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Leaning Into Our Discomfort: Creating Inclusion Across Difference
By Christine Martell | July 7, 2008
Patti Digh, along with David Robinson will be facilitating the July 16, 2008 ASTD-Cascadia program . Here is an overview
Before we learn about other groups, this session invites us to consider ourselves and our capacity for walking toward difference, as opposed to away from it.
“The work of diversity is messy and chaotic – too often we try to ‘fix’ it with tame solutions that only perpetuate the problem,” says Patti Digh, co-facilitator of this session. “Many organizations avoid messiness even though it is the stuff that drives innovation, creativity and real learning. And we too often focus on behavioral change…but in our experience, behavior – like water – follows the structure of the land. To really achieve change around inclusion issues, we need to look more at the ‘structure of the land’ in our organizations. That, too, is sometimes messy.”
If the real work of diversity and inclusion happens at the far edges of our comfort zone, how can we learn to step toward our discomfort when our impulses tell us to run away? What is the difference between how we behave on those edges and how we think we behave? How does our need for safety keep us and our organizations from really engaging in the work of inclusion? What in the structure of the land of our organizations keeps us from achieving what we need around diversity and inclusion?
This session will address those questions and provide tools for moving ourselves and our organizations toward true inclusion. Please bring both hemispheres of your brain because you’ll need them both!
I have attended several programs with Patti and David, and I always come away with insights into myself and my work as well as tools I can put to work right away.
There are two recent interviews with Patti. The first is on PodCascadia where we interviewed her about the workshop, as well as finding out about her upcoming book, Life is a Verb. She was also interviewed by AOL Canada’s Lifestyle page, where you can read more about her book, blog, and work in diversity and inclusion.
Patti’s new book came from the essays she writes on her blog, 37days . I find her blog to be consistently inspiring, well worth some time exploring. While she writes on many topics, two of my favorite essays about walking with diversity and inclusion are:
Join us for the program July 16, 2008 from 2-5
Registration is still available here .
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Topics: Programs |