Radical Heart (rad.i.cal heart)

Adjective

"Radical Heart" is a transformative force at the core of a person or idea, deeply connected to equity, inclusion and justice, in words, actions, thoughts and beliefs. How you live and lead. It is an embodiment of anti-racist leadership that centers healing, awareness, connection and sustainability.

We value: Sustainability. Awareness. Connection.

Our Background & Approach 

In order to act from our values and live as the embodied inclusive leaders we want to be, we believe in creating spaces to meet ourselves and each other more deeply.  At the heart of it all, we believe in helping folks find the blocks that are keeping them from actually embodying their values and actively creating a space for everyone to show up authentically in order to take action and  make the biggest impact in their community.

We, Maren and Nikki, have been providing consultation services to different organizations, leaders and teams over the years and come with 30 combined years of experience in facilitation, leadership development, organizational change all through an anti-racist lens. Together, we have been able to craft meaningful learning experiences for a variety of clients specializing in small teams and nonprofits. While working together at a Denver-based nonprofit called Building Bridges, we supported organizational transformation from a traditional hierarchy model to a shared leadership model. This included building new policies, processes, positions, program structures, fundraising and board engagement. Everything had to be shifted to truly embody this new equity-centered vision the organization was embarking on. 

Our work has spanned across a diverse set of organizations, with unique missions and purposes. From immigrants and refugees, to public radio and corporations - the clients we work with are poised to make an impact on their workplaces and communities. When working with immigration lawyers and advocates, it was important for us to facilitate our workshops and coaching in a way that centered the staff who were directly impacted by immigration, and that encouraged leaders to uplift these lived experiences as expertise. When we worked with mental health professionals, we focused on how the need for therapists of color was priority along with addressing the level of burnout and secondary trauma. These are just a few of the ways that we have centered health and racial equity while supporting organizations with sustainable systemic change.

The core of the work we do is anti-racist and intersectional. We believe that an organization is only as anti racist as its leadership, and that this work is personal before it is anything else. We now, as a women owned and led, multi racial team, and members of the Civic Consulting Collaborative, support organizations who want to find alignment in or already know their core values, but need support and a connector to bridge their commitment to action around inclusive, authentic and embodied action and culture. We believe in the cultivation of liberation in the workplace by equipping teams with the tools to care for and sustain an inclusive culture long after we leave.  We believe that if a group wants to dismantle systems of oppression on the larger scale of a workplace or institution, they must begin with dismantling internalized beliefs and behaviors of those oppressive systems that exist within themselves.  We use a relational, empathic approach that opens up dialogue and sharing rather than shaming or shutting down different perspectives.

These key principles and frameworks guide my work:

• Bronfrenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. This theory helps us understand the complex underpinnings of each human. We use this theory to help us bring texture and nuance to each person’s lived experience.

• Intergroup Contact Theory. Deeply embedded in our practice around conflict transformation is the idea that when you bring groups of people with differences together and provide a uniquely structured environment, there is an opening for reducing prejudice and increasing greater understanding.

• Friere’s Popular Education Model. We adopt the mindset that our participants are experts in their lives and the wisdom they bring to the space is valuable.

• Cultural Intelligence (CQ). As a research-based model of intelligence, we tap into this model as a foundational piece of our culture-shifting work, particularly with leadership transformation.

• Inclusion and Accessibility. We know that when we ensure all participants’ diverse needs are met, the group is able to access the perspectives and contributions of all people in the room.

• Transformational Leadership. We draw on feminist histories and popular education, both of which promote shared leadership and center relationships, in contrast to transactional paradigms.

• Anti-Oppression and Intersectional Analysis. We engage with power dynamics and address the ways in which diverse identities impact intergroup interactions. We specifically engage with race and address systemic racism in our approach.

30 combined years of experience

What we do

1. Leadership & Organizational development

2. 1:1 Inclusive Leadership Coaching

Guided by our research and values, our approach to transformational leadership and organizational development addresses both intellectual understanding as well as applied interpersonal practice. We also explicitly focus on addressing workplace culture, over business processes while understanding that both are critical to effective long-term growth within businesses. Our services focus on supporting and embedding inclusive culture as a necessary component to implementation of inclusive business processes.

With this type of work, many things are happening at once.  It is a lot to try and consider individual and collective needs at the same time.  We apply the following learning priorities across all our services. While also customizing those services to meet our clients individual needs. We find these learning priorities increase engagement and participation. 

• Learners engage each other and facilitators as co-learners, voluntarily.

• Learners engage in direct experiences with focused reflection to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, develop capacity, and plan for future action.

• By learning and practicing specific communication tools, learners deepen and develop relationships and effectively navigate through conflict.

• Rooted in a practice of empathy, we support learners in prioritizing radical realness and creating a space where the community can practice accountability to each other.

Workshop Topics and Skill-Building

1. DEIJ Basics, Definitions, shared language and understanding

2. Emotional and Cultural Intelligence

3. Racial Identity Development

4. Identity, Intersectionality and Microaggressions

5. Power, privilege and (Systems of) Oppression

6. Understanding and pivoting away from white supremacy culture

7. Communication Skills

8. Leadership Development skills

9. Action steps to sustain DEI work

10. Nonprofit Boards and DEI training

11. Facilitation training (Train the trainers)

12. Empathy, relationship and trust building