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��Addressing Cultural Insensitivity: Navigating and Responding to Inappropriate Comments with Professionalism�

Field Education Department

12 January 2024

Adrianne M. Crawford Fletcher, PhD

Associate Dean for Equity and Belonging

Using Transformative Dialogue as a Tool

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Welcome

Be FULLY Present

Make Space & Take Space

Hold Multiple Perspectives

Mind the Gap between Intention & Impact

Be Humble

Stay the Course

Positionality

So welcome to our 3-hour long session this morning. That is indeed a long time, but we’re going to be very interactive on this final Friday of the Ohio Association for Court Administrators fall conference. Last year you engaged with Eric Meritt. I have borrowed some of her community guidelines in order to build a bridge from last fall to now.
Be Fully present
Make space/take space
Hold multiple perspectives
Mind the gap between intention and impact
Be humble
Stay the course

Judging from the name of our session and the brief summary, which I am assuming you have read, might someone be willing to share why they chose to attend this session?
Thank you…
And with that we are going to take a poll shortly in order to take the temperature in the room. (1) Are you eagerly walking toward the door of this 3-hour session? (2) are you walking into the door with great anticipation? (3) Are you peeking into the door with great anxiety or lastly, (4) are you peeking through the keyhole with fear and trepidation?

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Agenda

Objectives & Assumptions

Part I

Transformative Dialogue

Part II

Transformative Dialogue Strategies Intrapersonal/Interpersonal

Part III

Application: Microaggression Scenarios

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Objectives

Define & Understand and Enhance understanding of Transformative Dialogue

Apply Transformative Dialogue Strategies

Increase in overall meaningful professional engagement

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Assumptions

Third-Rail Conversations
We’ll make a few missteps and mistakes along the way

Preemptive Forgiveness
Anticipatory Forgiveness
Forgive others & Forgive yourself

Authentic conversations take time…

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Positionality

1

4

3

2

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What is your current positionality regarding today's content?

ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.

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Part I-Overview

Transformative Dialogue

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

If it is through dialogue (and observation) that these conflicts emerge and are perpetuated…then it is through dialogue and observation that these "contentious realities" will be changed.

If it is through dialogue (and observation) that these conflicts emerge and are perpetuated…then it is through dialogue and observation that these "contentious realities" will be changed.

Dialogue is not about invoking power
It is not about monologue
It is about a dialogue, a conversation between the two where we describe what we do and don’t do…what our practices are.
It’s about fostering ways of ‘going along together’: Critical Exchanges, Rattling, and Contentious demands are not ways of ‘going along together’
Transformative dialogue occurs between those who are committed to separate realities and practices….but are willing to construct common and solidifying realities and practices….
Transformative dialogue is not rules based… There are no universal rules for transformative dialogue, for dialogue itself will alter the character of transformative utility.

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Transformative Dialogue-We Can Work it Out

Try to see it my way,�Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong,�While you see it your way,�There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long.�We can work it out.�We can work it out.

–The Beatles (December 1965)

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Transformative Dialogue

Interpersonal Reprograming Questions

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Transformative Dialogue �Intrapersonal Reprograming Questions

How can I move away from black and white oversimplifications of issues to an exploration of their complexity?
How can I take multiple perspectives of an issue, understanding it from multiple angles?
How can I cut through stimulated thinking and toward conscious reflection?
How can I cut through groupthink and encourage independent thinking?
How can I advocate for my position, beliefs, and values in a way that’s more understandable to others?
How can I use dialogue to develop more self-awareness regarding my position, beliefs i.e., data, reasoning processes, and values?
How can I hold space for animosity amid heated political/social discussions, while skillfully depolarizing tensions?
Can I transform how I relate to my beliefs, so that I hold them with more detachment and objectivity, which includes having greater tolerance for uncertainty?

Most Challenging

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Transformative Dialogue Intrapersonal Statements

I can…

move away from black and white oversimplifications of issues to a mutual exploration of complexity.
take multiple perspectives of a given issue, understand it from multiple angles.
cut through stimulated thinking and toward conscious reflection.
cut through groupthink and encourage independent thinking.
advocate for my position, beliefs, and values in a way that’s more understandable to others.
use dialogue to develop more self-awareness regarding my position, beliefs i.e., data, reasoning processes, and values.
hold space for animosity amid heated political/social discussions, skillfully depolarizing tensions.
transform how I relate to my beliefs, so that I hold them with more detachment and objectivity, which includes having greater tolerance for uncertainty.

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Transformative Dialogue: �Six Concepts or Moves (Interpersonal)

Relational responsibility

Self-expression

Affirmation

Coordination/�Co-constituting

Self-awareness

Co-creation of a new reality

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Part II

Transformative Dialogue Interpersonal Strategies

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Transformative Dialogue Interpersonal Strategies

Relational Responsibility
Self-expression
Affirmation
Coordination
Self-awareness
Co-creation of a new reality

Concepts/moves

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Relational responsibility

Neither casts, nor accepts blame
Wonders…

“How did we get ourselves into this situation?”

