Transformational leaders and organizations understand that courage is essential to effective leadership. We know that DEI work surfaces many emotions and often leads to spaces of discomfort as new awareness emerges, and we embrace this possibility and create brave spaces for our clients to explore and engage. As Susan David described in her work on emotional agility, courage is not an absence of fear but rather “courage is fear walking.”
Organizations creating meaningful change are committed to:
• Creating pathways and support structures for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color leaders
• Fostering greater awareness and skill to interact across dimensions of identity difference
• Exploring new “rules of the road” for organizations seeking to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion in their organizational culture, norms, policies, and practices
• Modeling behavior change in their senior-most leaders and establishing accountability measures and success metrics
Coaching invites leaders to access their inner wisdom and solutions. In diversity, equity, and inclusion, coaching practice concepts of social identity, healing, restoration, well-being, and resilience are being recalibrated to place the experiences of marginalized peoples in the center. Prentis Hemphill describes the power of healing and wholeness this way “Healing makes room for us to fight in the places where it’s necessary, and to love in the places we long to”.