Day 3-Cultivating Ecologies of Care, Community, and Collaboration

• Is that the future of DesignOps?

• Explaining ecologies and understanding more broadly how they work
• Cultivating change and how we can practice building relationships and care with frameworks
• A framework we co-created for networks of care and practical work for centering care in relationships at work and beyond

• This might spark ideas of nature and sustainable design
• This is about creating sustainable cared for orgs

• The plain definition of ecology is examining relationships between humans, more than human, and environment
  • Think of symbiotic relationships that hold up the ecosystem

• Your org is an ecology: Sub-groups and sub-teams in the ecology overlap and work together in deep relationships
• Your org in a larger ecology: Our role to and relationship to nature, land, water

• Different from org chart which is hierarchical and top-down
• Ecology is more fluid and relationships are emergent and support ways outside of the org chart

• Power is through relaitonships and how they are structured
  • Can impact how we can practice care and build community together
• Our org is also connected to larger ecosystems
  • Concept of relational design versus human-centered design
    • HCD is pyramidal and reflects how we see relationships between us and nature
  • Within top part of pyramid lots of power differentials based on identity and experience
    • All of these play critical role within and beyond the org
  • To start thinking in terms of ecology, we need to think of de-centralizing power

• Global and indigenous communities have deep and ethical commitment to lands they steward and live on

• Loving the Earth and having it love you, turns it into a sacred bond

• Importance to reconnecting with nature, lands, and water to understand how to move forward

• We reflected on question, and they thrive on collective care and interdependence

• We often think of individualistic ways of what self-care looks like
• Need to consider how we treat others as well as ourselves

• Relational design framework and thinking if we need to center health and well-being that each being is cared for in that ecology

• What comes up for you when you think of ‘care’?
• What happens when you think of ‘reciprocity’?

• “How we are at small scale is how we are at large scale”
• Understanding ecology you effectively contribute and practice ways of being with yourself
  • Show up with curiosity and gentleness for yourself, which impacts how you show up with others
• As leaders and practicioners, we play active and dynamic role in cultivating an ecology

• Think how fractals are structured and how small units are built and then scaled up
• Thinking of relationships we have, as core of everything you do
  • Building good relationships and need for ethical ones is critical

• DesignOps is uniquely positioned for new seeds and structure to empower us to do best work we can and show up in community and for each other

• Think how relationships stack, and think of interdependence  in relationships
  • How do you belong within network of care as well as others network of care and people part of network?
• Cultivate ecology on collective care and interdependence

• Holding histories of how organizing and justice spaces were used

• Care is relational practice, reciprocity and way of being in community and kinship
• Ties are deeply intertwined between care, reciprocity, and kinship
  • Showing up for self
  • People and other beings around you
• Care is transactional exchange and wonderful practices
  • Care can have plurality in how it’s practiced
  • Looks different for every single person and being
    • Think of autonomy and self-determination and what care can look like
    • Practice of inclusive design for work structures
    • Care as expression of love, and meaning to feel loved and part of community

• Liberated relationships are one of the ways we can actually create abundant justice
  • There is enough attention, care, resources, and connection for us to thrive and be safe in community
• We are conditioned to see ‘care’ through scarcity and notice abundance that exists with strength in numbes and relationships
  • Consider accountability with safety

• 1) Side of personal reflection: Individually and see own relationships in ecology
• 2) Facilitated ecology: Using the tool and bring in as conversation starter about what team is like that and what care networks look like
  • Process can be iterative

• You and your role and map the core and extended relationships that are building your ecology where you lean on others
  • Include the care resources you reach for and aspire to have

• Relationship can include manager, mentors, data scientists
• People on core project team
• People on staffing and team on what work and projects get put on
  • Think of work-friend or family that are part of your personal ecology

• Identify core relationship with listing out what you need and what relationship means to you
  • Proximity to care as opposed to proximity people
• Pushing to think of relationships that are core to help you thrive in the ecology
  • Someone can be proximate to well-being as opposed to your project

• Framework invites us to reflect how we show up in relationships and being intentional with that
• Plant seeds for conversations with other and recognizing needs you have (‘reflection’,  ‘feedback’)
  • Reflecting on things is how you see change

1. How to approach discussions care with staunchly corporate partners?
   1. Ask what does care look like in corporate settings and think how to offload the conversational burden onto the tool
   2. Tool can start conversation and recognize power sits with higher-up stakeholders and need buy-in for care
      1. De-centralizing power in doing that
   3. For certain structures that are already there like work-life balance, teaming, this is great tool to implement there

2. How do you or your teams cultivate care?
   1. Work with Pause + Effect and way we practice care by being anti-urgency. We ask do things need to happen when we think they need to happen?
   2. Setting boundraries is key
      1. Be willing to move meetings and not expect people to work in certain conditions and mobilize around people versus work.
      2. Very easy to forget anti-urgency
   3. Capture a lot of feedback and focus on building relationships and how you arrive at space and present yourself