How to draw more people into good change
Today, Cherika Wilson of the CUNY School of Professional Studies and the NYC Administration for Children’s Services Workforce Institute shares her reflections in the midst of a multi-organization change drive to make child welfare training more fair and equitable — an effort that began with a special focus on sensing interviews. When we seek systems change with heart, how can we begin in a way that draws more people in?
We’ve all seen organizations attempt to make things better in various ways. But for most of us, it’s most often been of the Change Will Happen To You variety rather than Change Will Include Everyone — Join Us In Figuring It Out As We Go! variety.
When we began our process of change, we knew the most important starting point would be to listen. We train people to intervene with families and children in-crisis — how might we help them be their best selves as they face high stakes, high emotion, and complicated, deeply personal interplaying social or economic factors? How can we all better-support families in a way that safeguards children and make a stand for their greatest care and future potential? How can we support all our people to be calm and compassionate, with high degrees of energy, integrity, and work-life balance?
This is sacred work: to address disproportionality in the foster care system while shifting from a perceived culture of ‘taking children away’ to being advocates for family fairness and wellness.
We knew right away it would have to begin with listening.
A sensing interview is more than an opportunity to listen well or learn well. When we seek out a broader array of voices, we build more deeply resonant, fruitful relationships — with people whose work or personal impact could be shifted by change; with people who have been waiting a long time for change, but have felt disempowered or not included in it; and with people who have experiences, negative or positive, with past change efforts. All these dynamics are spread across many levels of organizations, government, and educational institutions who all have a role to play — including commissioners, facilitators and trainers, learning operations teams, logistics staff, researchers, program managers, and coaches.
When we gather input from across this broad array, we connect people with each other. This is where our change begins. With making sure people feel heard. That in itself gets attention, generating cautious optimism and curiosity.
To change the roots and culture of a system, we need more than better tools, new tactical orders, or adjusted policy. We need a much larger conversation about how we are all showing up to do the work we do: how might we shift not our processes or our logistics, but our presence? We seek:
Not ‘better answers’, but questions that lead to better questions
To leave our people feeling consulted and valued
To draw more people in to participate in the change rather than having change ‘done to them’
A culture of sharing and connectedness among colleagues that affirms the delicacy and importance of this work
Full transparency to demonstrate our learning as we go, showing that what we learn genuinely and tangibly influences our go-forward plan
We knew people would appreciate being asked for their thoughts, and we knew this would be a provocative and really positive way to begin. But we had no idea just how much the invitation would draw. We were overwhelmed with a 79% response rate, which was fantastic — but the sudden influx of perspectives made our next steps feel that much more obscured. Many voices means many possible paths. We’re now challenged to integrate many more layers of feelings, takes, and ideas. Our change work is a magnetic, and more of our people are flocking to it, wanting to be a part of it. Of all the challenges to have, isn’t this the best possible one?
In opening up the conversation of how we work — and how we should work — we consider something we call the ‘parallel of process’. How can we model our work with our learners in a way that models how we’d like them to work with families? If we present a punitive, inequitable environment in which staff are never asked for input, we send them out to intervene with families already on unsteady and devalued ground. But if we can be the organizational equivalent of ‘being the change you want to see in the world’, we send them out with the same peace and potential they’re mandated to establish.
Sensing interviews: advice for new change
It’s hard work. l like to think I’m ok with uncertainty and not knowing everything, but it can be very disorienting to go into change without knowing the destination. It’s hard to resist the urge to shepherd things one way or another. Let go of the instinct to sheepdog the change. Sensing interviews help us follow where it leads.
Don’t worry if a moment, a communication, or an engagement doesn’t land well, or if people don’t seem informed or interested. That means there’s something to learn. It means you’ve missed or misread something. Examine and adjust.
If it’s going to ignite further conversations, our learning needs to be transparent, shared, and surprising. That’s how we know we’re going somewhere. The bulk of the value—and the work!—comes after the interviews. Dedicate the people, time, and space to review, analyze, and share what you learn. Don’t keep it to yourselves.
Trust the process. Make sure you’re hearing from everybody. And watch out for those learning moments. They are not shortfalls, mistakes, or failures. They are gold that gets us closer to where we want to be.
Cherika Wilson is a Program Manager and Consultant with the CUNY School of Professional Studies and the NYC’s Administration for Children’s Services Workforce Institute.