How to gain support for inclusion focused programs
This Free Resource is part of the Series: How To Speak Up About Racism: for yoga teachers and students and education-based org leader
This is approximately a 10-15 minute read. Grab a cup of chai and have a seat!
The 20-60-20 Rule and Lalita K, parent coordinator at PS 244Q
It all started when I attended the Center for Racial Justice in Education’s gala last year via a plus one invite. My sister, in addition to being Deputy to the Dean of Student Affairs at Guttman Comm College, is a trainer with CRJE so I got the invite. Yay! What an inspiring night! I posted about it here on instagram. Public School 244 in Queens or as we call public schools in NYC: PS244Q was the honoree school because of their work to incorporate racial equity into the core values and curriculum of the school. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw was the CRJE keynote speaker, like I said incredible night!
Because of following me on IG and seeing me at the gala, Lalita K. reached out about a project. About a month later Lalita and her daughter attended Yoga & Mindfulness workshop for POC at Humming Puppy. We chatted a bit at the studio and kept in touch over email building a genuine relationship with care. She later sent a proposal asking if I'd be willing to offer two yoga and mindfulness sessions at PS244Q in 2020. Initially, I thought I might be working with the youth. PS244Q is a school for PreK to 3rd graders, which sounded really delightful! But actually Lalita asked me to offer the parents the sessions! Which seemed very impactful as well. As we discussed and I learned more, I was so on board. Let me tell you why.
Lalita is organizing 10-12 educational sessions to acclimate parents on the new race equity mission and values at PS244Q with yoga and mindfulness being one of the tools for implementation. It’s not as commonplace as I’d like for folks to talk about systemic or institutional racism so I was so excited! I planned session #1 and made my way to Flushing, Queens, NY to the school. About 5 of the 15 parents showed up to take class and one of the parents required a translator because she primarily spoke Mandarin. The class was themed on Diversity and Inclusion with a tie into the school's specific wording of the updated race equity mission.
I could go on and on about how fascinating it was to learn as people introduced themselves, shared their immigration stories, talk about their NY lives and beam about their little ones, but I'll leave that for another time. :) There were several parts of class that were surprising and unplanned like 1. working with a soft-speaking interpreter and an incredibly shy mother, or 2. when another mother at 30 minutes into the session ran upstairs in a frenzy to find an administrator a laptop, and then 3. stopping class when cafeteria staff needed to roll a cart through our circle to get to the freezer, but interruptions are to be expected in most non-studio settings. Overall the session felt like it landed well and as part of the process Lalita and I went to her office afterwards to debrief.
Lalita is a phenomenal person. Someone I feel a soul connection with especially when talking about identity, care, and social justice work. We talked through the challenge of educating folks who are resistant, in her case parents who aren’t clear on racial equity as a living breathing environmental obstruction to various kinds of access for certain communities. We talked about the confusion and piecing apart required when facing prejudice and fear that people of color experience as they pit themselves against each other, an age old white supremacy culture trick. And she taught me about the 20-60-20 rule.
This rule y’all. Here it is in a nutshell:
When communicating change, do not expect to have 100% of people on board.
- Expect 20% to be fully on board and require little assistance
- Expect 60% to be inquisitive and receptive or even skeptical but willing to listen and learn
- Expect the last 20% to flat out reject the idea or approach
The key here is knowing how to move forward once you experience this ratio in your population. Do not waste time on the 20% because they will only hold you back. Simple as that. The loudest negative voices do not require the most attention. And hoping that if you just put in a little more work they will change their mind leaves the majority of your population, nearly 80%, unattended and un-prioritized. This can show up anywhere - in companies when implementing new HR, management, or business practices, in neighborhoods where more immigrants are moving into town (Smith College ScholarWorks), even when confronting bias on social media or in person (Harvard Law School Blog). At PS244Q, the Racial Equity Committee staff noticed the 20-60-20 ratio emerging when working with parents and feeling their resistance.
Wow. For a bleeding heart like me, I fall back on the feeling that I need to bring everyone on board to get things done and especially spend more time with the folks being out and loud negative - the 20%. The key is to recognize the need to people please and to realize there CAN be wasted empathy. Not everyone will be on board with proposed change and that. is. ok. Doing good work can feel like making good trouble, and it means you need to keep going even in the face of the 20% who are haters.
What makes this so challenging when implementing social justice based work is the realization that leaving 20% of the people aside may mean letting people continue to be racist or prejudiced or unconsciously biased in their mindsets, behaviors, and actions. Hopefully to some comfort is the fact that you never know when someone will wake up and realize that thing they learned or heard a long time ago is just now starting to make sense.
It's useful to remember that educational seeds once planted, might take their time to grow into plants of change.
Now that you know this 20-60-20 rule pretty much shows up in all situations where change occurs, you can prepare for it.
If you're eager to implement social justice focused work at your studio or office, begin by:
Educating the people you work with and especially your managers about this rule
Feel out their comfort level once they realize they may begin to hear from disappointed clients or even staff as you introduce change.
Once you're supported in your efforts:
Figure out the language you need to let the loud 20% group down softly while not expending all your time and energy.
Note: It's important that you feel skillful in explaining why you need your new inclusion focused programming, so you can tailor your reply quickly for anyone asking for more information.
With any effortful work you take on, remember to find the balance. Try this: list out all the ease-filled and joyful activities in your life - like enjoying a book or nature, playtime on the mat, alone in stillness, creating, making music, being with pets, family, or friends, etc. Do this to refuel so that you can be fresh and prepared for your next amazing program.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience at PS244Q and learning about the 20-60-20 rule!
Next Steps:
I'd love to hear how this has played out for you in the past or how you can better prepare for it in the future.
Work with me on your programming changes by signing up for a mentoring call. I have 15 minute and 60 minute call options here.
