ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. – An in-person celebration of the upcoming Women’s Equality Day was held at Heritage Hall here on Aug. 8. While the event touched on the importance of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote, the overall message of the presentation focused on humanity, social justice and psychological safety.
Stephanie Allers, with U.S. Army Sustainment Command‘s Ready and Resilient Program, and Jody Fasko, deputy chief of staff, ASC, welcomed guest speaker U.S. Army (Ret.) Lt. Col. Cherrie Davis. Her engaging presentation involved active audience participation.
Davis, who served in several capacities throughout her military career, has channeled her skills into becoming a consultant focused on fostering successful organizations. She stressed that building or improving successful organizations begins at an individual level, urging everyone to consider how they can reconnect with others.
“I’m really excited to be here to talk about the resiliency of women, but I really want to talk about the resiliency of humans,” said Davis. “In today’s world, it is so important that we figure out this human thing that we think we have that we don’t.”
Drawing from her experience when she was a first lieutenant at the Personnel Services Group in Washington state in 1992, she said she was assigned to implement and monitor usage of email in the organization, which she resisted doing; her boss asked her why.
“I told him it was because it will be the thing to break connectivity,” said Davis. “I told him it’s going to be the thing that creates problems when people communicate.”
Davis then queried the crowd, asking them to stand up if they have ever emailed the person in the cube next to them; most people stood. She then asked those sitting to stand if they have emailed someone in the office who sits across the hall; all but a few stood up. Finally, she asked the few people remaining sitting if they have emailed someone they were about to meet with in the next 5-10 minutes. The whole of the audience was standing after being asked these three questions.
“Look around the room,” Davis said. “Was I that far off back in 1992? People think they are connected, but they aren’t.”
Transforming individuals’ mindsets to put the focus back on humanity is vital, but difficult.
“We’re not very good at change when it comes to people,” she said. “We are extremely savvy when it comes to equipment, processes, and even renaming installations, but we are poor when it comes to people. We have cultivated this environment where people are a part of the machine.”
She said breaking people out of the “machine” requires everyone to meaningfully ask themselves what they would like to see happen in the world and use six skills that everyone has -- balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength and endurance – to figure out how to combine those personal skills to elevate themselves as well as humanity.
Davis recollected a particularly difficult time in her military career in which her psychological safety – the absence of interpersonal fear – suffered greatly. Stationed overseas in a split NATO-U.S. command, she was the only female commander and only commander of color. Her male counterpart constantly employed microaggressions and microinequities against her.
“He would walk through our command and just throw epithets at me,” said Davis. “As a result, I started shrinking. I got to the point where I didn’t say anything even if I knew it was wrong. I had to ask if it was me or is it him? When I realized it was him, I had to figure out how I was going to adjust myself so I could survive and take care of the 325 people I was responsible for because I wasn’t doing a good job. I wasn’t as effective. I was still productive, and to the naked eye, I looked like a rockstar.”
Using the six skills, it took Davis a while for her to bounce back into a state of psychological safety, which gave her a first-hand perspective on how important it is for everyone to feel safe to express their ideas. Fostering an environment where everyone feels psychologically safe is the bedrock for leaders.
“Whether you’re a private or a 4-star, you’re a leader in America’s eyes,” said Davis. “People look to you to lead the way. You’re the ones who implement, advance, sponsor and champion thoughts and actions that contribute to humanity’s intellectual and emotional strategy.”
While Davis said holding monthly observances that celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion is all well and good, those observances don’t resonate in our new environment in which people – especially young people – want to “see themselves” in an organization. More and more, people are demanding to be associated with entities that have a socially aware and justice-focused approach.
“If you can’t wrap your arms around social justice in an authentic, open, transparent, candid way that supports the organization but also pays homage to humanity, you’re going to lose,” said Davis. “There’s going to be a gap.”
As people evaluate themselves and their thoughts on creating authentically safe and justice-focused environments, Davis said it is important for everyone to champion these ideas in an open forum to affect real change.
“Not only will you be able to take care of women of the world, because it’s not just us, it’s all humans who need this,” said Davis.
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