Tag: radical

tempered radicals

“Slow and steady wins the race” by katherine_hitt is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

This is the workshop Dominique and I will be running at the Advance HE Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference next week. Please do come along.

‘The role of the tempered radicals: experiences of making changes in our organisation‘.

‘Tempered radicals’ are individuals who are committed to and identify with the organisations in which they work and yet are also committed to a cause or ideology which is fundamentally at odds with with the dominant culture in that workplace. Debra Meyerson has written about how these change agents make tactical decisions to effect change without making trouble. If you think you too may be a tempered radical this is the session for you.

We have been working for four years in University of Edinburgh Information Services Group to build an intersectional diverse, adaptive, family-friendly and socially responsible workplace not through revolution or protest but by balancing a delicate set of  incremental equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives which provoke thought, nuance and  behaviour change.

In our presentation we will share our experience of being ‘tempered radicals’ working toward transformational change in an  organisation with historical structural inequalities while still being minority ethnic women and feminists in IT with successful careers.  In this workshop you will be encouraged to think about how your own radical agendas have been tempered by your experiences of your workplace and how this tempering can be used to make you stronger and more successful as agents of change in the organization you care about.

We will share stories, evidence and data to describe the impact this work can have.