Native American Heritage Month DEI Leadership Tools

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimerer, professional leaders are offered inclusive vocabulary and new perspectives to enhance organizational communication practices and collaborative problem solving. As a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, Kimerer’s personal experiences readily transfer to the erasure/dismissal culture Native Americans and other non-dominant members experience in professional organizations. 

Learn more about Kimerer at her website.

Reading Questions

1. How is leadership demonstrated in Braiding Sweetgrass?
2. Kimerer seeks knowledge from numerous sources ie. why purple and yellow flowers grow together, pragmatism of the scientific method, elder knowledge, etc. What is the value of seeking multiple sources of knowledge for leaders?
3. Why does the university’s admission proctor dismiss Kimerer’s initial reasoning to study science? 
4. Who is negatively impacted by the exclusive mindset of the admissions proctor on a small and large scale?
5. How might this positively and negatively impact the progress and success of professional organization long term?

Silences In Stewardship: Some American College Indian Examples Patricia O. Covarrubias and Sweeney R. Windchief is a case study featuring silence as a communication tool by Native American students in academic institutions. Covarrubias and Windchief offer leaders greater context into the overlapping intricacies of exclusive organizational standards pertaining to group participation and silence as a form of communication. When silence is misinterpreted by organizations this results in compounding exclusion of marginalized groups.

Access the case study online and choose to support Native American scholars http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10646170903300754.  

Reading Questions

1. What is the purpose of silence employed by Native American students (individual contributors) in universities (organizations) according to Covarrubias and Windchief’s findings?
2. From a leadership perspective, is it necessary for all individual contributors to conform to the same communication standards in an organization? Why or why not?
3. How would you rate your comfort level with silence; non-existent, low, medium, or high?
4. What life experiences (family dynamics, education, USA culture, work standards, etc.) might have influenced your perception of silence as a communication tool?
5. Based on the quote below, in what ways have your leaders and organization created a culture of silence regarding certain unpopular topics and individuals? 

“each performance of silence tacitly models for watchful others not only how but why they should develop into culturally rooted selves. Thus, one generation is seen to socialize another” (p. 12).
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Let me know if you have read these books and share your thoughts on the reading or leadership questions.