INCLUSION AND BELONGING UPDATE FOR JUNE 2020

Happy July! Can you believe that one full month of summer (depending how we count “Summer” - I like to start with June even though it’s unofficial…) is already behind us? As someone with a deep love of summer and sunshine who spends the majority of her time in the midwest, I tend to get a tiny tinge of sadness this time of year as I am reminded that summer does not, unfortunately, last forever.

This summer, over here on the Zing Collaborative team, like many, we have decided to increase our focus on inclusion and belonging.

My intention for this work is that it takes the long-view, that it is forward-looking, and that it is a marathon versus a sprint. My intention is that it’s not about talking about what enrages us and as a result about what others should do (hashtag social media 2020). My intention is to read and learn from a variety of perspectives and political affiliations, and to avoid giving into, or in any way accidentally perpetuating, the extremism and polarization that we are seeing on so many levels in our country right now. My intention is about learning, reading, educating ourselves, spending time synthesizing and processing our findings, tuning into what feels true for us, and then doing the work and taking action. My intention is to ask hard questions and engage in challenging dialogue to go deeper than headlines and narratives created by the media, and instead to understand what’s true, to explore root cause, and to hold up the mirror along the way. 

Each month, over the course of the upcoming months, I will be providing a brief update on what we’re up to. 

Note: I am writing this update from my perspective. This is not in an attempt to center myself in these conversations, but rather as a way to share my learnings from my own perspective with the Zing Collaborative Community. Because there are so many wonderful resources being shared right now, my goal is to provide context and perspective - along with links and resources - in an effort to create more than another resource list. Thanks for reading! 

Here’s the first update, looking back on the last month, for June 2020.

WHAT WE DID ON THE ZING COLLABORATIVE TEAM:

• Attended Reimagining Small Business Webinar (Sarah)

• Read So You Want to Talk About Race (Sarah)

• Read Witnessing Whiteness (Emily)

• Watched Parenting in Support of Black Lives: How to Build a Just Future for Kids (Emily)

• Registered For, and Kicked Off, a live virtual program exploring the work of Witnessing Whiteness (Emily)

• Committed to Donating 10% of all sales from Leadership, Agility, and Innovation  to Operation Fresh Start (Zing Collaborative). Note: this is a change from the original organization that I was going to donate to. I have been incredibly impressed with my interactions with folks from OFS, and as a result would like to further support their work in this way.  

• Donated to Operation Fresh Start (Zing Collaborative) 

• Donated to Nemaiah: contribution for Witnessing Whiteness course (Zing Collaborative) 

• Donated to Fontana Sports: Recovery Fund (Sarah and Emily). 

• Donated to Downtown Madison Business: Recovery Fund (Sarah) Note: I believe in the idea of both/and - that we can both take a stand for, support, and protect black lives and that we can support small businesses. 

• Co-Created a DEI for HBB (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Heart-Based Business) Mastermind Group with three incredible and trusted female founders, in order to create a space for hard conversations as well as shared learning and accountability (Sarah) 

• Wrote to the mayor, and the governor, to inquire about the long-term vision for restoring State Street and our Capital Square beyond the State Street Streatery initiative happening in the upcoming this month, and to ask about possible ways to get involved (Sarah). As of this writing, I have not yet heard back from either. 

• Took one of our Zing Collaborative Conscious Leadership gatherings to process, grapple, and engage in dialogue about our current world and how we can effectively show up as humans and leaders within it. 

• Pushed myself to avoid reading only left-leaning news sources and to include those that are more moderate and even right-leaning to get a better understanding of the diversity of perspectives in our country right now. A current favorite is The Hill, which includes dialogue from both a left-leaning, and right-leaning commentator. (Sarah)

• Taught kiddos about race and engaged in beautiful related conversations (Emily) 

• Read a boatload of articles (Sarah and Emily). 

NEXT STEPS AND ACTIONS:

• Kick off DEI for HBB on Friday, July 3rd (Sarah) 

• Attend How to Be an Anti-Racist webinar on Monday, July 20th (Sarah and Emily) 

• Continue attending Witnessing Whiteness program gatherings (Emily) 

• Continue learning, reading, and engaging in dialogue (Both) 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

In the upcoming weeks and months, as a team, we will be continuing to synthesize and process our learnings from the things we’re working on currently. To allow space for this process of synthesis and processing and grappling and being in the messiness of it all, I’m going to refrain from neatly wrapping things up with “key learnings and take-aways,” and instead will end with a commitment to our continued learning and dialogue around these topics as individuals,  a team and a company.

More to come in the upcoming months. In the meantime, thank you for reading - and if you have resources or references that you’re finding particularly helpful in your world, I of course welcome them!

With Gratitude,

Sarah