My Why
Originally posted November 8, 2022
Today, I was asked what I thought was my mission in life. What is my purpose? Why do I do the work that I do? Why do I choose roles that serve marginalized communities but also make me a representation of the systems that I’m trying to dismantle? The systems that haven’t helped me.
What is my “Why”?
I am an agitator. My why is to agitate. I aim to create or encourage change and growth by focusing on or pushing the uncomfortable.
The best way I can explain this is like this …
Imagine wearing a sweater with a tag poking you in the back of the neck or along your ribcage. It’s uncomfortable. After a while, it’s agitating. But is it so uncomfortable that you’ll burn or throw the whole thing away? Probably not. You will probably do one of the following:
Return the sweater. Get your money back or exchange it for something more comfortable.
Cut the tag off.
Wear a shirt or other clothing that blocks the tag from your skin.
Change into a different sweater/outfit/shirt.
Put the sweater away and avoid ever wearing it again.
You have options on how to make yourself more comfortable.
I want to be the tag in your sweater, the agitator in your growth process.
My job as a consultant and coach is to help shift your perception or encourage an open mind. As a coach, I’m here to help you push against your barriers in a safe space and to support you as you challenge the uncomfortable. As a consultant, I help you overcome systemic barriers to center inclusion, diversity, equity, and access in your program goals, work culture, and community.
How can you work with others when you don’t know yourself? How can you genuinely collaborate between different departments or colleagues when you’re not open to a different point of view? What makes your point of view right? What makes the point of view of others wrong? Where’s your evidence? Why were you hired for your role? What are your qualifications? Why are others in their role? What are their qualifications? What are the expected goals as an individual? And as a department? Or as an organization? And as a service provider?
In the IDEA 101 workshop, I offer to organizations, I focus on balancing self-reflection and centering the organization's mission. I am intentionally utilizing ice-breakers that are more conversation starters than introductions. I want to know the individuals in the room while also knowing the community I am visiting. I don’t need to introduce my audience to each other. I am the stranger to them, most likely. Introduction ice breakers would be for my benefit, not theirs. They may not know each other well, but my goal is that by the end of my time with the group, they’ll learn more about why each person is in the role that they’re in and what their “why” is for working in that particular organization.
My workshop isn’t meant to be a mediation between interpersonal or department conflicts. It is intended to agitate my audience to tap into themselves and communicate with colleagues to humanize them. It also reminds them they are there because they chose to serve the organization's mission. If what’s being asked of them to perform the mission doesn’t align with their values or ethics, then they have to make a choice. Collaborating has been difficult if they believe in the mission and the work. They have to make a choice. There is a choice to understand everyone there believes in the mission, but they may all have different ideas on how to do that. It’s then a choice to be open to the diversity of thought and embrace it rather than resent it.
I won’t fix your internal and interpersonal conflicts during a two-day work period. I offer year-long evaluation programming for that. But, if I don’t make my audience “uncomfortable” or “agitate” them once, or at least a little, in my time with them, the learning goal of my workshop isn't met.
Uncomfortable and agitation don’t need to have a negative connotation … but that’s a topic for another day.
