Two Eyed Seeing - embedding justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) into your perspective and practice

Insights for organizations and individuals committed to fostering reconciliation and positive change.

June is the month in which we recognize and celebrate both Pride and Indigenous History. In that spirit, consider how you can be an agent of change and ally to all marginalized groups by embracing two-eyed seeing.

Full disclosure: I am a cis, het, white female from New Zealand who has lived in Canada for the last 24 years. I approach this work grounded in my own cultural legacy. I have a commitment to continuous learning on these issues and my perspective is not grounded in lived experience of colonization, marginalization and oppression. It is for this reason, and in the spirit of ally-ship, that I feel a duty to share a mainstream perspective on the opportunities created by embracing JEDI and reconciliation.

Etuaptmumk (Two Eyed Seeing) is a concept brought into mainstream consciousness by Mi'kmaw elder Albert Marshall. It refers to the ability to see from one eye the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing and engaging with the world, and simultaneously see with the other eye from the Western mainstream worldview.

In Canada, as in other WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) nations, we are seeing a long overdue renewed focus on reconciliation, the inclusion of perspectives of people from the global majority (BIPOC ), and social justice efforts. This is occurring even as we see retrenchment and resistance to these very concepts. The historical legacies of colonization cannot be underestimated and define the Western worldview.

In this context, is it really possible to embrace two-eyed seeing to hold space for Indigenous and other ways of knowing when you are raised in the mainstream culture, and why should we try?

Synthesizing these perspectives, that on their face may seem diametrically opposed, creates a richer and more flexible worldview that enables us to draw from the best of both worlds to truly embody JEDI and decolonization into our work, our relationships and our communities.

Defining Scope & Purpose

JEDI is a framework that aims to promote fairness, respect, and belonging for all people, especially those who have been historically marginalized or oppressed. Reconciliation is the process of healing and restoring relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, based on truth, justice, and respect.

Often JEDI and reconciliation efforts start from a place of wanting to ‘do the right thing’ (or worse, be seen to do the right thing without genuine desire to change the status quo). In practice, JEDI initiatives that create real change tend to be anchored in an understanding that embedding justice, equity, diversity and inclusion as foundational principles in policy, procedure and practice reduces legal, operational and organizational risk.

Years of research, shows it generates better outcomes at an individual, organizational and systemic level, through increased productivity, innovation and profitability. So, by all means do the right thing for its own sake, out of a very real moral imperative. However, for those that may roll their eyes and think ‘why bother’, at least consider your self interest and maybe start with a more mercenary motive but just get started.

By embedding JEDI and reconciliation in our work, we can evolve the systems and structures that perpetuate inequality and injustice and create better opportunities and outcomes for everyone. These approaches foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation and undermine those who seek to further polarize our communities.

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Getting Started

Changing the way we perceive, think, and act must start with curiosity and humility. To consider new ways of showing up, we must first recognize that something about the status quo is at best limiting, or at worst harmful.

Curiosity about the status quo can be the launching pad to get started. However, curiosity is only the beginning of getting educated about historic and current systemic injustices. Understanding can only happen if we embrace humility and recognize that despite all we’ve been taught or experienced in the past, no one can be expected to know all of the many complex factors that have shaped our worldview and those of others.

With humility we can approach these complex and contentious issues with a more open mind, realizing that to consider the world from a new perspective is exciting and opens up possibilities and does not mean that we are betraying our roots or our culture.

Learning about systemic injustices and their root causes can be challenging to our identity and image of our selves and our loved ones. It requires us to sit in the uncomfortable moment and consider that the way we have been taught to understand the world is just one way of knowing. Much has been made of late about ‘white fragility’ and people recoil from these topics for fear of being labelled “racist” when they feel a need to defend the worldview they’ve been taught their whole lives to rely on.

However, we would be foolish not to recognize that anyone can feel out of balance when the concepts that ground their world view and seem immutable and unshakable are fundamentally challenged. Pushing through this difficult moment requires courage and a belief that ?expanding our knowledge and world view can have a positive impact on our daily lives and the world around us.

