Individual Capability

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Board and Leader Guidebook

Section 1.0: Self-Reflection and Learning Your Role in Showing Up to Change

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10 Actions You Can Take

Section 1.0: Learn and Reflect

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1.0 Self-Reflection and Learning Your Role in Showing Up to Change

1.1 Self-Reflection

Reflect on your experiences and the different elements that make up your identity. Ask yourself these questions:

  • How would you describe your identity? What are the unique interests, experiences, and perspectives that shape who you are today? (Hint: You might think about your family’s story, where you grew up, your career path, the activities you do in your spare time, who you enjoy spending time with, etc.)
  • What might be unique about these experiences?
  • How might this identity have influenced your workplace experiences, both positively and negatively?

As a leader, think about these questions:

  • As a leader, how can you leverage your strengths, power, and influence to support inclusivity and organizational growth?
  • What kind of leader do you want to be seen as? What do you want your legacy to be?
  • What are ways you can learn more about people’s different lived experiences and show up as an agent of change?

Take a moment to reflect on other people’s experiences. Ask these questions:

  • In what ways are their identities different than yours?
  • How might that influence their experiences?
  • What kind of barriers might they be facing that you might not have faced?

The path towards inclusivity involves learning, unlearning, humility, and self-reflection. The journey will likely involve bumps along the way, which are normal and part of growth.

1.2 So as a Leader, What Can You Do?

To lead a culture change of inclusion and belonging, it is important to be empathetic, to try to understand other’s experiences, and to show that you are taking action.

Here is how you can take action:
  • Find comfort within the discomfort: though some information may be uncomfortable to hear, your learning, engagement, and growth is driving meaningful change
  • Reflect on areas where you can learn more about another person’s lived experience, challenges, and perspectives: Challenge yourself to learn more about that by speaking with others, reading and taking courses
  • Seek out and welcome feedback
  • Be open to perspectives and information
  • Anticipate that you will make mistakes on the learning journey
  • Expect change to take time

If you make a mistake or are called out for a microaggression, acknowledge your mistake and show that you are ready to grow from it:

  • Take a breath: understand that while you may have spoken or acted in error, this one mistake doesn’t reflect on you as a person
  • Be open: keep an open mind and focus your attention on the other person’s feedback
  • Listen: your priority is to make sure the other person has been (and feels) heard
  • Sincerely apologize: replace instinctive defensiveness with curiosity and empathy, and offer a genuine apology
  • Don’t overdo it: an excessive apology can contribute to the injury
Priority Group

1.3 Organizational Reflection and Actions

An important goal in working towards the 50 – 30 Challenge is to build a culture where everyone (regardless of identity) feels safe, welcome and respected. Below are research highlights on key ways to do this:

  1. Diversity doesn’t guarantee a better performing board and organization; rather, it is the board’s culture of inclusion that can affect how well diverse boards perform.

  2. It is important to focus on multiple forms of diversity, not only one form; social diversity (gender, race/ethnicity, age) and professional diversity (ideas, skills, expertise, etc.) are both important for increasing the impact of diverse perspectives on a board.

  3. It is also important to have diversity of thought and perspective; to do so, analyze the current skillset and experiences of board members and seek candidates to fill gaps.

  4. To make diverse boards more effective, build a culture where people feel safe and welcome to contribute, and that their voices are heard and integrated into decisions.

  5. Having a socially and professionally diverse board coupled with an open and welcome culture ultimately benefits the entire organization.

10 Actions You Can Take: Learn & Reflect​

1. Watch a video on understanding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and inclusive language.

2. Self-learning: Begin to understand the challenges faced by different identity groups by starting with these resources. Choose 3 links to start, then move to the next Action. When you’ve completed all 10 actions, come back to learn more!

Note: As language is evolving, some terminology in the above external links may not be up-to-date.

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  • Challenge yourself to learn more about experiences, both past and present, of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
  • Practice humble and active listening by hearing what another person’s experience of the world is like and putting aside any preconceived assumptions
  • Explore Indigenous values. An example is the Seven Grandfather Teachings shared by many Indigenous Peoples; love, respect, courage, honesty, humility, wisdom, and truth
  • Learn from and with team members through conversation, sharing perspectives and challenging one another
  • Be willing to admit your own mistakes; create a space for coworkers to make mistakes and take risks without fear of punishment

Definition

Microaggression

Microaggression is defined as: “A comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group” – Source: Merriam Webster

Definition

Unlearning

Unlearning is defined as: “To make an effort to forget your usual way of doing something so that you can learn a new and sometimes better way” – Source: Cambridge Dictionary

Definition

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as: A framework for understanding how different aspects of a person’s social and political identities (e.g., gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, physical appearance, etc.) combine to create unique modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies advantages and disadvantages that are felt by people due to this combination of factors – Source: Kimberlé Crenshaw, TIME

Definition

Privilege

Privilege is defined as: “The unfair and unearned advantages individuals are granted for having, or being perceived to have, social identities that align with those deemed to be superior according to societal rules and norms. It is often experienced as an absence of barriers related to a particular social identity (e.g., White privilege, straight privilege)” – Source: Egale

Definition

Safe Space

Safe Space is defined as: “A place intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations” – Source: Merriam-Webster

Safe spaces allow individuals to feel comfortable having brave and honest conversations.

Definition

Emotional Tax

Emotional Tax is defined as: “The combination of feeling different from peers at work because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity, being on guard against experiences of bias, and experiencing the associated effects on health, well-being, and ability to thrive at work” – Source: Catalyst

Definition

Tokenism

Tokenism is defined as: “Performative policies that ostensibly promote diversity or equality (placing women or diverse groups in leadership positions), but do not truly have a positive impact on the workplace. Tokenism isn’t progressive, and it especially causes harm to tokenized individuals, causing extra pressure to succeed due to being perceived as representative of a group and often leaving them in an alienating work environment” – Source: Catalyst

Definition

Psychological Safety

Psychological Safety is defined as: “An environment that encourages, recognizes and rewards individuals for their contributions and ideas by making individuals feel safe when taking interpersonal risks. A lack of psychological safety at work can inhibit team learning and lead to in-groups, groupthink and blind spots” – Source: Gartner