Have you noticed that an organization can stand for something on the outside but won’t have that same level of respect for its leadership?
Our staff manages our day-to-day operations at UUWF, and our board sets our long-term strategy. Between these two leadership teams, we have clear ideas on where we stand and what we stand for. We bring our attention to each topic based on our four priority issues:
- Women and Work
- Women’s Health
- Women and Poverty
- Protecting Women from Violence
Many, many things fall into or intersect with these priority issues, and we continue to strive for a balance between broad enough and focused enough. What we find to be our biggest strength is our work as a team. UUWF believes deeply in Shared Leadership, or the idea that we can all hold our complex roles in conjunction with each other and that our work is never at odds with each other.
When Candace and I (Antoinette) joined the UUWF staff in 2022, the organization had already set forth its future goals. They knew they wanted to center equity, intersectionality, and relationship building. This also opened the door for us as new staff to bring our understanding and lived experience of these goals, which included abolitionist and womanist organizing. Along with Ann’s strategizing experience and the organizational and institutional knowledge support from Dana, the UUWF staff has created an inclusive organization that builds with UU women nationwide.
And how do we live into the values we say are essential to the collective liberation of not just all women but all people?
- Relationship Building. We started with the team and expanded to our individual members. We see each team member as an individual who is vital to our organization’s success. We also gave space for each team member to showcase what they brought to the team and allowed them to grow in that space. My passion for staying connected led me to be the Membership and Community Engagement Specialist. This also allowed us to divide the work into manageable tasks and build trust,
- Trust. We spent time learning about each other, our likes and dislikes and ensuring we could count on each other. This required us to show grace in times of disagreement and manage our expectations of perfection. It also allowed us to reliquish the idea of mico-managing other team members, and supporting each other when something falls through the cracks.
- Community. We made sure to bring in all key players. Our team doesn’t know everything, and we value the expertise of those who are doing great things across our UU universe (and beyond)! As our community grows, we have brought in more diverse voices to not only advocate for themselves but also make a home in UUWF.
- Leadership Development. Our board and director know that to have a great team takes dedicated and caring leadership. Candace and I are encouraged to advocate for our needs and to step up to more challenging programming expectations. We are given space to have a say in what matters to all of us and empowered to share our talents both inside and outside of UUWF.
We center these values and add strong communication and healthy boundaries. We see rest as revolutionary and make sure that no one on the team feels overwhelmed or overburdened. We see having fun and making memories just as important as getting out resources and holding gatherings. Nothing about this work is either/or- we believe in a both/and mindset that supports each of us in the way that we need that may differ from another teammate. This is how we live our gender justice values at UUWF.
“Voting and Vision: Aligning for Long-Term Justice”