Gregory Flynn
Ep. 34 - The competency of chaos

We are really thrilled to be joined by our friend and colleague Leilani Mañulu, an Intuitive Leadership + DEI expert, a keynote speaker, the author of “Paradox of the Water Bearer” (with another book in the works!), host of “The Intuitive Catalyst” podcast, and a shaman!

We met Leilani a number of years ago at a program leaders event at the Whidbey Institute. Right away, we could tell we were in good company.

This conversations covers a lot of territory, so buckle up. From grief and the loss of identity in relationship to DEI work, to shame and how important it is to give it a voice, to the kinds of competencies we may want to develop to do this work (hint: the title may give that away).

Ep. 34 - The competency of chaos
Gregory Flynn
Ep. 33 - Going towards the discomfort

This one is personal. Having done some workshops to promote the Disrupting Our Practice: Understanding Whiteness program, and getting ready for the program itself, we’ve had some insights.

Insights that hit home rather close. So close, that Greg gets to sit with a giant knot in his stomach in the middle of the episode. Today we’re exploring those insights, talking about the ways that we still – after all of this work, after becoming facilitators of this work – center the comfort of white-bodied folks. We talk about the kinds of discomfort we (white-bodied folks) all need to step into.

Ep. 33 - Going towards the discomfort
Gregory Flynn
Ep. 32 - Lessons from the field

This week we take you into a real experience Shannon had on a recent client engagement. It was an experience where it didn’t take long for race to become named explicitly, and Shannon was able to look at what she was, and wasn’t, tracking.

We explore what came up for her, how she navigated it, and what some of the learnings she’s taken away from the experience. You’ll want to give this one a listen.

Ep. 32 - Lessons from the field
Gregory Flynn
Ep. 31 - If not control than what?

We decided we wanted to explore some of the topics we’ll be looking at in our 9-week program this fall, and decided to start with control.

It just so happened that Shannon was on a family getaway, and some stuff was up for her, so we recorded part of our conversation.

Join us as we consider the ways that control plays out in ourselves and in the rooms we facilitate.

Ep. 31 - If not control than what?
Gregory Flynn
Ep. 30 - There’s a threshold you’ve got to cross

We were both really struck by an interview with Resmaa Menakem, Báyò Akómoláfé, and Orland Bishop as they prepared for their event Three Black Men on June 24th and 25th.

Their interview is far reaching, and it had us thinking about our work, what it means to facilitate, and how do we do this deep, uncomfortable work. We are incredibly grateful for these men, as well as those who are holding and supporting them as they do this work.

We highly recommend listening to the interview with them (link below), as well as checking out the Three Black Men project, which will have two more events on two more continents this year.

Ep. 30 - There’s a threshold you’ve got to cross

Ep. 14 - What are the ways I'm centering myself?

Ep. 14 - What are the ways I'm centering myself?

Following up on our conversation in Episode 13—Our stories aren't being told properly, with our friend and colleague 'N'—we thought we'd once again pull back the curtain a bit and do some debriefing.

N shared some vulnerable stories with us, which got us thinking about our experiences, and the ways we often center ourselves. We also explore how easy it is for us white-bodied folks to never actually explore how racism lives in us.

What did N's stories in the last episode stir up for you? What reactions do you have to our reflections?

Ep. 12 - Our role in the room

Ep. 12 - Our role in the room

Once again we’re reaching into the vault to an episode we recorded a little while ago. That said, it’s an evergreen topic for sure.

All too often, we find ourselves contemplating the question of “what’s my role?” As white-bodied folks, this can be a complex enough question. Throw in the role of facilitator (or other holder of space), and things can get real tricky. We wanted to grapple with this question, using some lived experience as a jumping off point for discussion.

We’d love to hear how you think about the questions that we pose in this episode. What comes up for you when you think about navigating the charge of race in your role as a facilitator? A manager? A coach?

Ep. 11 - The impulse to leapfrog

Ep. 11 - The impulse to leapfrog

In just about all of our programs, usually pretty early on, someone asks, “When are we going to get to taking action?” It’s certainly an important question, but perhaps it reveals something about the way we’ve been conditioned.

What if, instead of jumping right to action, we did some foundational work first? What if we wrestled with some hard questions, developed our capacity to be in the charge of race, build deep and meaningful relationships?

Ep. 10 - There’s a listening problem: A conversation with Aaron Johnson

Ep. 10 - There’s a listening problem: A conversation with Aaron Johnson

We had a little technology glitch, and Shannon dropped off right at the top of this call. But the energy was already rolling and so we decided to keep going.

