Navigate Challenging Conversations about Power, Privilege, and Oppression with Leah Kyaio, DEIB Strategist and Author
Listen to the latest episode of the Imagine Belonging Podcast and gain ideas on how to skillfully engage in difficult conversations at work and beyond.
Do you struggle with finding a common language that can help build trust and bring your colleagues together, especially when working with others who often disagree with you because they hold different personal values and perspectives?
Then you’ll want to tune into the Imagine Belonging podcast where you’ll learn about Leah’s Kyaio’s newest book, Between the Bars. It offers a powerful foundation to help you successfully engage in meaningful, difficult, and uncomfortable conversations that when done well, can help create the space to heal.
Leah Kyaio has dedicated the past 25 years of her life supporting business and community leaders successfully engage in challenging conversations like these. She identifies as Two-Skinned, having a Blackfoot Native American mother and an Appalachian white father. These identities inform her work about privilege and oppression and are amplified in much of her work, including this book.
During this episode, Leah and I discuss the Cage of Oppression Framework she writes about in her book. It encourages you to explore critical concepts such as privilege, internalized oppression, and strategies to embrace acts of allyship that will help you consciously recognize and value different perspectives that arise at work.
A few key highlights from this conversation include:
Exploring how Leah’s Two-Skinned identity informs the way she connects with audiences when discussing complex topics such as privilege and oppression.
Naming why having a shared language when discussing oppression is critical, and also recognizing some of the barriers that make it difficult to create one at work.
Identifying the necessary skills to neutralize common behaviors resulting from disagreement such as defensiveness, noncooperation, bullying, and retaliation.
Underscoring the importance of inclusive behaviors and learning strategies to begin engaging in skilled practice to embody them at work (and beyond).
Recognizing what has gone wrong with most DEIB learning programs, and ways to course correct by following the adult learning process.
Sharing guidance on how leaders can make it safe to make mistakes and learn from them as they move away from awkward practice to more skill practice.
Offering strategies on ways DEIB professionals can utilize the Cage of Oppression to skillfully navigate challenging conversations at work.
Savor this insightful talk, and if you’re looking for ways to connect with inspiring leaders Leah, be sure to check out the Belonging Membership Community – a community of leaders committed to advancing their DEI goals while practicing community care.
Community members have the opportunity to participate in live podcast recordings and engage in a private Q&A session after the recording is complete. Your membership is appreciated as it helps make this podcast possible.
You can learn more here: www.belongingmembershipcommunity.com.
Rhodes Perry’s Substack is a Belonging Membership Community-supported publication. To receive new posts and support these offerings, consider joining the Belonging Community.