A message from Ujima Sands
We once again find ourselves in the midst of autumn and another academic year. While fall is the start of a new year in higher ed, I also think of this season as a time of shedding, of sloughing off the fluff and getting down to brass tacks.
As leaders, it’s easy to get stuck in old patterns, so I would encourage you to take inspiration from the turning colors and falling leaves. What’s the baggage you no longer need to carry? What ideas no longer serve you? What work are you or your team doing that is no longer as essential or relevant?
In this issue of Leadership Quarterly, I am absolutely delighted with the feature about Pat Hughes, as well as her new POD class, as her work has greatly influenced me. When I first read Pat’s original book on Gracious Space, I was quite stimulated by a number of the concepts and really hovered on learning in public, being comfortable with discomfort and inviting the “stranger.” Years later, they still resonate and have become an integral part of my approach as a leader, coach and facilitator.
Those of you who have taken SLP will likely remember our emphasis on “the wisdom is in the room.” That principle is key for many of us who facilitate in POD. While POD’s training experiences may include sharing knowledge and information in traditional lecture formats, they are also designed to engage the expertise and perspectives of all who are in the room (or on the Zoom) in order for us to make meaning together and reach new levels of understanding.
Whether we’re leading a team, heading a project or engaging in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging work, many of us hold tightly to our expertise. That’s how we get our badges. In doing that, however, we may close ourselves off from the “wisdom in the room” and from deeper growth.
Especially when it comes to DEIB, there will always be things we don’t know. In the months after George Floyd’s murder and as POD worked to develop Conversations About Race, I revisited Pat’s work. In first facilitating that training in the summer of 2020, I leaned heavily on learning in public and being comfortable with discomfort — in fact, those concepts gave me the permission to do just “do it scared.” Ultimately, I believe that approach helped open the doors to deeper engagement for everyone participating.
Just “do it scared” has become my mental shorthand for letting go of control and perfectionism, being purposefully vulnerable and orienting myself so that I’m less invested in controlling the outcome or having all the answers. It’s a way of authentically just being and accepting that I, like everyone else, am continually learning and growing.
I invite you to take a few moments to sit with these thoughts. What are you ready to let go of this fall, and where can you be transformational? What could happen on our teams and in our larger culture if we could shift how we respond to questions we don’t know the answer to? What could change if we were willing to be receptive, open to questioning, vulnerable and brave? I hope you will consider the wonderful new things we might make together.