that draw on collective wisdom and invite in diverse perspectives.
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Inclusive Language - Identifying microaggressions and harmful or exclusionary language towards any identity, and creating language models that embody cultural awareness and belonging.
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Community Building - People are vibrant, multi-faceted and unique. We help create spaces where the whole person is honored.
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Honoring Well-Being - Cultivating a culture that upholds and prioritizes the health and well-being over profit and bottom-line results, and that support people during challenging life events.​
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciate Inquiry is an internationally recognized change process that integrates Positive Psychology, Emotional Intelligence, and Collaborative Design to create growth.
AI is based on the foundation that change is most effectively reached by affirming present strengths, invoking inspiration and possibility, and collectively generating new ideas. Voices from all levels of a community or organization partake in a five step process that is inherently: ​
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Creative
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Collaborative
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Generative
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Inclusive
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Strength-Based
1. Definition - Clarifying, Focusing, Framing - "What are the right questions to guide us?" - Knowing that language impacts process, great intention is given to select positive, strength-based, affirming questions and topics that becomes the guiding catalyst for growth.
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2. Discovery - Appreciating - "What gives life?" - Teams identify and build on the positive core already present. High points of excellence are recognized and celebrated, and stories of strengths, values, and inspiration are collected and shared.
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3. Dream - Envisioning - "What could be?" - A communal vision of a new future is imagined through a lens of possibility, so that creativity, hope and passion guide the process. Teams generate new life-giving images that unify the shared aspirations of a future to build towards.
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4. Design - Co-Creating - "What should be?" - New possibility statements are created that galvanize teams around a specific, agreed on vision. Teams innovate together to determine the best values, systems & structures that allow the aspired future to become a reality.
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5. Destiny - Delivering & Sustaining - "What will be?" - Building on this newfound purpose, teams initiate open-space dialog to align strengths and commitments to begin the change process. A phase of learning, growth and improvisation evolves as the new vision is embedded.