4H’s Part 1: Do no harm
Part 1 of a 4 part series
Photo credit Unsplash
As you get to know me, you’ll undoubtedly get introduced to my 4Hs — my 4 key values that help guide me. Let’s begin with the first of my 4H’s - Harm.
Best intentions
They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. While purity of thought is certainly a good starting point, we are judged more by our actions and the impact they have on others than by having had the very best of intentions.
I think a lot about intentions relative to impacts at this moment in time as we are grappling with issues of equity and inclusion.
If we are serious about working toward social justice, it is critically important to recognize that inclusion and tokenism are two different beasts.
Inclusion for the sake of including
“Including” someone on a committee, decision making panel or task group as a means of being able to tick a box is a hollow gesture that is easily detectable by those on the receiving end of what amounts to tokenism –
“See, I’ve included a woman, someone from the LGTBTQ community, a Black person. Aren’t I great!”
Photo credit Unsplash
No, not really, because even if your intention was to expand the representativeness and diversity of your group, if the impact is to simply show diverse faces at the table without sharing power so that those diverse individuals can have a meaningful impact on the decisions being made, your actions are causing harm.
Do no harm
And as peoples from Indigenous communities will state, they are “sick of being studied to death” without a tangible commitment to acting concretely upon the issues that data and studies are bringing to light. Setting a positive intention is a beautiful thing; and acting upon that intention to bring about meaningful change is more than beautiful, it is powerful for you and those around you!
Tokenism and hollow gestures without action cause harm.