Resilience when you encounter resistance tools
- "You will encounter endless challenges as you grow your awareness of—and seek to change—the inequitable structures of our everyday lives. These challenges might be external (outside of our organizations) or internal (within our organizations, or even within ourselves). Sometimes these challenges present as resistance; whether that resistance is internal or external, moments when we encounter resistance provide an excellent reminder to pause. Can you identify that resistance and remain curious? Can you seek to learn about the causes for resistance, which may include fear, defensiveness, or lack of knowledge or understanding (Porter et al., 2023)?"
What Can You Do?
- "Prepare to encounter internal challenges and plan to take on some personal work. Prepare to be honest, vulnerable, and kind to yourself. Build a support network of colleagues similarly dedicated to this effort with whom you can unpack your experiences and learn from them."
- "Get connected. Engage with communities and organizations dedicated to this work, which you might find locally, regionally, or nationally (the EDUCAUSE Diversity in IT Community Group is a great place to start)."
- "Influence change from where you are. You don't have to hold a formal leadership position to influence change.
- Academic technologists at the University of Minnesota outlined specific anti-racist practices that they are employing to influence change in their spheres of influence, including within their organizations and in pedagogical practice (Delagran et al., 2022).
- Are you active on social media? Amplify voices of people with identities different from yours.
- Do you present and/or publish regularly? Seek colleagues with identities different from your own with whom to collaborate. Ensure that you are listening to them, and make space for their contributions (Bell & Schatz, 2022)."
- "As an individual, be clear about your own goals in taking on this work. Identify your "why" and return to it when you encounter challenges."
- "Push back—or nudge forward—where you can. One respondent to EDUCAUSE's QuickPoll on DEI analytics responded that "People have not bought into the idea that analytics help with DEI…. They're mostly worried about analytics causing harm (Robert, 2022). If you find yourself in this space, help those around you explore their concern and discomfort, knowing that this may be uncomfortable for you as well. Is the concern rooted in a desire to avoid less-than-ideal optics? Does avoiding the realities of the present help achieve a desired future state? Might engaging with analytics as a starting point help us engage more meaningfully with the topic of "cosmetic diversity" and how we might aim for more substantive change (Benjamin, 2019)?"
- "Remember that "starting small" can be very effective. As you work toward change, and as you encounter challenges and resistance, you may have to adjust your goals and expectations.
- It may be helpful to know that "social movements typically start small. They begin with a group of passionate enthusiasts who deliver a few modest wins. While these wins are small, they're powerful in demonstrating efficacy to nonparticipants, and they help the movement gain steam. The movement really gathers force and scale once this group successfully co-opts existing networks and influencers. Eventually, in successful movements, leaders leverage their momentum and influence to institutionalize the change in the formal power structures and rules of society (Walker & Soule, 2017)."
Adapted from:
Porter, S., Wang, J., & Dunn, S. (2023, April 19). Tackling systemic and structural inequities in higher ed IT: A Primer on beginnings. Educause Review.
References
Bell, W.K., & Schatz, K. (2022). Do the work: An antiracist activity book. Workman Publishing, 2022.
Benjamin, R. (2019). Race after technology: Abolitionist tools for the New Jim Code. Polity Press.
Delagran, L., Lopez, C., Olson, A., Schoen, S., & Wilson, T.T. (2022, July 15). How academic technologists can bring anti-racism into our work. EDUCAUSE Review.
Robert, J. (2022, February 4). EDUCAUSE QuickPoll results: Using analytics to advance equity goals," EDUCAUSE Review.
Walker, B. & Soule, S.A. (2017, June 20). Changing company culture requires a movement, not a mandate. Harvard Business Review.