This week, we are joined by our teacher, mentor, and friend Aaron Johnson of Holistic Resistance. It’s a wide reaching conversation with Aaron modeling how we can disrupt our bios, introducing ourselves to one another in a deeper, more meaningful way.

We talked about the unfair questions that he’s introduced us to, and that he brings into his consulting engagements, offering the listener an opportunity to sit with one. And we talked about how our inability to listen makes it possible for racism to continue to fester in our organizations and our culture.

Ep. 9 - Let's get practical

Ep. 9 - Let's get practical

We found out what happens when we both come in with a lot of capacity - we dive in deep! This week, we thought we would turn to the practical question of designing in light of the things that we’ve been talking about.

What does it mean to tak what we are learning, understanding, unpacking, and hopefully feeling into designing our facilitations? We highlight one of the Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture - Quantity Over Quality - as part of what we might be thinking about in our design.

In this conversation, we explore:

  • When we put the agenda before the needs of the people in the room

  • Questions we get asked like, “Can the meeting be shorter” or “Isn’t that just the way things are?”

  • The role our personal practice plays in how we design

  • What is centered when we are designing?

Plus a lot more.

Ep. 8 - The intention under the intention was my comfort

Ep. 8 - The intention under the intention was my comfort

This week we’re reaching back to an episode we recorded a few weeks ago, one where we share some of our own stories where we missed the mark when. As we know, as white-bodied folks it’s so easy to think we “get it” and not realize just how much we don’t.

We wanted to share these not for praise, but to help normalize some of the challenges around this work and encourage others to begin to look at the ways they have unwittingly caused some harm. How can we continue to develop the capacity to be with the shame that arises when talking about these things, without turning away from it (and we talk about the distinction between feeling shame, and being shamed).

Ep. 7 - Talking about trauma stories (and some of your questions!)

Ep. 7 - Talking about trauma stories (and some of your questions!)

We’ve been really excited to start getting questions from listeners! Thank you to those who have taken the time to listen to the podcast and share what it brings to mind. As we were talking about the questions that folks have shared with us, it made sense to tie them to the ways that our trauma stories play a role in this work.

We talk a bit about individual and collective trauma (heavily influenced by the work of Resmaa Menakem), grounding into the body and regulating the nervous system, and the challenges of this for white-bodied folks in particular.

Ep. 6 - We can get a bit self-referential

After our conversation with Adam (see Episode 5), we thought we'd pull back the curtain a bit and share a bit of our debriefing—exploring some of the questions that emerged for us, some of what we might have missed, some assumptions we made, etc. Inspired by Adam's question of what it could look like if our meetings were about being in community, we start to inquire about how this podcast could be that as well.

Links:

Disrupting our Practice, Episode 5 with Adam Slade

Holistic Resistance

This episode was recorded on October 24th, 2022.

We want to hear from you. Use this Google Form to send us feedback (anonymous or not!).

You can also send your thoughts and feedback to shannon@connectionworks.com and/or greg@connectionworks.com

Disrupting Our Practice is a weekly podcast dedicated to the exploration of what white-bodied leadership and organizational development consultants, facilitators, coaches, trainers need to disrupt in their practices in order to stop unwittingly perpetuating racism, oppression and harm.

Finding this useful? Please leave a review for our podcast, and make sure to hit subscribe!

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit www.connectionworks.com

Ep. 5 - Centering Those Most Impacted: A conversation with Adam Slade

We are thrilled to be joined by friend and colleague Adam Slade to talk about what gets centered in our work. All too often, as white-bodied facilitators, coaches, consultants, etc., we want to center the work we are there to do—and why wouldn't we? But what does it mean to center the voices that are erased when we aren't able to see the ways that some are disadvantaged within the conversation? What happens when the context we are operating in is omitted? This was a great conversation that touches on all that and more.

You can learn more about Adam here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-slade/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chislade

Recorded October 17, 2022

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to shannon@connectionworks.com and/or greg@connectionworks.com

Finding this useful? Please leave a review for our podcast, and make sure to hit subscribe!
Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit www.connectionworks.com

Disrupting Our Practice is a weekly podcast dedicated to the exploration of what white-bodied leadership and organizational development consultants, facilitators, coaches, trainers need to disrupt in their practices in order to stop unwittingly perpetuating racism, oppression and harm.

