It's Time For a Re-Solution

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Welcome to 2022!

My New Year’s Resolution!

This is my first letter of 2022, and that fact’s got me thinking about new year’s resolutions. As December drew to an end, many of us reflected on the previous year and made commitments for the year to come.

I had the opportunity to work with so many of you in 2021. Your stories and growth inspired me. You articulated brilliant plans, overcame enormous obstacles, and practiced the determination needed to achieve great things. As we enter 2022, you are poised to keep on keeping on!

To inspire that growth, I’d ask us to reimagine “resolutions.” Oftentimes, I think of resolutions as something I resolve to do. I sit in the present, plan for the future, and measure success based on how well I stick to pledges I made in the past. Of course, there are benefits to this kind of determined, persistent, and unchanging resolve. Still, there are also virtues to having the openness, humility, and courage to recognize the shortcomings of our plans and the need to re-solve.?

Having resolve vs. having the ability to re-solve ??

I like to observe a problem, make a plan, and let things go on autopilot. I don’t like going back to something after I’ve already “fixed” it, and it’s hard for me to think of revisiting a plan as anything less than failure. Despite what feels comfortable for me, the fact still remains that the plan I came up with during the last week of 2021 might not be the one I should cling to through all of 2022. I might want to think I’ve solved an issue, but the issues most worth addressing deserve constant, patient, and attentive re-solving.

This is especially true in the area of DEI. At Uplifting Impact, we use a framework for strategic recommendations. The nine guidelines for DEI growth include things like discovering assumptions and fostering difference, but one of my favorites concentrates on challenging us to evolve strategies.

From re-solving problems to evolving your strategies ??

You might be in a similar situation. Maybe you had to overcome great opposition to form the plan you have. Perhaps you’ve had to spend all last year practicing all kinds of determination in the face of resistance. After a long time struggling to persist against forces that wanted to compromise, undermine, and water down your DEI initiatives, once you get those projects in place, the last thing you probably want to do is reevaluate them.?

For many of you, last year was one where you had to persist. Take a moment to celebrate your ability to show steadfastness in the face of opponents. At the same time, make room to invite questions from your proponents. To put it another way, if 2021 was a year of resolve, I challenge you to make 2022 a year to re-solve. Instead of pledging to stick to your original plans, open yourself up to re-solving old problems with new plans. As you persevere through a changing landscape, receive the opportunity to evolve your strategies.?

From evolving your strategies to evolving your “self” ??

The organizations that create the most inclusive environments are those that are constantly evolving. Of course, they don’t replace plans left and right, making alterations just for the sake of making change. But they don’t set a course and plow ahead no matter how much all their indicators scream that they should make adjustments.

So how do you know when it’s time to resolve that you’ll stick to your original plan and when it’s time to re-solve the problem with a new plan? Part of the answer lies in rethinking how you see yourself, your team, and your organization.?

If you’re anything like me, one of the reasons why you love resolutions is that they are a guilty pleasure! They foster the fantasy of a resolute individual who stays the same despite how people, the world, and fate try to change them. Resolutions give us the chance to think that we can be unchanging, eternal, and invincible if we just try hard enough to stick to the plan.

But when it’s time to evolve my strategies in ways that challenge this fantasy, I remind myself to be more than self-disciplined by remembering my “self” is a network of relationships. Rather than being the stubborn thing that overcomes external forces, I am that unique point where my particular set of communities, circumstances, and experiences intersect. When making new year’s resolutions, I’m tempted to imagine myself as an independent, strong, and determined stone that flies through the air fast enough to break through any spider webs in its path. But if I’m honest, the moments when I’ve been my most inclusive, I was more like the web of interconnections woven together with others strong enough to hold those flying stones midair.?

Every time I feel one of those strands flutter, I have a choice: I can ignore it and resolve to continue the plan of being what I was, or I can re-solve and evolve my strategies to see what new thing I’m being called to become.

Re-solutions

Who knows what the coming year will hold. The ever-evolving pandemic might require organizational leaders to modify their policies in ways that accommodate people with varying health statuses. There may be unrest that requires team leaders to change their meeting procedures in order to devote time to talking about the identity issues that affect their employees. There might be a whole host of social factors that call upon individuals to modify their actions, worldviews, and even plans.?

But at the beginning of this new year, as I think about my DEI resolutions, I challenge myself to think about them as DEI re-solutions, to never rest on my laurels, to remain open to change, to recognize the difference between harmful self-doubting and beneficial self-questioning, to recognize that resolve may have helped me overcome opponents but I must also remain open to fruitful challenges from proponents.

So what is my 2022 new year’s resolution?

It is to be resolved to continuously re-solve our biggest problems. To realize there is no one solution other than a new year’s resolution to be aware, humble, and courageous enough to begin a constant stream of re-solutions. I can’t wait to see what’s to come! I can’t wait to see all the great things we’ll do! And today I challenge you, to a Happy New Year!?????

The Best of 2021!

Our most played podcast video in 2021! If you missed it, this is a great time to learn about:

? Creating DEI policies and practices that are easily integrated and implemented

? 4 Levels of DEI within Premier

? The ripple effect of supplier diversity

? Assessing and evaluating current strategies before implementing new ones

? The relationship between culture and accountability

? A growth mindset versus a fixed mindset

Watch Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset Now!

Uplifting Impact has released the 2022 trailer for the How to Be An Ally Summit!

Register today at UpliftingImpact.com

Some immediate ways Uplifting Impact is overhauling workplace culture:

• Professional DEI Certification Program
• Uplifting Impact Podcast
• “How to Be an Ally” Virtual Summit

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Being an #ALLY is ongoing work. Any uplifting impact we make now, no matter how big or small, will build a better world for future leaders and generations to come. So, let’s keep working together to affect change. Subscribe to continue these Uplifting Conversations!?