Recognizes..

“We are killing ourselves going on like this.”

Asks…

“Can we start from the beginning and have a different conversation.”

The questions asked were elegant in their
simplicity: (1) How did you get involved with this issue? What's your
personal relationship, or personal history with it? (2) We'd like to hear a
little more about your particular beliefs and perspectives about the issues
surrounding abortion. What is at the heart of the matter for you? (3) Many
people we've talked to have told us that within their approach to this issue
they find some gray areas, some dilemmas about their own beliefs or even
some conflicts. Do you experience any pockets of uncertainty or lesser
certainty, any concerns, value conflicts, or mixed feelings that you may have
and wish to share?

1. Co-joint Relations: If in the heat of argument you insult me, I may justifiably blame you for your abuse and our relationship will suffer. However, I may also be able
to locate ways in which it is not you, in particular, who is to blame, but our particular pattern of relating. It is not you vs. me, but we who have created
the action in question. Remarks such as, "Look what we are now doing to each other...," "How did we get ourselves into this situation..." or "We are
killing ourselves going on like this; why don't we start from the beginning and have a different kind of conversation..." all have the effect of replacing guilty individuals with a sense of interdependent relationship.
2. Focus on group differences
3. Look at the system : Timothy McVeigh The Systemic Swim When Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of blowing up the Oklahoma City Federal building and taking scores of lives, he was sentenced to death. There is a sense of collective relief; justice was done. Yet, consider again the logic of the Militia Movement of which McVeigh was part. The national government, from their perspective, is destroying the American tradition, trampling on their rights, and forcing them into poverty. Justice will be done when they destroy this malevolent force. In effect, the same logic underlies both McVeigh's crime and our reactions to it. Or to put it another way, there is an important sense in which McVeigh's crime was an extension of the very tradition that most of us support and sustain. This is not to forgive the crime. However, it is to say
that the voice of individual blame is insufficient. Another voice may be added usefully to the conversation in which we broaden our concerns to the ways in which we participate as a society in creating the conditions for most of what we devalue. It takes more than a village to create a rape, a hate crime, or a robbery.

https://greenteaji108.medium.com/transformative-dialogue-10-techniques-to-change-someones-mind-part-1-2e2725c5f6d1
3. Anomaly questioning
Anomaly questioning is used to challenge groupthink and other forms of in-group/out-group dynamics. Human beings have a deep-seated tendency to tribalism, so we need a method of challenging this compulsion. Simply ask your conversation partner if they hold any beliefs, values, or positions that stand out or act as anomalies for their chosen in-group (e.g. pro-gun progressive, pro-choice conservative) . Once they give their answer, probe into it more deeply: How did you come to that conclusion? What’s it like to have a disagreement with others on your own side? How did that particular view develop in tandem with your other political views? Why do you think people on your own side disagree with you there? How does that view affect your relationship to those on your own side? How does this view affect how you relate to the other side?

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Self-expression

Share your narrative, speak personally while doing so
Move away from abstract, company and politized phrases
Wonder…

“Tell me about your personal experience with ___________…”
“How did you first get involved with ___________?”
“I’d like to hear more about your beliefs and perspectives regarding ___________.”

PRACTICE IN PAIRS
The questions asked were elegant in their
simplicity: (1) How did you get involved with this issue? What's your
personal relationship, or personal history with it? (2) We'd like to hear a
little more about your particular beliefs and perspectives about the issues
surrounding abortion. What is at the heart of the matter for you? (3) Many
people we've talked to have told us that within their approach to this issue
they find some gray areas, some dilemmas about their own beliefs or even
some conflicts. Do you experience any pockets of uncertainty or lesser
certainty, any concerns, value conflicts, or mixed feelings that you may have
and wish to share?

https://greenteaji108.medium.com/transformative-dialogue-10-techniques-to-change-someones-mind-part-1-2e2725c5f6d1

4. Feed it and Flip it
Feed it and Flip it is a great technique if someone gets triggered and loses it. The worst possible thing you could ever do is tell someone to calm down — this almost always backfires. Instead, switch your frame of mind from trying to calm someone down to letting them unleash the full tsunami of their moral outrage. Begin by fanning the flames even more. Sometimes I say something like “I see you’re very passionate/angry/feel strongly about this topic…I want to feel what you feel, so go ahead and transmit it to me.” Let them rage, and feed it: “Tell me EVERYTHING you hate about those damn liberals!” Once the person goes off for a while, you can then perform the emotional jiu-jitsu move: flip from what they hate to its opposite. “I hear everything you hate about them — their delusion, lack of appreciation for facts, supporting a disgusting and immoral administration, being spoiled brats….so what’s the opposite of those things? What do you value instead”?

