Behind the Shell: The Luster of Variegated Gems

A meeting such as this seems like a beautiful cluster of precious jewels—pearls, rubies, diamonds, sapphires. It is a source of joy and delight. Whatever is conducive to the unity of the world of mankind is most acceptable and praiseworthy; whatever is the cause of discord and disunion is saddening and deplorable.

—‘Abdu’l-Bahá

An organization’s service providers are a treasure that often serve as the hands that are in direct contact with service recipients, and the eyes and ears that witness, in real-time, how the organization is being received and regarded by the public. Too often the talents, experience, and learning capacity of service providers is taken for granted and their workplace needs are too often sidelined for what is considered higher-order priorities. The organizations that see their service providers—and treat their service providers—as treasures have realized a great thing indeed.

Regardless of how they are seen in the outside world, service providers from marginalized social backgrounds offer a great deal to their organizations. Behind the shells that have been othered through ideological fabrications—lie souls with the talents and qualifications to successfully perform the job and the lived experiences to offer unique points of view that can leaven dialogues on strategic next steps. The key to realizing the full potential of this mutually beneficial dynamic of an empowered staff and a surging-ahead organization is ensuring that each service provider experiences a safe and comfortable work environment that allows them to learn, grow, and advance their careers. It implies a ‘grow the pie’ mindset rather than a zero-sum, ‘divide the pie’ mindset.

However, words betray the challenges and complexities involved in striking the right balance between community-and-mission and diversity-and-values. The task of getting community right and ensuring focus on your organization’s chief objectives is not an easy one. But once these components are aligned, it ignites forward movement in a manner that is hard to subdue. The leaders that harness the humility to commit to a learning process are the first to seize this form of momentum. They embrace the fact that learning involves ecstatic advances and painful setbacks, because they know that they will be able to hang their hats on leading their fields and gaining a distinctive edge through their sustained commitment.

We meet organizations where they are and walk with them through a learning process that will expose the impediments that are in the way of forming and catalyzing stronger relationships. Relationships that empower and allow each and all to blossom through belonging. We help organizations realize the dynamism of combining strong stakeholder relationships with mission-focus and values alignment. Our assessment process is simple yet powerful, forged through peer-reviewed research and practical experience yet tailored to meet the specific needs of each client organization. The mission is much too critical to let anything stand in the way. Our role is using the rigor of validated research methods to help organizations uproot the entanglements that are distracting individuals and teams from contributing their full share, and identifying what needs to be repaired in order to move forward with assurance and conviction.

While acknowledging the poor choices of the past, we collaborate with changemakers who are mobilizing their powers and talents to make better choices today. Without sidestepping the pain of seeing so much human potential wasted for the sake of preserving dehumanizing ideologies and unjust structures, we forge collaborations to respond constructively. This means engaging in work that is worthy of those who fought valiantly for human dignity. With so much untapped potential and unrealized power in your people, why not cultivate the relationships necessary to catalyze it all?