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In August of 2020, we shared what is Ours To Do, and announced an intentional pause to pause in response to the effects of COVID-19 on our organization and industry.
We launched this pause with a learning journey, and opened up about some of our process after our first 30 days. You will find the happenings of our recent 30 days at the end of this blog post. But first, we add some of the insights we are gathering from team study and discussion of Emergent Strategy, by adrienne maree brown.
She defines Emergent Strategy as “how we intentionally change in ways that grow our capacity to embody the just and liberated worlds we long for.” She uses science fiction (and the work of author Octavia Butler in particular) as a framework for imagining a world better than our own. By dissecting and breaking down the ways that our small, steady, and individual actions build into something far beyond us, she illustrates how nature exists as a perfect example of equitable organizing. To say that we are inspired and fortified by this work is an understatement! Livable Futures shared their learnings from studying this book together in a blog post here, and we wanted to follow suit with a few pull quotes from our own discussion sessions.
Here are some thoughts that have been shared by our team:
“I’m really moved the story of her parents coming together. She reveres them so. I love the idea of them having to see something impossible as not only a possible way forward, but as THE way forward.”
“Using the starling bird as an example, she teaches us that any part of the flock who is guided by simple rules can transform the movement of the whole flock. That idea of collective leadership, partnership, and adaptability is powerful.”
“I am so empowered by the way adrienne maree brown pairs this imagining of what feels science fiction and is not yet real with knowing that any of our biggest questions have already been answered by nature. When the imagining starts to feel too big and impossible, when we are trying to fabricate a toolkit that already exists in nature, we can turn to those tools and feel less helpless. It’s something pure to return to. There is no corruption in nature. It’s a perfect operating system.”
“I love how much she spoke of grief, and as someone who feels in deep relationship with grief, I’ve never had someone express it both so poetically and constructively. She makes this beautiful and useful list of things to consider when grieving, my favorites beings ‘the broken heart can cover more territory’ and ‘love can only be as big as grief demands.’”
“She talks about ‘moving at the speed of trust’, and I think Statera has always moved at the speed of the need. Because of that we have broken down trust because we are making decisions out of haste and urgency that are not about the people in front of us. We get caught up in an overarching pressure of productivity and output... all these things that move us further and further away from bone-deep relationship building work.”
“She uses the imagery of water a lot, and with water there is always a danger of it being misused or channeled without caution or balance. It can halt the way things are meant or want to flow. That keeps washing over me, no pun intended! Moving too quickly, without ease, and without completion feels like a common danger in the nonprofit world.”
“Chaos theory, the idea that a butterfly flaps its wings and causes a tsunami on the other side of the world, feels really relevant here. Every little thing that we do has an effect somewhere else. We never know how big or catastrophic our actions are on someone else’s life or even how positively impactful they are. A lot of us have finally had time to sit still and be reflective about that because of our current times. There is always an impact of our actions which must be looked at, regardless of how good our intentions may have been.”
“We don’t grow and change if we aren’t stressed with challenges. We would stagnate if we didn’t have things in front of us that make us feel vulnerable and naked. She says life is a matter of miracles, and I like the idea of looking at challenges as part of the beauty of life.”
“adrienne maree brownsays ‘We are realizing we have to become the systems we need-- no government, political party, or corporation is going to care for us, so we have to remember how to care for each other.’ To me, that's the definition of non-profit, it's an answer to the problems that our government isn’t focused on.”
“There is an importance to leaders being adaptive. Once you create these structures and then you recognize things could be better you HAVE to be adaptive. But you have to have the relationships already built wherein everyone feels comfortable adapting together.”
“I don’t think hierarchy exists only to give power to a select few. It seems to also exist so each person in the organization only has to truly trust the person above them. Perhaps it’s a way to limit the amount of time that must be taken to build trust. I want to move at the speed of trust like adrienne continually advises. I want to know how a group builds trust and interdependence to move like a bird migration, which she so beautifully calls to again and again in this book.”
“We have a human problem we have to address before we can deconstruct systems. There’s a photo of a poster in the book that reads: ‘Building community is to the collective as spiritual practice is to the individual.’ We have to acknowledge where we stand in the community and where we have been placed by society in order to do effective work. Using our privilege to leverage help for someone else may be what non-profits were initially intended to do. We can do it better.”
Accountability check-in
60 days (September): Expanded Listening, Learning, and Identification
Statera expands the listening tour to community-based leaders and stakeholders;
Statera expands opportunities for learning as a team.
Completed the Regional Coordinator Listening tour to gain key insights from chapter leaders of Statera Mentorship (thank you, RCs!)
Implemented twice monthly team meetings to improve team communications and opportunities for collective dreaming forward
Continued organizational audit and implementing Director area autonomy
Established and began the first Statera book club with members of the team, ambassadors, and Board
Integrated learning between the areas of Org Health and EDI, focusing on the topic of collective liberation
90 days (October): Identification, Strategy & Planning
Identify EDI training resources for Statera community leaders;
identify a compensated Mentorship Task Force
Identify compensated, Advisory Task Force for 2021
Continue Team study on collective liberation through Emergent Strategy book club and discussion sessions
Create plan for flattening out the organization to what is essential
Hold Team Visioning Series
Are you reading Emergent Strategy or engaging in similar work? We’d love to hear what you’re garnering during this time as well. Share with us at [email protected].