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Affirmation

An individual’s narrative is not wrong, it’s their story
Affirmation grants worth, honor and validity to another
Find one nugget in which you can agree and support
Wonder…

“I didn't know you had that experience.”
“I can see how that would make you feel or think___________ about ___________.”
That sounds like it was tough to go through.”

People often need to feel secure in their positions BEFORE they can be challenged.

Affirmation of the other implies locating something within the
other's expression to which we can lend our agreement and support

to affirm is to grant worth, to honor the
Validity of my subjectivity.

https://greenteaji108.medium.com/transformative-dialogue-10-techniques-to-change-someones-mind-part-1-2e2725c5f6d1
I recommend starting with this technique before moving to other ones. Start off by listening to your partner’s argument and look for some truth or usefulness to what they are saying. If what they are saying is totally false factually (e.g.flat earth), start by affirming their underlying needs, interests, or values instead of the content. So for a flat earther, you could affirm the importance of maintaining a healthy skepticism toward truths we usually take for granted, or that what we deem “true” is still a product of fallible institutions. This is called the “Steelman” — representing the other’s argument in its most robust, accurate, and sophisticated form, instead of a “Strawman,” or the practice of misrepresenting the other’s argument. Once their position is affirmed, you can then ADD to their story — not trying to completely negate their argument, but simply trying to expand to more perspectives which build on top of their core position

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Coordination or�Co-Constituting

Putting the puzzle of differences together to create a more complete picture.
Jazz improvisation
Wonder…

“Is there any way these differences can co-exist?”
“Can Black Lives matter while Blue lives matter?”
“Can Blue lives matter while Black Lives matter?”
“Can we have it both ways?”

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Self-Awareness

Observing yourself during the conversation
Giving space to questioning your otherwise coherent self
Relinquish the ‘stand fast and firm’ posture

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Co-creation of New Realities

Have an imaginary moment
Wonder…

“What could our relationship look like…
“What could our lives look like…
“What could our society look like if we the people were less combative and more cooperative?”

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Part III

Application:

Microaggression Scenarios

Gender
Religion
Race/ethnicity
Ability/disability
Socioeconomic status

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Microaggression?

Comments or actions that communicate a hostile, superior or prejudiced attitude toward individuals on the basis of marginalized status (gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, gender queer identification, age, mental/ physical ability, body size, etc.
Intentional or unintentional, subtle, verbal or non-verbal behaviors or actions, which degrade or demean a specific group and often go unacknowledged.

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Race
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Socioeconomic Status
Sexual Identity
Religion
Intersectionality

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Scenario 1-Breakout Session 1

“We’ll have Harriet share her case first for group supervision today as she is our newest intern and not only represents the more nurturing side of the gender as a woman, but she also highlights our willingness as an agency to be inclusive as she is an African-Queen all the way from our own urban hub! Didn’t I hear Daphne refer to you as African-Queen the day you wore that colorful scarf? Come right up to the front Harriet and share you case!”

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Scenario 2-Breakout Session 2

Sue, an intern at Schweppes Uptown Psychotherapy jumps out of her late model, rattling, steaming and smoking car just as her newest client and his family arrive in the agency parking lot for their first session. Sue hurries into the agency through the back door, grabs a water bottle, unlocks her office door and then proceeds to waiting area to meet them. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, hi Sean, I’m Sue,” she says as she extends her hand to shake theirs. Mrs. Wilson flares her nose, tilts her head and turns her lips downward ever so slightly, and asks, “You’re Sean’s therapist?”

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Scenario 3-Breakout Session 3

Ahmed has been reluctant to participate in daily prayer time or wear traditional Muslim clothing to work. But after talking with his supervisor and receiving his support his decides that today is the day! As soon as he walks into the office he is met with stares. He places a Do Not Disturb sign on his door for midday prayer. Later in the day his colleague asks, ”What’s up with these clothes and what were you doing in your office with that Do Not Disturb sign on your door!?”

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Scenario 4-Breakout Session 4

Justin overhead his supervisor and the agency director having the following conversation.

The agency director said, “Well, I know he’s a good therapist and earned his degree just like everyone else, but are we supposed to make accommodations just for him? Not only does he need a ramp for his wheelchair, but he needs a gender-neutral restroom too? And does he have to have that flag on his door? What’s this world coming to?”

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RED

BLUE

YELLOW

GREEN

RED

BLUE

YELLOW

GREEN

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Questions, Comments, Reintegration & Debrief

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Positionality

1

4

3

2

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CEU Evaluation & Preferences

CEU Evaluation

(Required to obtain CEUs - Ohio only)

https://forms.gle/q6XM6mzZLE6QEE24A

CEU Preference Form

(Ethics or Supervision)

https://forms.gle/QbxTsk3U62wVbm628

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Associate Dean for Equity and Belonging�Adrianne M. Crawford Fletcher�adrianne.fletcher@case.edu