Two eyed seeing requires us to acknowledge that no perspective is better than, or the “right” way of thinking in all cases. It enables us to widen our toolkit to give us more resources to respond to the challenges in front of us, applying perspectives that best address a given context and that recognize the inherent equality of these ways of knowing.

Building a toolkit and knowledge base

Too many organizations seeking to embed JEDI make a fundamental error. They focus effort on training staff on JEDI without a commitment to specific implementation and how this will show up in their daily work through policy, practice and procedure. Alternatively, they focus on changing documentation and systems from the top down, without first educating the team as to the fundamentals of these principles, helping them to understand the historic and current injustices that the work seeks to address.

Successful organizations start by expanding people’s understanding of the issues, the JEDI framework and reconciliation concepts. This needs to be done in the context of the “Why” – why it matters to the organization, and to the individual. Training is an investment the future of the organization. Only then does the organization move to change policy, process and practice.

Through experiential learning, team members can be exposed to real world examples and through role playing and testimonials from impacted community members, deep learning and new perspectives can be embraced. At this stage, it is vital to engage qualified advisors from Indigenous communities, and other communities of interest. Ensure authentic information is provided that is grounded in the lived experience of these groups. Training can not be just a one-time event; it must be built into the onboarding of all new staff and be regularly refreshed and revisited for the organization as a whole.

There is an entire industry dedicated to providing tools, templates and resources for organizations to adopt JEDI practices, find credible experts to assist you and then ensure you tailor these for your specific context and operational objectives. Understanding your organizational culture is a must if you seek to evolve it to embody these principles.

Moving from learning to action

When these concepts have been internalized, the focus can shift to workshopping and consulting with staff on how this could be embedded in policy, practice and procedure. While it may be tempting to drive these from the top down (and in some organizational contexts that may also be required), this approach empowers people to innovate and crowdsource the best ideas grounded in an understanding of your real operational context.

Ensuring that practical and realistic changes are made is critical here. Being too aspirational at the outset can lead to disengagement if progress is too slow or changes become unwieldy to implement. Pragmatism and incremental progress will go further than inspiration that is not grounded in the reality of the operational environment or the organizational culture. Look for those things that can be piloted or implemented quickly so people see real change happening and can experience the benefits.

One example is incorporation of land acknowledgements and recognition of the territories on which the organization operates. Rightly, land acknowledgements have been getting some flack lately as some organizations use them performatively without substance to back it up. But land acknowledgements can be a ‘quick win’ as long as they are expressed in a context of a journey towards reconciliation and are backed up with engagement with the local Indigenous groups that are being acknowledged. In this way, you can show that this is one of many steps on the reconciliation journey for the organization, making these acknowledgements more meaningful.

Empowering staff to lead peer-to-peer opportunities for discussion and learning is also a great way to sustain JEDI efforts over the long term. Creating space for regular sharing circles or group chat threads to share ideas about what is working and where roadblocks have been found, or sponsoring innovative ideas with a small fund, can be very powerful.

The more people see that there is space to experiment with incorporating new ways of seeing, thinking and acting in a JEDI context, and that their efforts are supported by the organization the more momentum that will build.

It is inevitable that these efforts will meet resistance along the way. Ensuring that senior leadership is fully sponsoring these initiatives is critical. Over the long term, they must consistently and clearly communicate their commitment and intent to obtain the productivity, profitability and innovation benefits of this work.

Reconciliation and embodying a JEDI perspective through two-eyed seeing is a journey not a destination.

Substantive gains will be achieved, when reconciliation and JEDI become “the way we do things here” – part of the organizational DNA - anchored in the benefits of increased employee engagement, innovation, productivity and profitability and reduced legal, organizational and operational risk.

Adopting JEDI tools and templates has merit, and policy updates can improve short-term outcomes for organizations. Project based initiatives can be meaningful and create positive change. However, when the fundamental worldview of individuals, organizations and communities can be expanded to incorporate other ways of seeing, thinking and acting, then long term and systemic change can occur.

This June, consider what is stopping you and your organization for getting on the path to a brighter future through an expanded worldview that embraces two-eyed seeing.