B's of Change

Hello Doctor e here with the second installment of what I have titled the ABCs of change. If you remember the a's of change, you'll recall that awareness, action and accountability is what I started or have used as the building blocks for pursuing or affecting change. And now I want to talk about the B's, which I think is more of an internal component or an internal aspect of pursuing and affecting change, which is very important as well, because without the mindset, we can't necessarily have the movement, and without the understanding of what creates how we are planning to go about something, we can't necessarily go about or pursue that in a constructive and an effective way.

And so the bees of change begins with beliefs. And what are beliefs? Well, you know, I think beliefs are ideas that guide decisions, evaluate behaviors, and hopefully result and positive attitudes and feelings about what we plan to do. And so if you have unhealthy beliefs, if you have unhealthy ideas, chances are you're going to lead or go down the path of unhealthy practices, behaviors, and developing bad processes and all of those other kinds of things that will take you off the track of affecting change in a positive way.

And so how are you thinking about beliefs? How are you creating the foundation of what those beliefs are, particularly as it relates to your diversity, equity and inclusion efforts? Your beliefs have to align with, hopefully, where you're trying to go and what you would like to see your organization doing or becoming. And so when you think about beliefs, think about all of those pillars that are associated with your mission, that create the space and the place for you to hold yourself accountable and to begin to think about these pillars in a way that lead to formative practices and processes and policies?

The second B is broaden. How do you begin to enhance or increase your level of understanding, how you go about doing things, maybe even what feeds into how you see things and how you understand things. If you aren't broadening yourself as an individual, if you aren't broadening yourself as a leader or an organization, chances are you are going to start down a stagnant path of not developing and not growing, which is the exact opposite of what we hope to be doing as leaders, as organizations in a healthy way.

And so how do you broaden yourself? How do you begin to think about adding to what you already know, what you already understand? How do you create opportunities for others to engage in ways that add not just to you as a leader, but add to your organization experientially, expectationally, and effectually? And so think about broadening in ways where you're developing opportunities not just for yourself organically but also directly for the outcomes that you're hoping to achieve as an organization.

Then the final b for me is build. How are you building on or building upon all of those things that you're learning based on your beliefs, based in your broadening and then also how you're approaching all of those opportunities that come along, whether they are in the form of obstacles or barriers. How are you using them? How are you using them and utilizing them for building blocks to become better as a leader, better as an organization, better in terms of your diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

And so think about those bees internally and reflectively because they become the mindset that allows you to create the movement towards more healthy and productive diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. So beliefs broadening and building, those are the b's of change. And I'll see you soon with the c's of change.