Mornnnttiiinnngg Reader,

I'm coming into the week on a wee bit of a high.

On the business side of Create More Possibilities, we finished up the last session of the 'So You Wanna Be Less Oppressive' Workshop Series and I'm so grateful for the level of vulnerability and inquiry that the participants came with.

I'm grateful that even though the topics covered around developing an anti-oppression lens weren't new for me to facilitate, the way I constructed the experience was the most-me I've ever done it, through my business, which was so dope.

[FYI: If you missed the workshop session, I will be packaging the recordings and fuckton of resources into a paid product sooooooon that you can do at your own pace so stay tuned for that!]

I was happy crying and all that afterwards---I don't know about you but that's how I process a burst of emotions.

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I've also had a really good week at work too which inspired today's email.

I've been at my job for about less than 6 months, and if you don't know me personally, ya girl likes to ask questions and get all the facts about what's been tried and what the response to those efforts have been.

While I see curiosity as a fundamental skill in our liberatory efforts, I do think there's a level of emotional/social intelligence that comes alone with being as nosy as I am 🤣🤣🤣 (laughing emoji x3)

So let me paint the scene...

I'm a social worker, and a traditional thing in social work is to create growth plans for clients you're working with. At my job, our graduate interns create these interns on a scheduled basis but I've noticed us on the middle management level haven't looked at these plans and those at the leadership level also aren't looking at these plans.

So I'm over here like...why are we having people do things that no one is looking at, reviewing or giving feedback on. I hate busy work and any general labor that don't have a rhyme or reason.

So I asked my colleague who's the most senior person (but not my direct supervisor) about the purpose for these growth plans? I added the question of...

Based on my colleague's short responses, I got the sense that she felt like I might have been critiquing what she has and hasn't done in the past since she's been the one managing the program.

I understood that and I didn't want that to be the impact so I followed up with:

It seemed like this offering was able to bring down/ soften her defenses a bit which led her to sharing more.

I think this nugget is SO KEY to how I describe leadership as an ongoing process of being responsible for self and being responsive to others.

• Being responsible for self in this context meant being true to who I am as someone who navigates the overlap between "This is just a job" and "I do this work because I care"

• Being responsive to others in this context meant recognizing the signs that my colleague might've felt some kinda way about my questions and caring about what that impact was ENOUGH to actually make the time to say something about it in the moment.

If social cues, do not come naturally to you, then I suggest prefacing your questions with your intention. For example, if I had a reset button, I might've said:

May you go out this week and be responsible/responsive with your curiosity, Reader!

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Take care,

Petra Vega

Liberatory Leadership Coach, Emergent Strategist, Social Justice Facilitator & Radical Social Worker

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P.S. If I shared something in this email that you found valuable, consider leaving a lil tip!

P.S.S. I'd love to continue laying out the differences between "business-as-usual" leadership vs. Liberatory Leadership, help me decide which one to talk about in next week's email by clicking a link below:

1. ​Power hoarding vs. Power sharing​
2. ​Individualism vs. Collectivism​
3. ​Perfection vs. Progress ​

Want more liberation in your leadership? I'd love to help!