A White Affinity Group Series: "Letting Go Of Urgency & Individualism In Leadership"

“. . . part of the price of becoming American is to give up the collectivity of your ethnic background. To become American and to be American is to be individual.” — Marc Anthony Neal, Professor of African and African-American studies, Duke University,

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Sure, I want to collaborate, but by the time I figure out how to delegate all of this I could get the whole thing done myself!” As White people, our common norms around time and individualism combine to push us out of group work and into our siloes - even when we mean to be inclusive. This deprives our projects of the benefits of multiple perspectives, snubs our colleagues from collaborative cultures, and can leave us exhausted from trying to do it all ourselves.

In this introductory workshop we will look at the cultural norms that keep us in our siloes, as well as alternate norms common in other cultures. We’ll then embody them in simple practices to get out of our heads and into action. Join us as we expand our understandings of time and relationship, and come away with increased stamina for holding complex truths, tools to move us out of our analysis paralysis, and a keener sense of which cultural trait is most beneficial to enact in the moment. Note: this workshop was previously titled Intro To Building An Anti-Racist Culture: A White Affinity Workshop.