At Golden Key, our ED&I work is guided by a set of core beliefs:

• Everyone is an ED&I leader

• Change begins within

• The best people to change the system are the people in the system

Through our Conversation Series, ED&I Learning Group and ED&I Steering Group we have found that to engage in meaningful ED&I work is to understand that we are not helping others in a particular struggle; instead, the fight for equality, diversity and inclusion is ours, as individuals.

We believe that a ‘key ingredient’ for building our capacity to address ED&I challenges is self-awareness. This is particularly important for maintaining our ED&I momentum amid the system pressures we may experience.  

Below is a series of questions designed to support us to achieve a level of self-awareness necessary to effect positive change as ED&I leaders. As an example, these questions can be incorporated into existing supervision structures, dedicated one-to-one catch ups, coaching sessions, or personal and group reflective spaces. Working through these questions will help you to assess your current level of self-awareness and to think more consciously about being self-aware.

• How do I hold myself and others accountable?

• Have I taken ownership of my own learning process to ensure I am not expecting to be educated by those facing oppression?

• How do I contributing to the creation of safe spaces for diverse voices to share their experiences and perspectives?

• Do I actively listen to the voice of others? How do I know this to be true?

• Am I aware of the power and privilege I hold in different contexts and the impact this has on the spaces I occupy?

• What are my personal development needs?

• How do I practice self-care?

• How do I support the care of others?

• How do I understand societal trauma and how it plays out?

• How do I listen to and hear what others tell me, even if it's not something I believe?

• Whose interests are served in the work that I do (Management, staff, clients, communities)?

• How vulnerable am I willing to be in discussions related to ED&I?

• What assumptions do I make about others regarding the diversity they represent and the experience they bring?

• What prejudices and biases am I holding?

• Am I aware of how I am perceived in a group or in different environments?

• Why am I involved in this work and what do I want to achieve?

• Is intersectionality a key consideration of my work?

• What prejudice will I/have I discovered today?

• What assumption did I make today that were proven wrong?

• What bias had an impact on my day?

Through regularly asking ourselves questions like these we can be sure that we are actively and continually working on our self-awareness. We believe that as we work on self-awareness, we become aware of things that are happening around us and are better able to intervene and take on our roles as individual ED&I leaders.