Organizational Rootwork: Building Culture Change into Leadership
Organizational culture change is an intense process and requires a sustained and focused effort from leadership. Before organizations embark on strategies and efforts to incorporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives and ultimately anti-racist and anti-oppressive cultural norms, there must be an understanding and commitment to doing “rootwork” on organizational culture. Equally important is accountability in this work.
By rootwork, I mean a commitment to clear and open communication, authentic and consistent leadership, consistent norms, and the creation of a “brave space” for interaction among all stakeholders (staff, management, and boards), all with the outcome of having a sustainable culture that will uplift and embrace diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging principles. There is a tremendous amount of energy and effort being dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies across many sectors. I am not convinced that these efforts, as well intentioned as they are, will effectively address the issues of systemic, non-equitable organizational cultures. We have witnessed the creation of new management positions such as Director of Diversity, Vice President of DEI Initiatives, and the like, as if creating a position or “placeholder” in an organization is a sign of progress and culture change. We must ask ourselves the question: “What are we really trying to do?”
Let's start with the beginning or “root” of this work and what it looks like for an organization. One of the first steps is to have the organization honestly say who they are. Acknowledging the identities of the individuals who are in leadership positions and acknowledging the power dynamics within the organization and how that power is exercised are important fundamental steps in naming the organization’s culture. If we cannot name who we are, we cannot adequately address what change will look like. So, rootwork at its core is being able to “NAME IT”! The act of naming it must be accompanied by an absence of judgmental proclamations by those embarking on this work. Addressing judgmental thoughts and conversations — where something is considered “good or bad”, “right or wrong” based solely on how it fits within what we experience — is an important and difficult conversation for any organization to have.
I want to step away from the “institutional level” of rootwork and make it more personal: Every individual needs to embark on their own personal rootwork in order to be fulfilled. As a Black gay man of a certain age, my own process of acknowledging, naming, and accepting who I am has been essential to my growth as a person and my ability to be an empathetic professional and educator. Being able to say my truth as a person has allowed me to imagine what is possible and to reach for what is possible with a certain clarity… starting with knowing who I am! Every time I stand in that space for myself with each and every experience I have, it becomes clearer to me what my purpose is and how I need to manifest that purpose. Trust me when I say that my own rootwork has been the focus of my entire adult life — a life filled with lots of growth, lots of loss, much pain and anger and, ultimately much joy.
So organizations that are ready and willing to invest in this concept must be able to say who they are (not just their mission statement, but how they see themselves), and they must be able to recognize the people who work for the organization.
One of the most basic approaches to recognizing who is in the organization is by storytelling - by this I mean sharing lived experiences in order to recognize the commonalities among people.
DEIB work is equal to LIVED EXPERIENCES. To the extent we are able to create spaces in our organizations where people can share their stories (and create context for how they see themselves moving around in the word) we are able to support culture change
This article is the beginning of a series on the many ways rootwork informs and influences our organizational culture and our ability to sustain change. Rootwork is necessary for understanding who we are as individuals and as organizations. It is nuanced and complicated and takes time. My hope is that organizational leadership realizes the importance of this work in laying the foundation for any DEIB efforts.