In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Dr. Valerie Toney Parker (Chief People Officer) and Steve Bynum (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager) at Chicago Public Media.
Valerie’s superpower is marked by her bi-vocational career as both, a social justice theologian and an HR leader, through the metaphor of wine. Wine brings people to the table, to be in conversation. The text of “not pouring old wine into new wine skins” reminds her of the fact that if we want to change systemic issues, we can’t continue to do so the way we have in the past.
Steve’s superpower is the ability to put people at ease by providing a safe space for shared humanity. He was raised by his grandparents in Memphis and his family had a tremendous influence on shaping who he is today. By moving to Chicago, Steve became part of a global community which he cherishes. Being part of this “diaspora of humanity” helps him, an African American man, to feel supported when faced with inequities.
Valerie was introduced to design thinking five years ago as a way of problem solving. What resonated with her was that the method teaches us to sit with the problem for a bit longer instead of jumping to solutions which does not necessarily afford us the best solution. She applies design thinking at Chicago Public Media because it helps to change the culture towards one where employees feel that their voices are being heard and that they have agency. The multi-disciplinary approach engages people who would not otherwise have come together to identify what the real problem is and critically think through how to solve for the problem. If done well, this push and pull approach creates psychological safety. It truly is “new wine” in the sense that it’s not a top down, performative approach, but truly co-created by the employees.
As a participant in the design thinking experience at Chicago Public Media, Steve describes that he was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this was not like a “typical consultant-led project”. Initially, Steve was unsettled by the degree of ambiguity till he realized that ambiguity is exactly the point because it forces each participant to wrestle with their own risk aversion and ability to embrace the unknown and through the design thinking process to learn how to think and work together. This shifts your mindset from outcome based to process based. It’s the journey that gets you there. It’s the humility to realize that the answer I might have come up on my own is not necessarily what would have been the best solution. What’s most important in the design thinking experience is that the community co-created the solution, not one individual. Steve now thinks of design thinking less as a tool, but rather a way of living, of thinking, of taking in the world. It empowers and emboldens, but also creates skin in the game.
Want to learn more about how to apply a human-centered approach to design a culture of inclusion? Watch the entire interview on YouTube or listen to the Podcast.