A feedback culture is built by people who give and receive feedback with grace and introspection. So many things get in the way of that introspection - previous traumas, identities attached to being perfect, hero complexes, etc. The last thing we want to do is add to those barriers by being sloppy about what we want out of an interaction. Bringing that clarity to our conversations will help us build durable organizations that support us during ruptures and, instead of walking away, help us find each other.

The work of dismantling the horrors of this moment starts by investing in our own ability as institutions. We cannot do it at the national democracy level when we haven't figured out how to do it inside our own communities of practice. Institutions are the places where we learn to be with each other across difference and power. It is the defining challenge of our time to build the infrastructure of the future in the present.

Social change organizations are facing an unprecedented challenge: how to navigate an increasingly hostile political environment. The work of social change has required strategizing and restrategizing to deal with the new variables the rising authoritarian movement has put into play.

In the middle of instability, people are better served being warriors for their beliefs than victims. They are better served knowing what power they do have instead of focusing on the power they don't.

Here are some potential questions to ask yourself and your team:

• What feels funky about the current distribution of power?

• What decisions do you think a flat organization structure would make better?

• How much transparency do people want into different parts of the organization?

• How do you/they feel about the tradeoff of cognitive load and full transparency?

• How do you/they feel about the tradeoff of more time on organization transparency and macro decision making vs more time on their specific expertise?

• Is everyone willing to take on a 20% time investment in the systems and structures it takes to make the organization run effectively?

• Do you feel the freedom to make the decisions necessary to get your job done well? What contributes to feeling or not feeling that freedom?

• Are there places where you are confused about who gets to make the decisions?

So many of our community members are under assault due to ICE and unprecedented militarism in the face of peaceful protest. In the midst of rising authoritarianism and fascism, we have to make space in our daily lives to practice joy and resilience and to cultivate spaces where we can manifest more of the world we want to live in. 

Power is the ability to change my life and others' lives through access to money, information, community, audience, decision makers, and decision rights. This access is a set of levers that can move, create, or diminish that ability to change your or others lives. I always introduce this definition of power to clients because it takes power from being this ethereal feeling to something you and your team can see and discuss.

We have dived into the work of multiracial and multicultural institution building because we have a point of view on what systems need building, skills need training, and what moves people could be making. 

The people with the most access to power (in this case information) insulate themselves from the risks of shock while leaving people with much less access to power (and in this case, information) fully exposed to all of the harmful effects of unexpected shocks in our system.

At Brava we’ve been hard at work thinking about what changes we could make to be more accessible to more people in a time of incredible duress for multiracial and multicultural institutions. I know that I’m not alone in observing that the federal government is actively making it legally difficult for multiracial and multicultural organizations and businesses to exist and thrive.