As a member of Vancity’s leadership development program I am on a journey to become a better leader. Engaging in deep self-reflection, peer-mentoring and self-directed learning with the intention of creating new habits that help me to be more present, focused and timely is how the experience is aligning my personal potential with the credit union’s purpose. Participating in reconciliation activities, such as dialogue sessions or the Kairos Blanket Exercise, are examples of ways that we are exploring what it means to lead within and beyond Vancity (we are a founding partner for Reconciliation Canada and adopted reconciliation as a core value in 2015). This story focuses on four leadership lessons from our reconciliation journey.
Experiencing reconciliation
A few weeks ago I participated with about 20 colleagues in the Kairos Blanket Exercise, which was co-facilitated by one of my awesome colleagues, Shannon. The experience was humbling, emotional and inspiring. While heartbreaking, so many of the stories reflected the resilience of Indigenous peoples and communities – the facilitators acknowledged that colonialism took seven generations to achieve it’s full, brutal impact and that it will take seven generations of reconciliation to repair what happened. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all on a multi-generational journey of reconciliation. Zooming out and seeing the long road for what it is was important and provided a valuable perspective. It also demonstrated how different people process ideas in diverse ways. From being active resisters to uninformed neutrals to engaged co-creators of the movement, we’re in this together. The process got me reflecting on where I see myself on this journey. I encourage you to reflect on where you see yourself on this journey.
I come to this experience as a straight white able-bodied man of privilege (SWAMP) and fully acknowledge that people who look like me have been instrumental in messing up the world. Reflecting on the Blanket Exercise, the grace of the facilitation team and the reactions of my colleagues, I see being a better leader as supporting others to get comfortable with being uncomfortable (mostly people who are struggling to let go of their power) and growing more leaders, especially folks from marginalized communities.
As part of our development, we have been asked four questions to inspire thoughts about how reconciliation experiences connect with our growth as leaders. These are my reflections.
Listening >>> Talking
In what way(s) did your reconciliation experience connect with your leadership journey?
My leadership journey is all about being quieter. Deeply experiencing a story of Indigenous communities in and around what is now Canada shut me up, which made me uncomfortable because I love to talk and solve problems. As a settler, connections to truth and reconciliation begins with understanding my family’s relationship with the land on which we live and how we think about it.
In general, I need to be open and present to everything in the world, especially what it means to comprehend truth and reconciliation for Indigenous people in the context of privilege. I think that guys who look and think and talk like me need to listen more, talk less and let go of what we think we’re owed or what we deserve. Wrapping my head – and my ego – around this reality informs my leadership journey. I’ll be honest that unlearning and relearning (or at least re-focusing) my power in service of a more inclusive transformation in our communities, especially at work, creates a lot of tension between my personal ambition and how settlers come to terms with our privilege.
Make the uncomfortable comfortable
How might you inspire and encourage others at Vancity to engage/participate in reconciliation?
Creating community collisions feeds my soul the most. Sharing perspectives, finding common ground and getting the best out of people who would prefer not to work with each other is what I love most about leading people. My background in History has equipped me with tools and networks so that I can probably find a resource, fact or experience to engage someone on this topic in a way that meets them where they’re at.
For example, my roommate from grad school co-founded the very informative ActiveHistory.ca website, which recently published “150 Acts of Reconciliation for the Last 150 Days of Canada 150” – from learning the land acknowledgement in your community and why it matters to eating an indigenous restaurant or food truck, the list has something for everyone and I can help to put the experiences in context in terms of why these activities are important for Vancity employees, members and partners.
Shifting leadership
Following the experience, in what way(s) does this shift how you show up as a leader?
To be honest, I thought more about being a parent than I did about being a people manager when I reflected on this question. What’s shifting for me is how our family can weave concepts and experiences that deepen the understanding of Indigenous peoples and communities around the world for my children. My parents are both retired teachers and, thanks to them, I can’t think of a time in my life when I haven’t known about residential schools. My journey started with the book My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling that I read with my mom and dad – I’m not sure what the moment will be, but I know it’s important to create one for my kids, too.
Something that’s also shifting for me is getting more comfortable with not leading. One of the principles of Vancity’s work in service of reconciliation is that there should be “nothing for us without us” – just because I think that I’m properly involving stakeholders in our work or that I have their interests in my mind and my heart doesn’t mean it’s true. Slowing down and including a diverse community of people in our work needs to happen more because working together will help us all go farther.
The journey is long
What is one thing that you will do next in relation to reconciliation?
I commit to experiencing an Indigenous community event with my family, such as National Aboriginal Day at Trout Lake, and reflecting on what we learned from the experience. I also commit to challenging my colleagues who are part of Vancity’s leadership development program to engage in conversations about reconciliation with their colleagues and communities with hopes that doing so will get folks more comfortable with being uncomfortable.
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This article was originally published on May 2, 2018.