process design
What to do when collaboration reproduces hierarchy and inequality
There may be nothing new under the sun, but things get forgotten or go unresolved. Patterns get played out over and over again in ways we can’t see. One repeating stuck pattern I see in even the most well-meaning, collaborative circles is gender bias.
We know that gender bias takes a personal and economic toll on individuals. But gender bias has collective negative effects which mostly get ignored. Too many good ideas with the potential to move communities, organizations, entire fields forward get lost simply because they happen to come from women. Too many good ideas only get heard when they are picked up by men (who don’t always give women colleagues credit) and much gets lost in translation. All of this is compounded by race and class.
If we know this happens, one outcome is that we struggle to follow a woman’s lead when it comes to doing things differently. We struggle to move from knowledge to practice and to women-led practice.
For Collaborators, Proper Alignment Keeps the Work Moving
While it’s uncomfortable and disheartening to lose sight of purpose, to notice how our individual purpose or a shared purpose might be changing, or to observe individuals or entire groups fall entirely out of alignment, we have much to learn there about what helps collaboration along and what keeps us (and the work) stuck.
