Since it was founded in 1996, the Academy for Professional Excellence has been committed to creating an inclusive environment where the sharing of perspectives, ideas, and experiences from our internal and external stakeholders is welcomed. We operated with a responsibility to embrace the various ways diversity strengthens our programs, our workforce and our communities.
However, we recognized that it was not enough to strive for inclusion and diversity without focusing on achieving equity for all of our stakeholders. In January 2020, the Academy for Professional Excellence took its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to a higher level by engaging the organization in discussions that would pave the way for a new journey. We gathered as workgroups and committees to understand what was happening and shifts that needed to be made. We identified concepts that were core to what we believe in. We revised policies and procedures to be less biased and more equitable. And we collectively defined diversity, equity, and inclusion which gave us a grounding point that we are using today.
Our Co-Created Definitions
We see DIVERSITY as a relational component of our Academy culture where each employee is recognized, respected, and valued for who they are – unique individuals with intersectional identities. Our differences bring a diverse range of experiences that add unique depth to our relationships with each other and our stakeholders. Our authenticity is honored in every space we share together. Diversity is essential to personal and collective safety that is directly linked to the practices of equity and inclusion.
EQUITY calls our attention to the individuality of employees, each having different experiences, interests, skills, needs, and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Equity requires an environment where equality is the goal that fuels actions to address systemic barriers and inequities that disrupt fairness, safety, and inclusion. We understand this acknowledgment is not enough. A critical function of equity is designing systems and processes that identify and remove barriers that were created to limit access to resources and opportunities, with particular attention to those experienced by people historically targeted for marginalization*. It is through equitable practices that we reform harmful, divisive standards to support safety and inclusion at work.
INCLUSION is a practice that is cultivated by intentional, multi-layered actions at the Academy (from daily practices to systemic change). It does not naturally exist due to the value of diversity alone. Inclusion is about our sense of value, safety, and belonging at work and an appreciation for the ways in which they are interconnected. We believe that including all voices and perspectives in decision-making improves how we operate together and the services we provide. An invitation to these spaces does not mean we can automatically assume that it comes with safety. It is the ongoing practices of inclusion and equity that build and maintain emotional, physical, and psychological safety, as personally defined by each employee.
Our definitions are the result of countless conversations, time, and energy to find something that felt right for us. They capture what we mean when we say DEI and this is what we are striving to experience as a regular part of our work culture. These definitions are not static and will likely change over time as the Academy grows, staff continue engaging in courageous conversations, strategies are implemented and evaluated, and our understanding of these concepts deepens over time.
* To learn more about the discussions that were had in the development of these definitions, read A Note about Oppressive Language.
Our Approach to DEI Integration
We are on a journey of integrating DEI into the fabric of our organizational culture because it directly addresses and reshapes the core elements that define our internal environment: our values, norms, behaviors, practices, and systems. This is not an add-on to our culture; it is central to the way we operate and is experienced both internally and externally.
In addition to our strategic work, our journey calls us to pay attention to the importance of communal development of the heart, mind, and practice. Our focus is on building our capacity to be in process and emotions with each other, in addition to gaining knowledge. When we stay in our brains, we can miss out on growing from feelings, responses, and process-oriented discussions that are essential to form and strengthen healthy relationships. Our journey includes ways to (1) build shared language and (2) increase our affective capacity to help integrate what we are learning and change behaviors.
We have an acknowledged destination of healing, healthy relationships, and changed behaviors.
The destination is our evolving path where our norm is to be regularly engaging with each other with behaviors that are healing and healthy. We want all Academy members to have the tools they need at any moment to improve how they collaborate and problem solve together, and know when and how to use them to honor and protect our working relationships. We believe that if this is what we are experiencing, we will see what we described in our definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