Ep. 4 - Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture: the culture behind the culture

This week—after we take a little side-trip to talk about “quiet quitting”—we dive into the culture behind the culture. Using the updated paper produced by Tema Okun (and supported and sourced from many others), Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture as a frame, we explore some of the ways what we think of as “just the way things are” may actually be a result of us living within the context of oppressive systems. As practitioners, how might we use this information?

Links for things mentioned on today’s episode:

Updated - Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture

Scene on Radio - Season 2: Seeing White

Change Elemental: Systems Change & Deep Equity

This episode was recorded on August 29th, 2022.

We want to hear from you. Use this Google Form to send us feedback (anonymous or not!).

You can also send your thoughts and feedback to shannon@connectionworks.com and/or greg@connectionworks.com

Disrupting Our Practice is a weekly podcast dedicated to the exploration of what white-bodied leadership and organizational development consultants, facilitators, coaches, trainers need to disrupt in their practices in order to stop unwittingly perpetuating racism, oppression and harm.

Finding this useful? Please leave a review for our podcast, and make sure to hit subscribe!

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit www.connectionworks.com

Ep 3 - Sessioning: It’s changed our practice

Disrupting Our Practice is a weekly podcast dedicated to the exploration of what white-bodied leadership and organizational development consultants, facilitators, coaches, trainers need to disrupt in their practices in order to stop unwittingly perpetuating racism, oppression and harm. 


Finally! We (Greg and Shannon) are going to talk about ‘sessioning’. How is it similar to, and different from, active listening? Why have we begun using it in our practice (with clients as well as with each other)? We take you behind the curtain into our own session and talk about how you might use this powerful practice.


Links mentioned in this episode:

Holistic Resistance - our teachers and mentors in this work

Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture - a fantastic framing of ways that white supremacy shows up within organizations (and in the world at large). Pulled together by Tema Okun, and heavily influenced by her many mentors and teachers, this is a great resource for anyone working with organizations.


This episode was recorded on August 23rd, 2022.


We want to hear from you. Use this Google Form to send us feedback (anonymous or not!).

You can also send your thoughts and feedback to shannon@connectionworks.com and/or greg@connectionworks.com


Finding this useful? Please leave a review for our podcast, and make sure to hit subscribe!

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit www.connectionworks.com

Ep. 2 - Positionality: There’s So Much To It

Disrupting Our Practice is a weekly podcast dedicated to the exploration of what white-bodied leadership and organizational development consultants, facilitators, coaches, trainers need to disrupt in their practices in order to stop unwittingly perpetuating racism, oppression and harm. 


This week, Shannon and Greg talk about positionality—what it is and why it’s important for those of us who are facilitating spaces to track and be curious about. And we invite our fellow facilitators, coaches, consultants, etc. to explore how some questions about positionality are experienced, as well as to consider how you might want to answer them. First, of course, they check in (and talk a bit about why they check in) and continue to kick the ‘should we offer reflection’ question down the road.

Links for things mentioned in the episode:

Holistic Resistance - African Heritage led organiztion that is dedicated to undoing racism and oppression through deep questions, connection, embodiment, and slowing down to see ourselves and each other. Greg and Shannon completed the HR facilitation training in the spring of 2021.

Resmaa Menakem - A trauma therapist and author from Minneapolis, MN. Resmaa is the author of several books, including My Grandmother’s Hands, which has heavily influenced the work both Shannon and Greg do.

Patrice Palmer TED Talk - A professor and dean at Colorado State University, this talk given by them at TEDx at CSU brings forward some very important questions for those of us who facilitate spaces.

Johari Window - a familiar model to help us all understand what we do, and do not see, within experiences we are having.

This episode was recorded on August 15th, 2022.

We want to hear from you. Use this Google Form to send us feedback (anonymous or not!).

You can also send your thoughts and feedback to shannon@connectionworks.com and/or greg@connectionworks.com

Finding this useful? Please leave a review for our podcast, and make sure to hit subscribe!

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit www.connectionworks.com

Ep. 1 - Trying to disrupt our own world

Ep. 1 - Trying to disrupt our own world

Welcome to Disrupting Our Practice – a weekly podcast dedicated to the exploration of what white-bodied leadership and organizational development consultants, facilitators, coaches, trainers need to disrupt in their practices in order to stop unwittingly perpetuating racism, oppression and harm.


In this episode, Shannon and Greg introduce themselves, talk a bit about what the podcast will be, check in, and invite the listener to track how they are experiencing what they are hearing.