Servant Leadership Informs Inclusion

Racial injustices, such as the murder of George Floyd, often lead to discussions about equity, diversity and inclusion.

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2020/07/10/servant-leadership-informs-diversity-inclusion.html

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How Servant-Leadership Informs Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
by Héctor Colón
June 19, 2020

How Servant-Leadership Informs Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Racial injustices, such as the murder of George Floyd, often lead to discussions about equity, diversity and inclusion. Well-intended business leaders change policies, develop affinity groups, and require training. Research literature demonstrates that these traditional workplace programs do not significantly achieve intended goals.

At Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan (LSS), we look to Servant-Leadership and Larry Spears’ ”Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders” for inspiration. This article offers ideas on how to enhance your program with five of these characteristics: Awareness, Listening, Healing, Empathy and Commitment to the Growth of people.

Awareness involves understanding individual strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, and biases. The better you know yourself, the better you can foster meaningful connections with others. Self-awareness is foundational to authentic relationships requiring meaningful dialogue and a willingness to grow and change.

To create an environment that encourages awareness for others, self-reflect on your own personal behaviors and biases and make a commitment to learn about how to change them for the better.
Listening includes actively receiving someone’s words, feelings and body language. In order to discover and meet the needs of others, we need to listen rather than mandate a top-down approach to solutions for all.

Co-create a diverse and inclusion

ve environment with your employees through active listening and asking questions. Reach outside of your organization for help with facilitating these meaningful conversations
Through open dialogue, listening and awareness, you can hear when a person needs to heal from past hurts. Without healing, wounds and scars might resurface unless addressed.
Find your safe places and people with whom you can share your wounds and scars. Then work to create a trustworthy environment for employees that offers healing and opportunities to become their best selves.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another without judgment. It expresses awareness of what it’s like to live in the shoes of others and offer support to aid in their healing.
Find ways to connect with others that have faced experiences different from your own. You can show empathy by expressing a desire to know someone more deeply so you can better understand their challenges and pain.

When addressing a commitment to the growth of people, Servant-Leader Founder Robert Greenleaf shares the following: “Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society…?”

Employees will know of your commitment to their growth when you choose to self-reflect, actively listen, make space for healing and show empathy. Putting others’ interests before your own will help unleash the greatness of individuals, your organization and the community at large.
A Servant-Leadership approach develops a culture over compliance, awareness over assumptions, and leadership over legislation. Join me in this movement to respond to the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in our society today.

About the Author and LSS:

Servant-Leader, Héctor Colón, is the current President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan (LSS). Within his first two years at LSS, Mr. Colón co-created with his leadership team and boards of directors to realize a significant $4 million financial turnaround for the social services organization. Colón was named 2019 Nonprofit Executive of the Year by BizTimes Media in Milwaukee. He currently serves on the University Of Wisconsin Board Of Regents and is an independent director on the board of USA Boxing. Mr. Colon is set to release his first book, “From Boxing Ring to Board Room” later this summer.

LSS empowers people to live their best lives by offering a path to recovery from addiction or mental illness, a home that’s safe and affordable, a family to thrive in, independence and a life that is truly their own. Every year, nearly thirty thousand people in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan come to LSS with incredible odds stacked against them. LSS innovates services and compassionately delivers them with…

• Experience: LSS has 138 years of proven results as a social service provider.
• Effectiveness: Over 90% of the people served say that LSS improved the quality of their lives.
• Efficiency: LSS beats the industry average on the percentage of dollars raised that are applied to client care.

To support LSS and their work with clients especially impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic, please visit www.lsswis.org/responsefund or Text LSSGIVE to 41444. For questions, please contact Jackie Harcourt at jackie.harcourt@lsswis.org or 414-246-2701.

Gold Medal Lofts Grand Opening

Milwaukee-based J. Jeffers & Co. developed the project in partnership with Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The 77 apartments include market-rate units, and those reserved for people making less than 60%, 50% or 30% of the area’s median income levels.  Read more

Héctor Colón LSS Statement Regarding George Floyd

“Please…..I can’t breathe….Mama……my stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts,……Please…….Don’t kill me!” Like so many, I can’t get these words out of my mind. More than seven minutes passed as Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck. George moaned and groaned while three other police officers stood there doing nothing as George took his last
breath on May 25, 2020. Today his family stands without a son and brother, his kids without a father and the community without a person that displayed a commitment to make lives better.

