Equity, Power & Belonging: Our Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Go Beyond Leaning In to Breaking Through
From our point of view, the traditional language of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is rooted in a model of scarcity. This causes anyone in a subordinated group to feel excluded, unwelcome and potentially unwanted.
The shift we need to make is not just about including those left out. It’s not about making room for “others.” It is about realizing that systems of inequity cause harm to us all in different ways. Once we shift to seeing clearly the interwoven nature of all of life, we can begin to reweave the social fabric of creation and embrace our shared humanity.
Seven Stones partners with individuals, practitioners, life-long learners, change agents, team leaders and CEOs to spark breakthrough transformation and create sustainable improvements.
Come Learn With Us
What makes Seven Stones Equity, Power & Belonging engagements unique is our training and commitment to bring mind, heart and body together in our leadership offerings. We have created a unique road map for individuals and organizations to travel from a place of scarcity to what we call Sustainable Abundance.
Sustainable: ethical, reciprocal and just
Abundance: grateful, radiant and present to the bounty everywhere
This work takes courage and a sustained commitment, but the capacity and possibilities to co-create can change our organizations and our society.
How We Engage For Change:
What’s Available:
- Information on how norms of whiteness, anti-Blackness, racism and inequity show up in our lives, workplaces, institutions and culture.
- Personal reflection on the impact of embodied trauma, separation, scarcity and disconnection.
- Tools and techniques to help integrate learning and imagine new ways of working — personally and professionally.
- Self-regulation and co-regulation practices for improved wellbeing.
- An affinity group cohort to build capacity for cross-race dialogue to support authentic relationships and deep belonging for everyone.
To find out if Equity, Power & Belonging is your next bold move, call us at 617.531.3548 or complete the inquiry form.
For Coaches and Trusted Advisors
Learning communication tools and cultivating the skills of deep listening support trust and team building.
As trusted advisors, we must be willing to dive deep into systems, unpack our clients’ collective narratives and address any communal wounds.
We offer an opportunity to deepen our own capacity as practitioners to:
- Speak candidly and openly about issues of race.
- Look deeply at our own biases.
- Notice and frame client issues in relationship to racism or other isms.
- Understand the impact of our own differences from those of our clients’ in the coaching relationship.
We recommend the following engagements for coaches and trusted advisors:
- Coaching Supervision Groups
- Personal and Industrial Racial Autobiographies
- Defining Terms Assessments
- Embodied Practices
- Learning and Development
- Understanding Racism as Trauma
- Race and Power
- Authentic Communication and Cross-Race Dialogue
- Bystander Intervention
- Building and Managing Trust
- Uncovering Unconscious Bias
- Taking Accountability For Our Actions
For Leaders and Team Members
Healing trauma is both personal and interpersonal in nature.
We all have personal work to do to unwind, build and take responsibility for the lenses through which we see life. For all of us, oppression lives in the body as trauma. If we do not do the work to heal trauma, we cannot move forward together.
We recommend the following engagements for leaders and team members:
- Executive Sponsor Coaching
- Racial Autobiography
- Explorations on Privilege Assessments: Subordinate, marginalized and targeted groups
- Embodied Practices
- Learning and Development
- Understanding Racism as Trauma
- Race and Power
- Authentic Communication and Cross-Race Dialogue
For Organizations and Systems
“Diversity is not as much about who occupies the space, as it is about who controls the space.” - Debbie Irving
As leaders, we must examine how structural inequities are woven into our teams and organizations. If we continue to operate out of a context of scarcity, we will perpetuate the myth that the pie is limited and there is not enough for all. Bold leaders can declare new stories and then invite, inspire and call others to action to join them in bringing new stories and ultimately, a new context, to life in their organization.
We recommend the following engagements for organizations and systems:
- Executive Coaching
- Systems and Process Assessment from an Equity Lens:
- An analysis of power, organizational norms, leadership, mentoring, talent development, performance and pay, advertising and marketing, recruitment and more
- Team Values Alignment
- Personal and Industrial Racial Autobiographies
- Defining Terms
- Creating a “Guiding Coalition”
- Creating Ambassadors
- Embodied Practices
- Learning and Development
- Race and Power
- Authentic Communication and Cross-Race Dialogue
- Understanding Racism as Trauma
- Bystander Intervention
- Building and Managing Trust
- Uncovering Unconscious Bias
- Taking Accountability For Our Actions
Heal Collective Trauma and Embody Anti-Racism Course
The Essential Equity, Power & Belonging Learning Journey
Join Gina LaRoche and Jen Cohen for an amazing learning journey where we will examine the personal, interpersonal and structural dimensions of racism.
In this 8-session learning journey, we will examine racism as the historical, vicarious, institutional and collective trauma that it is through a personal, interpersonal and structural point of view. You will learn distinctions, techniques and practices that will allow you and your teams to envision new ways of speaking and working mindfully and bravely across differences.
“People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way, but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political and spiritual values.”
– Grace Lee Boggs, Civil Rights Activist
