Transformative Insights

Processes, tools, and strategies to empower change makers

The image shows Keryl McCord giving a presentation to a seated audience in a modern, glass-walled room. The attendees are a diverse group, with a mix of light and dark skin tones, and are seated around tables, some of which have food containers and drinks. Keryl is standing in front of a projection screen displaying the words ‘Radical EQ’ in blue and yellow. The room has large windows with a view of a busy city street outside.
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What is our role in shaping the future of our organization’s culture and business model?

How can we expand beyond affirmative action and diversity goals to bring about fundamental shifts in our organizational culture, rules, and practices so a human centered community is established within the organization?

What does it take to transform the socio-political and economic systems that shape and breathe life into the communities where our organization is located so that they become authentically equitable, inclusive, diverse and just?

These questions are at the heart of the collaborative work we do with organizations and communities. In these engagements, we have partnered with clients to explore, employ, and refine the approaches that have proven most successful at empowering people who seek to create a better future for their organization, communities, themselves personally, as well as future generations.

A word of caution: The processes and tools contained in these downloadable documents are grounded in the empirical work we have collaborated on with organizations from the business, public, creative, not for profit and voluntary sectors. They also reflect insightful conversations we have had with thinkers and activists through the years. However, these are not presented to you as quick fixes to be blindly adopted. Instead, as we counsel all of our clients, we ask that you always keep in the forefront of your thinking the unique challenges and opportunities facing your organization or community, and adapt these ideas, learning systems and processes appropriately—preferably with our tutelage.

Finally, we invite you to return to the Insights section regularly, as our on-going client work provides us with new frameworks, tools and most importantly, emergent strategies that will assist you in creating (and sustaining) human centered organizations and communities that are equitable, inclusive, diverse and just.

Topics

Human Centered Transformation: A Repeatable Process to Effect Organizational Change

This paper describes the transformation process we developed with our clients to guide them along the path of changing the values, policies, systems and structures that together form an organization’s culture.

Anti-racism, Belonging, Culture Change, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Organization Behavior & Transformation, Transformational Leadership and Team

Thumbnail image showing an internal page from the ‘Human Centered Transformation: A Repeatable Process to Effect Organizational Change’ white paper. The image includes a diagram titled ‘The 10 Steps of Human Centered Transformation’ with a circular process that highlights each step. In the center of the circle are the words ‘Vision, Strategic Foresight, Core Values.’ Around this core are the steps, starting at the top and moving clockwise: 1. Build Team (purple), 2. Identify & Empathize (teal), 3. Define Challenge (green), 4. Ideate (blue), 5. Prototype (light blue), 6. Test & Experiment (red), 7. Execute (pink), 8. KPI & Measure (orange), 9. Revisit & Update (yellow), and 10. Create New Prototypes (green). Above the diagram, there is text discussing the transformation process developed for a client, focusing on organizational behavior, diversity, equity, and culture change. The document is branded with the Radical EQ logo in the upper right corner.
PDF, 437kb

Taking It to the Community: Democratic Organizing & Transformation Beyond the Organization

Change makers who hunger to make a like commitment to dismantle the systems, structures, and policies in external communities must first identify and understand these core principles.

Thumbnail image showing an internal page from the ‘Taking It to the Community: Democratic Organizing & Transformation Beyond the Organization’ white paper. The image includes a diagram with the title ‘Community Assets’ at the center. Surrounding it are six categories of assets, each represented in different colored boxes: 1. Political & Cultural (green) - How people see the world and influence the distribution of resources. 2. Human (yellow) - Health, knowledge, skills, and motivation. 3. Built (orange) - Fixed assets supporting well-being. 4. Natural (blue) - Stock of renewable and non-renewable resources. 5. Financial (red) - Local economy and capital. 6. Social (turquoise) - Human networks that facilitate trust and cooperation. Below the diagram is a section titled ‘Democratic organization,’ which emphasizes the importance of community-led solutions to social, economic, and political issues. The text encourages community innovation, empowering people at the local level to co-create solutions for the challenges they face. The Radical EQ logo is visible in the upper right-hand corner.
PDF, 382kb

Transformation Leadership Development: The Stories Told Lead to Successful Forward Looking Change in Your Organization

Through an array of engagements across multiple industries, we have honed a unique kind of transformation leadership that has helped organizations of all sizes and types achieve and sustain their (future) visions.

Development and Behavior, Transformational Leadership and Team

Thumbnail image showing an internal page from the ‘Transformation Leadership Development: The Stories Told Lead to Successful Forward Looking Change in Your Organization’’ white paper. The image outlines ‘Change Maker Roles’ in the context of transformational leadership. At the center is a blue circle labeled ‘Change Maker Roles,’ surrounded by four distinct categories: 1. Connector (green) - Encourages and cultivates relationships up, down, and across the organization. 2. Architect (red) - Co-designs new policies, systems, and structures. 3. Influencer (blue) - Provides credibility to positively impact individual, group behavior, and decisions. 4. Catalyzer (orange) - Offers access to and distributes needed resources. Above the diagram are key points about leadership: ‘Leading Others’ involves fostering collaboration for organizational transformation, while ‘Leading the Organization’ focuses on challenging cultural assumptions to navigate transformation challenges. The Radical EQ logo is located in the upper right corner.
PDF, 435kb

From Our Blog

Radical EQ’s Fivefold Approach to Organization Transformation

Harry McCord, a dark-skinned man with gray hair wearing a blue dress shirt, stands at the front of a room, holding a microphone and speaking to an audience. He gestures upward with one hand, emphasizing a point. Behind him is a flip chart with a drawing of a star and the words ‘Naming Our North Star.’ The audience, consisting of people with light and dark skin tones, is seated and focused on the speaker. The setting appears to be a seminar or workshop, with sunlight streaming through the windows in the background.
Radical EQ’s approach to organization transformation is comprised of five (5) components that are rooted in human rights principles…

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Radical EQ’s Fivefold Approach to Organization Transformation

The Radical Idea at the Heart of Radical EQ’s Mission

The image shows Keryl McCord giving a presentation to a seated audience in a modern, glass-walled room. The attendees are a diverse group, with a mix of light and dark skin tones, and are seated around tables, some of which have food containers and drinks. Keryl is standing in front of a projection screen displaying the words ‘Radical EQ’ in blue and yellow. The room has large windows with a view of a busy city street outside.
At the core of our mission is the commitment to actively confront and dismantle white supremacy, marginalization, and exclusion within organizations and communities alike.

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The Radical Idea at the Heart of Radical EQ’s Mission

Join Radical EQ’s Radical Roundtable® for Community Conversation

This image shows a Black man using a laptop, looking at what appears to be an online community platform. The screen displays an online learning platform with various community interactions. A red smartphone is placed next to him on the table, and he is concentrating on his computer work, likely engaged with the platform's features. The setting suggests a casual work-from-home or remote-learning environment.
Welcome to a space for learning and community through conversations, stories, and allyship.

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Join Radical EQ’s Radical Roundtable® for Community Conversation