We’ve got to see our Blind Spots before transforming them. Come, focus on a common blind spot of historically White organizations: Dominant White Culture. Learn how cultural traits embody values that create judgments and defensiveness. Begin auditing your guiding documents to spot White Culture where it’s hiding in plain sight.

Have you seen transformation efforts fall flat in spite of excellent intentions and a cadre of “woke” folks in key positions? When you talk about change are you met with a wall of defensive pushback? All this points to a blind spot: White-dominant organizational culture. In this session we will practice the first step of what Theory U calls Transformation Literacy by aiming our attention at our own blind spots. We will examine the relationship between Cultural Traits and the unspoken Values that they embody. Any challenge to organizational culture also challenges these values, leading to perceptions of an attack on personal values when White cultural traits are criticized. We will also look at alternate ways of being, values and cultural traits beyond the edges of the dominant White lens. We will practice deep listening for "disconfirming facts," i.e., life experiences, feelings and beliefs different from the listener's. We will learn to describe cultural traits in a non-judgmental way, apply these descriptions to our own organizational culture, and compare the results to researched traits of the dominant US White Culture and White Supremacy Culture. We will begin an equity audit lab by dissecting documents that participants bring from their organizations, noting the presence or absence of white cultural traits in order to open our eyes to our necessary transformations.