Intentionally Engineer Inclusion® Program

I strive to be an inclusive leader and to facilitate a learning environment where people experience feelings of safety and belonging. Ultimately, I strive to “practice what I preach.” If you experience feelings of exclusion from me or anyone in the group, or if anything makes you feel devalued or discouraged, I implore participants to come to me directly with concerns. I commit to honoring your feelings, holding your truth in confidence, and taking appropriate action to address issues.

Even though I have a syllabus and learning progression planned, my objective is to be as participant-centered as possible, prioritizing your needs over my agenda. I aim to be flexible and agile to adapt to the cohort’s best interests. Though we will strive for a collectivist approach, I want each individual participant to feel empowered to speak up when they need clarity or additional scaffolding for their learning.

A culture of feedback is critical for inclusive spaces. I welcome feedback to help me grow as a person and leader and to improve the program. Participants will be encouraged to share feedback directly and anonymously throughout the 12-week program so we can make real-time improvements.

I encourage participants to hold me accountable for my actions and mistakes. While it is not your job, I do invite you to draw attention to my blind spots, and I commit to “respect and not deflect” responsibility for my words and actions. Impact is always more important than intent.

I promise that I am an easy person to give feedback to and will thoughtfully consider your observations, feelings, and input. If you need help sharing your feedback, I’ll provide a variety of strategies to assist you in addressing your needs.

We are all equals. I do not subscribe to hierarchy and actively work to remove power structures. I invite participants to help me in doing so as we co-create our learning environment together. The number of degrees held, years of experience, or otherwise should not elevate anyone above another, and wherever you are in your journey is a perfect place for you to start. Most importantly, you have direct access to me (phone, email, calendar, etc.) and all participants through the learning management system. 

As a white woman raised in a very homogenous community, the dominant ways of knowing and doing are deeply engrained in my conditioned ways of knowing, doing, and being. I actively work to unlearn these behaviors, and divorce from white supremacy culture. My teaching style leans toward collectivist ways of knowing and doing, all the while, my wired mode of operation is more often individualistic. I welcome and encourage participants to help each other de-center whiteness and other dominant cultures in our work together.

I strive to take an intersectional and systemic approach to my work. Meaning we will not get stuck or stop at the common one-dimensional interpersonal bias perspective. I regularly challenge myself to think, “What else might be true?” to broaden my perceptions and minimize misattribution.
Ultimately, I’m on a mission to help others reduce the time between learning about privilege and identity, understanding and seeing systemic oppression, and taking action to make systemic change. If you find that there are areas of improvement for me, I welcome your feedback.

Transparency is one of my core values. Sure, that may be a strange one, but to me, it includes authenticity, honesty, and an active effort to remove barriers. In addition, I will do my very best to model what I am teaching throughout our program. I believe this form of transparency empowers others to see the humanity in themselves and others and invites them to model best practices, too.