Why did this happen? My heart pains to see the videos or read the news relating to this injustice. Unfortunately, racial and ethnic disparities continue to exist in our society. The research literature well documents that people of color and specifically African Americans are treated differently in the criminal justice system. Who would have thought that the alleged use of a counterfeit $20 dollar bill could result in a senseless homicide? When I looked into the eyes of Derick when watching the video, I personally felt the cold and reckless act that slowly and painfully took George’s precious life.

As a person of color, I can identify with the racial and ethnic injustices I have faced in my life. By no means would I compare my situation to the injustice of George, nor am I comparing my situation to the experiences of African Americans in this country. However, I will share a few points to demonstrate how I can relate. These moments never leave your memory. One time on a nice summer day I went to pick up my girlfriend, who is now my wife. Within blocks of her home we were stopped by four police officers in two cars. The officers shouted, “Get out of the car.” I said, “Why?” They repeated, “Get out now!” They roughly ransacked my car, going through my glove compartment and trunk, leaving a mess as they calmly walked back into their vehicles with no explanation of why they did this.

Another time I was working for a mail carrier and was entering the back of a department store in Racine to pick up their mail. An individual next to me shouted, “Get away from my car you Mexican N….” I went on to tell him why I was there but he kept on shouting at me angrily. After being taunted several times, I picked up my mail and left.

Yet another time, I went out with some friends to go dancing, something I rarely did in college because I was focused on getting my degree to pursue a career. Two friends and I were prohibited from entering the establishment. I asked, “Why are you not letting us in?” White patrons were walking right in so it was not because of crowd control. I asked three times and then they said very aggressively, “You better leave or else we are calling the cops.” Since I knew this conversation was going nowhere, I left.

The way I reacted in these situations, walking away, may have saved my life. Had I reacted differently, maybe I would have gone to jail, obtained a fine, lost my job and even died the way George did. The unfortunate thing here is that George did react the way I did. He was polite and did not resist arrest and yet he is gone.

Justice needs to be brought to Derek Chauvin, but he is not the only one responsible. The other police officers who were on the scene are also responsible. Why didn’t they do anything? Did they agree with what they saw? On the other hand, maybe they were fearful. I say they were cowards. They chose not to use good judgment and common sense or to enact the aim and purpose of their police profession which is to protect and serve. Courage is acting even when you are afraid. Courageous people will do the right thing even when it is difficult. These police standing by were the only ones that could have saved George’s life and they should have consequences measurable to their silence and inaction that led to this tragic situation. Despite my personal experiences, I believe the overwhelming majority of law enforcement act with integrity in fulfilling their duties to protect and serve. The actions of the police officers in the George Floyd tragedy did a grave disservice to all the men and women who put their lives on the line and whose countless daily positive actions go unreported. It is my hope that as a society we do not get clouded and turn against the individuals who choose to protect and serve. If we are to get to the root cause, we must look to the systems and policies that foster conditions where the actions of these officers can occur.

While George is gone his story lives. The pain and discomfort many feel is real and it will last a long time. Nevertheless, how can we use this unfortunate tragedy to move us closer together versus further apart. We need to peacefully end the racial and ethnic disparities that continue to exist in our criminal justice system, in our healthcare system, and in other systems and institutions in our society.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that; hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” And the Floyd family agrees. Terrance Floyd said recently, “We’ve been down this road already. He [George Floyd] would want to seek justice the way we are, the way we’re trying to do. But channel it another way. The anger, damaging your hometown, it’s not the way he’d want.” Let us follow the advice of Martin Luther King and George’s brother in moving forward demanding change through peaceful efforts. There is no place for violence against police officers, protestors, businesses and communities. We must lead with peace.

Everyone is created equal and has a right to live in a healthy community filled with people using their God-given gifts to serve. At LSS, we are called every day to enact our mission to act compassionately, serve humbly and lead courageously in solidarity with all people from white to black to brown and in-between. And we will stand in support of the infinite worth of black lives.

LSS President & CEO named UMOS Hispanic Man of the Year

President and CEO Héctor Colón Named 2019 BizTimes Nonprofit Executive of the Year