Committed to the Work
In seminary, I remember thinking, “the more I learn the less I feel I know.” As I dug in, I found I had more questions than answers, more curiosity than assurance. While it may have been frustrating at the time, questions and curiosity are a good thing. They are the foundation of learning and transformation.
I’ve experienced that feeling of learning-but-knowing-less in these last years as I’ve made a more concerted effort to increase my cultural competence, whether that be working to understand all the ways people feel marginalized when we don’t fit some stereotypical norm; striving to be an ally and getting it wrong; learning how to facilitate in multi-cultural spaces where centering the most marginalized is the most important work (and getting it wrong); or sitting in a group coaching session reflecting on situations and interactions that give me the opportunity to learn in humble and vulnerable ways. The more I step in, the more I feel I have to learn.
LeaderWise has 6 perennial strategic goals—we call them “Ends”—that comprise our mission in the world (find our Mission & Ends listed at the bottom of this article). These Ends are not only what we do for our clients, but they also reflect our commitment, as an organization and as individuals, to our own work. We report on these ends to our board of directors yearly, as an accountability practice. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, LeaderWise added the 6th End: “ability of leaders to develop cultural humility and competence.” This means we offer our clients the tools and support to learn cultural humility and competence, and it also means we are committed as an organization and as individuals always to be increasing our own cultural competence. We engage in learning activities as an organization, and we engage as individuals. As with leadership development, the cultural competence work is never done, and we can only encourage our clients to engage the work because we have done so first.
For our newsletter this month, LeaderWise associates will be reflecting on cultural competence from a variety of locations. As I read the articles each week, I will be digging in and learning from my colleagues, and I will be encouraged through knowing that you, too, will be reflecting with us all month. This week is the July 4 holiday. I no longer think about it as “Independence Day,” because not all Americans experience the freedoms that are promised in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. And as Solomon Burke says in his song by the same name, “None of us are free; if one of us is chained none of us are free.” The more we “do the work,” the more free we all will be, and on that day, we will be able to say, “Happy Independence Day.”
LeaderWise: Mission & Ends
The mission of LeaderWise is to foster healthy, spirit-filled individuals and communities for lives of service through assessing, developing and sustaining:
leaders’ clear sense of call or purpose throughout their lifetime;
capacity of leaders and organizations to respond with resilience to rapid
change and conflict;
ability of leaders to self-differentiate, be self-aware, and further professional satisfaction and engagement;
ability of leaders to develop cultural humility and competence;
fitness and readiness of leaders for service and moral leadership;
services that are financially and physically accessible.
