Connection between Consciousness, DEIA, and Leadership

If you found your way to one of my pages, you have probably at some point found yourself asking I talk so much about consciousness, human intelligences, DEIA, and violence prevention.

Let me share a bit more about this to help you understand why I believe that consciousness practices are the foundation for successful leadership and building inclusive cultures. And more specifically, why I talk about consciousness practices in regards to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and violence prevention and how that relates to concepts of leadership.

Before we do that, let me first share what I mean when I say consciousness practices. The first thing is just recognizing that consciousness really is just about awareness of ourselves and awareness of others.

And when we say consciousness practices, we’re looking at practices that are going to help us have a better awareness of ourselves and of others. And even though there are two additional components that I talk about when I talk about consciousness, for this post I’m just going to talk about the awareness of self and the awareness of others because that is really is the foundation.

Understanding how it relates to the human intelligences and what the connection is between DEIA, Violence prevention, and embodying consciousness practices as leaders will help you in all aspects of your life, not just as an executive.

So what are consciousness practices and how do you practice them?

I cover a whole bunch of different consciousness practices but some of the most readily available are meditation practices, mindfulness practices, breath work, visualizations, yoga, Qi Gong, and other things to really help to center us and to ground us.

These practices help us to have a better understanding of what we are experiencing in our mind, in our body, and in our interactions with others.

And the reason that we do this and the reason that it is so heavily related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, violence prevention and leadership practices is because unless we have a good understanding of our own self, our own thoughts, and our own internal functioning, then we’re not going to be able to bring those unconscious thoughts or those unconscious biases that we have to the surface to be able to work through them.

Let’s start with the self. As an example, I have unconscious biases that I have learned and that have been ingrained in me since I was a child, as does every other human being on Earth.

One of the most important ways that consciousness relates to leadership is the ability to for us to pull those unconscious biases to the conscious, where we can actively shape how we respond to ourselves and others. The formal practices of building consciousness daily allows us to do that.

We need to practice being in touch with out mind, body, and interactions so that we can recognize those unconscious biases that we may have learned from other sources in the world and then bring them to the conscious so that we can actually work with them.

We can’t work with any thoughts, feelings, or behaviors unless we can bring them to the conscious. If they’re still operating in the subconscious, we don’t know that they’re actually happening and if we don’t know what is happening or why it might be happening, then we can’t do anything with them to actively change them.

So this is why consciousness practices are so important. We have to be able to ground ourselves, understand ourselves and explore ourselves so that we can bring any of those unconscious thoughts to the consciousness so that we can work with them.

And why this is so important for leaders?

If we’re working with others, we can’t ask other people to do things that we haven’t done ourselves. So we need to put in the work to explore and bring those unconscious biases and those unconscious behaviors into the conscious so that we can work with them, specifically so that we can change them so that we can be better leaders in the world. In actively practicing consciousness you are shaping your own reality and in doing so, you are also modeling the way for others.

Now how does this relates to diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility?

We all know that we have these unconscious biases that impact us and others in the world, whether they are microaggressions, whether they are actual discriminatory behaviors or actions that we implement as leaders, or decisions that we make that don’t take into account anyone in the world who’s not like us.

And so the connection here between consciousness practices and diversity and inclusion is being able to bring those unconscious biases to the consciousness so that we can actively shape change, influence others around us, and be powerful allies in the change process.  

In order to actively shape change, we have to one, bring those to the forefront and then we have to actually explore and we have to create conscious practices that will allow us to actively change those behaviors. Once we have made those thoughts, feelings or behaviors conscious, then we can create and develop our way forward. You can ask yourself, what are the actions? What are the behaviors? What are the decisions that I want to make as a leader or as an ally that I can actively work towards changing? Acknowledge, “these unconscious biases that are now conscious in my thoughts, can be changed so that I can act in accordance with my values and the person that I want to be”.

Whether that is an ally or a leader is irrelevant, but we want you to be able to act in accordance with the people that you want to be. So bring those unconscious thoughts and biases to the surface. Consciously work with them and decide “this is what I have in my subconscious and in order to get to where I want to be or the person that I want to be whether, I have to actively shape my thoughts, feelings and behaviors to grow”.  

This is where those consciousness practices become so important. Not only does it help us to bring those unconscious bias to the consciousness, but it also allows us to be grounded and calm as we are exploring and navigating our inner world and our interpersonal relationships. 

When we are exploring the actions and behaviors that are required to become that person that we want to be, or we are actively engaging and practicing being an ally in the community, then we need to be centered, calm, and able to manage our own emotions. Especially if we are having conversations with people who are underprivileged, underrepresented, or are continuously marginalized or oppressed in the world.

As we navigate our unconscious biases, there are always going to be triggers and we need to be able to recognize and manage in the moment, both within ourselves and in others. This is especially important for leaders if you are working with someone and you are trying to meet them where they’re at and you accidentally trigger them and then they get upset and then that triggers you, then you can get into this cycle that’s not helpful for anyone.

If you are a leader, you have to continue to have those consciousness practices so that you can stay grounded, you can manage your emotions as they’re coming up in the moment, and if you accidentally trigger someone you can pause, reflect on the situation, and then you can say something like

“I’m recognizing that I might have accidentally said or done something that that triggered you or made you uncomfortable”.

“I would like to pause, apologize and say that my intention here is ____ and I would like to be a good leader for you. I would like to be a good teammate for you. I would like to be a good ally for you.”

“Do we need to take a moment to step back?”

If you do need to take a moment, give them that opportunity. Give yourself that opportunity.

And if you can move forward and if the person that you’re sitting with says, they can continue to move forward, then you can take a deep breath, check in with yourself again,  think about the person that you want to be, the leader that you want to be, the ally that you want to be, and then make your behaviors and your actions match that.  

If you’re grounded, calm, and able to appropriately manage your emotions, then you’re able to step forward into whatever those actions and those behaviors are that are in alignment with the person that you want to be.

Be the leader that you want to be or the ally that you want to be. Practice whatever consciousness practices that resonate with you so you can move forward in the direction that aligns with your values and goals. This is why consciousness practices are so important.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to like and subscribe, whatever you’re watching this on, and I would love to share more with you about why these practices are so important. You can also check out my YouTube channel or Instagram where I share all different kinds of consciousness practices every day that you can do to help you in your journey.

Feel free to share:

* How do you actually implement consciousness practices?

* How do you embody these practices so that when you are having those difficult conversations, you can navigate them and manage them with ease?