Into the Ocean

My feet sank as the waves pulled away the sand underneath me. I stepped in further and the waves crashed fiercely against my calves - pushing me so hard I staggered a few steps back. I laughed, feeling powerless in a way that is freeing. The only thing to do in that moment was let the water wash around me over and over and over again. The night before I walked home in the dark along the beach and felt like the ocean would swallow me whole. A paradox - the freedom of powerlessness made me feel powerful. I took a deep breath and dove into the waves.

Starting my own business feels a bit like being at the edge of the ocean - I want to feel that freedom and power every day, even at work. And I’m not the only one.

Freedom in the workplace

Corporate liberation is a growing practice that allows employees more freedom in the workplace and claims, in turn, that employee retention and profits go up. In the nonprofit sector, with our altruistic missions and drive for a better world, we often gloss over whether our workplaces are places of freedom. We usually assume thy are. But Western workplace culture, mixed in with a scarcity mindset and failing DEIB strategies mean our workplaces are anything but. The Great Resignation should be a giant, flashing warning sign.

We could debate whether “corporate” and “liberation” can even exist non-paradoxically in a phrase together. We could debate whether the nonprofit industrial complex is so complicit in capitalism and lacks democracy to an extent that it may not be able to be a place of freedom (and we will on this space). But at the very least nonprofits and community-based organizations have a responsibility to uphold the values they purport - equity, justice, [insert your organization’s values here]…

I’ve worked at multiple organizations that, even in the midst of “well-intentioned” DEIB processes, individuals, especially those with intersecting marginalized identities left en masse. They felt the opposite of free - that they were operating under authoritarian structures. That if they showed up as their authentic selves they would be harmed. That their ideas, expertise and skills weren’t valued. Freedom is an intrinsic human need - it is a lot to ask to spend 40+ hours a week in a place where we must actively work against that foundational need.

Guiding Questions

I’m not expecting perfection from our workplaces, from each other, or from myself. Moving toward freedom is a life-long journey. But employees - CEOs, managers, and HR, especially - can take a critical look at the work cultures they develop and uphold and ask a few questions:

1. In what ways or for which tasks are you dictating the planning, implementation and/or outcome? Make a list and reflect on whether the items on the list actually require a manager to dictate them. Why or why not?

2. What actions have you taken to cultivate freedom in your workplace/as a manager? What has worked and what hasn’t? How do you know?

3. What feedback loops have you created so that your colleagues and supervisees feel comfortable bringing ideas to you or sharing when they feel restricted or micro-managed in their work?

4. Are there times where you asked for feedback, but you didn’t follow through on the feedback or communicate back to the employee who shared with you? Whether you did what the feedback requested or not, this erodes trust and, ultimately, freedom in the workplace. How can you repair what has happened in the past and/or do things differently in the future?

Suggested Resources

For some suggestions for concrete steps managers can take to start to build freedom in the workplace check out these articles from HBR and the US Chamber of Commerce.

I love this quote in particular from the HBR article: “Human beings have certain universal psychological needs: The need to be treated as intrinsically equal, the need for personal growth, and to exercise self-direction. Each of these needs is frequently and systematically denied by traditional command-and-control managerial hierarchies. Perhaps the most important benefit of liberating an organization—because it leads in turn to all the other benefits—is the creation of an environment that feeds these universal needs, rather than stifling them.”

For readings on freedom in a deeper sense, check our Mariame Kaba, adrienne marie brown, and Lilla Watson (we’ll probably be quoting them a lot here!).

Welcome to this journey - let’s get more free together!