Practical approaches to build Intersectional Leadership
- Aisling Blackmore
- Dec 15, 2022
- 2 min read
This post is duplicated from the original article published using LinkedIn on 15 December 2022.
A couple of months ago during my trip to New Zealand, I was fortunate to work with Nurain Janah to bring together a fantastic group for a discussion on Intersectional Leadership in the Boardroom. As part of that conversation, I shared key starting thoughts on what this looks like in practice.
Value the voice of those most affected by decisions.
First and foremost, we need to have conversations with people who will be impacted by decisions. There's so many examples of organisations making decisions with very little insight about how this will directly affect people on the ground or engaging in tokenistic 'consultation'. Create shared decision-making frameworks, outline how the values of the organisation should be reflected in engagement with stakeholders or consumers, and back rhetoric up with action and resourcing.
Aim for inclusion, not representation.
When we appoint people to represent the perspective of entire identity groups, we (usually unintentionally!) reduce that person's contribution to that of a stakeholder voice or advocate. Or worse, we undermine their credibility to sit at the table. We also lose the opportunity to focus on inclusion, which would enable all people around the table to share their skills, perspectives, and experiences fully. Keep maturing your efforts at equity, and aim to create an inclusive organisation and inclusive decision making structures.
Take a broad view of stakeholders.
The Māori concept of whānau is incredibly valuable in taking a holistic approach to who is in people's lives and who has a stake in the success of an initiative. Think beyond just decision-makers or funders when mapping your stakeholders. Ask the question: who is going to be affected by this decision and how? Then make sure to bring those perspectives into your decision-making process.
Disaggregate data.
Personally, I'm a lover of social data and statistics. Numbers give us evidence and can direct our attention. But if we're not careful data can also obscure areas of significant need or create false impressions about the scale of progress. Analyse your data intelligently, and ensure you're able to see the different experiences for different social identity groups.
Cross-pollinate, connect, and collaborate.
Intersectional leadership is driven by the desire to lead in ways that work for all people - and so we need to deliberately develop ourselves and our knowledge about a very wide range of human experiences. Connect, collaborate, and share your lived experience with other people who are not like you and learn about their lives. What makes the lives of others joyful and what creates barriers to thriving? There's so much to be learned from the strength and creativity of others, and so much to be gained through allyship between different social identity groups. To be a great intersectional leader, we need to expand our own worldview first. We cannot identify opportunities to bring more people to the table and understand where there might be negative impacts if we are only speaking from our own lived experience.
My thoughts on practical steps were shaped and enhanced by this article: https://opportunityagenda.org/messaging_reports/ten-tips-for-intersectionality/