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Author: Dragonfly Partners

INCLUSIVE GROUP CULTURAL NORMS



To enhance the possibility of liberatory culture in groups or organizations

Drawn in part from “white supremacy culture” by Tema Okun.

DEVELOP A CULTURE OF APPRECIATION

Focus on what’s working well; offer gratitude for peoples’ effort and gifts; acknowledge your own mistakes; make it OK for others to not always get it right and to learn from mistakes.

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural norm of critique, blame and perfectionism and the value of mastery

DON’T RUSH, ALLOW FOR SPACIOUSNESS

Develop realistic timeframes for the group’s work that allow for inclusion and full participation.  Make sure that there is time for all voices to be heard in generating ideas and making decisions. Negotiate with the group about how you will deal with time – start, breaks, and how long you spend on dialogue and reaching consensus.

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural norms of urgency and punctuality

ATTEND TO HOW THE GROUP WORKS TOGETHER AS MUCH AS WHAT THE GROUP ACCOMPLISHES

Make sure that peoples’ need to be heard is as important as the “content” agenda.  Make yourself comfortable with expression of feelings – without having to “fix” them. 

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural hyper-focus on goals, measurable results

WATCH AND HELP SHIFT POWER DYNAMICS

Pay attention to power and influence in the group, and name it.  Make yourself and group members responsible for ensuring that the voices of the dominant culture are not heard more than those of marginalized people.  Shift power by valuing skills, talents and contributions that draw on forms of cultural expression that honor the cultures of group members.  Some examples are ritual, storytelling and creative arts.

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural notion that power is limited and earned, and is held by those who are comfortable with analysis, conventional writing or the ability to respond verbally to issues in a group; and the practice of hoarding power.

MAKE DECISION-MAKING TRANSPARENT

Make sure that everyone knows and understands who makes what decisions, and what level of authority group members have; for group-level decisions, agree on a decision-making rule (e.g. consensus, majority vote, etc.); include people affected by the decision in the process.

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural pattern of obscuring the decision-making process – so that it’s clear to those in power but not to anyone else; and the practice of paternalism – belief that dominant group can make decisions on behalf of others, knows best what they need.

LEAN INTO DISCOMFORT

Challenge yourself and participants to take personal risks in service of the group.  Be bold while demonstrating personal vulnerability, making it possible for others to do the same.  Encourage the expression of differences and conflict in the group.  Make sure the voices of marginalized people are heard in a conflict, in whatever form they need to express them, and that the feelings of people in the dominant group are not over-attended to.

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural norms of politeness and conflict avoidance, and the valuing of psychological comfort over candor.

EMBRACE MULTIPLE REALITIES
Recognize that everyone has a world view which affects what they see and how they understand what is real and what matters.  Assume that everyone has a valid perspective and that your role is to understand that perspective, from each person’s point of view.  Acknowledge that emotions often underlie fixed opinions, particularly those that don’t make logical sense. Listen well, reflect back and let them – and the group – know that you got it.

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural belief that there is such a thing as being objective or “neutral” and that linear, logical thinking will get you there.

BE ACCOUNTABLE TO THOSE SERVED BY THE GROUP

Be vigilant in your loyalty to the group’s constituents, and hold that vision for the group- especially when there may be a conflicting loyalty to another party (e.g. those who pay for the group’s work). Encourage group identity and collective responsibility. 

Contradicts:
Dominant cultural value of money over people


EXERCISE:  60-90 minutes


In a group of 8 or more people, divide into 4 smaller groups so that each group will be assigned 2 of the cultural norms.  If your group has 16 or more people, you can assign each group one norm.

In the small groups, participants will explore the norms one at a time, as follows, with 20-30 min devoted to each norm:

  1. Make sure everyone has read and understands the cultural norm and the dominant norm that it contradicts
  2. Go round so that each person has an opportunity to share their sense of how this plays out for them personally, and in the group.  Chances are that there are some aspects of this norm that are present and some that need to be developed.  Make sure you name what works as well as what is missing.
  3. Once everyone has spoken, talk together about the perceptions that were common and where there were differences.  Take time to explore and understand the differences.
  4. Spend the last 10 minutes on each norm brainstorming what you, as a group, might be able to do differently to move closer to the ideal expressed for this cultural norm.

Do this for each norm.

Bring back key learning to report to the larger group.

Smaller groups report out and the group discusses their learning and immediate next steps. (20-30 min*)

Small groups:  40-60 min

Large group report out and discussion:  20-30 min

*Timing dependent on group size.  If small groups can focus on 1 norm, rather than 2, they will need less time.