Last July, as we reached a cultural tipping point in public recognition of the ongoing violence, inequities, and oppression affecting equity-deserving communities, I called on members of our sector to be radically accountable for their role in shifting systems of oppression towards more equity and justice. Since then, I’ve been encouraged by an outpouring of interest and support from those who are on their own personal and professional journeys to step into radical accountability.
While I’ve spoken on the topic elsewhere, I continue to welcome many questions about my development of the concept and how it can be put into practice. My hope is that radical accountability continues to build momentum, because I firmly believe it’s what’s needed if we ever hope to dismantle systemic injustices.
If this is your first time hearing this phrase, by my definition, radical accountability is getting to the fundamental root of one’s responsibility. It’s not about holding others accountable for what we believe they must do, but being able to justify your own thoughts, rationale, behaviours and actions.
Being radically accountable involves committing to the self-exploration required to understand how you may be contributing to the problem as an individual. Paulo Freire, one of the most influential philosophers of our time, a Brazilian transformational educator who believed in challenging the status quo for the greater good, is one of the thought leaders who has shaped me and my work. Paulo Freire introduced me to praxis.
In his 1972 book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he describes praxis as a repetitive process of “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it.” This reflective approach to taking informed and intentional action must involve the self, and fearless honesty, in order to take action. The lesson of the transformational cycle of dissecting theory, practicing reflection on oneself and the world, and then taking action with intent, has become my formula for advocacy.
Radical accountability positions you to have greater compassion for yourself, hence building your capacity to have compassion for others, and it compels you to consider the perspectives of others, shaping you to have empathy broadly. In essence, it’s about caring for all people with the same level of empathy, and urgency, as we do our nearest and dearest.
It's important for us as a sector because, while we work towards the greater good, we need to continue to identify the ways we replicate the systems of harm we ultimately wish to destroy. As individuals, we need to stop waiting for leaders to take action and find the ways we can influence and enact change ourselves.
Developing the framework
The word radical tends to be associated with rebellion or an extreme level of commitment to a particular cause. When I was a young activist, I was often dubbed as being radical. At the time, it didn’t seem to fit because I was leaning into the mainstream understanding of the term radical. A professor of mine at the time, who is now a dear friend, explained to me that radical actually means getting to the root of something.
From that point on, I was committed to being radical. Radical accountability matters because getting to the root means that you're not coming up with topical solutions to complex issues. There are no band-aid solutions or stopgap measures with this approach, we're really getting to the fundamental nature of problems and impacting change.
As an individual who faces systemic barriers, and someone who is deeply connected to the community that has supported me, social justice and community care has always been ingrained in who I am. As my career and personal life have progressed, one of the ways I came to prioritize accountability in my life is through parenting.
My children are my why. I have four children who are multi-faith and mixed-race. I wake up every single day with the reality that my Black-presenting children walk their lives each and every single day with far less privilege than I do. I can't change this at the moment. I can’t change the systemic barriers they face, but everyday I try.
What's your why? That will guide you, motivate you, and fuel the rest of this journey.
Breaking down the anatomy
There are four components of radical accountability that require a great deal of inner work. That’s because radical accountability is different from what we think of with traditional accountability, where we’re holding others to account. This approach is fundamentally flawed, and not rooted in integrity, because it means looking outside our own sphere of influence for solutions, when we could take action in our own lives. The anatomy of radical accountability is:
- Fearless honesty: We have to start with reflecting on the stories we tell about ourselves, and the stories we think others are telling about us, and determine whether they’re accurate or ultimately unhelpful. We also need to get real about whether we’re truly representing the best interests of the equity-deserving individuals we’re trying to elevate. If we want to be seen as allies, or accomplices, we need to be honest about our story about ourselves in relation to the work, and whether we’ve done our homework to ensure we’re not causing further harm in our work to uplift these communities. Fearless honesty looks like being truthful about the way in which we perpetuate harm and why.
- Setting intention: This part seems simple, but I think it’s easy to miss. What’s your intention for why you’re doing this work, what are your motivations? What outcome do you want to have? Setting our intention can look like naming how we aim to evolve and why.
- Self-reflection: Throughout this process, we need to check in with ourselves regularly. We have to ask if we are holding ourselves as accountable to dismantling injustice as we hope others would. Would we be willing to disappoint a family member the same way we have let equity-deserving communities down time and time again? Self-reflection in the context of anti-oppression looks like asking ourselves how we benefit from inequitable systems and what ways we can relinquish these benefits for the greater good. There is a spectrum of privilege that we all fall on.
- Action through changed behaviour: This is the end goal and the most important step that has the power to ultimately make positive shifts in our communities. We can’t have systems change without people change. Systems are not inanimate, people drive systems. We can’t take individual behaviour change out of the equation. There’s no room for saying sorry and not creating an action plan for how we overcome social injustices. Action through changed behaviour can look like doing better when we know better and acknowledging the boundaries of when we ought to know better in 2022.
Overcoming challenges with the process
None of this process is easy. Like all journeys towards embodying the values of equity and inclusion, being radically accountable isn’t a linear process with an end destination. The most difficult piece of the process is action through changed behaviour. When you start to reflect on what you really need to change about your actions, you may start to bump up against ego. That’s why building emotional intelligence is so important to this process. If you’re reading this article, I know you want to commit to a deeper level of community care, regardless of the discomfort. I offer you the 3 C’s to help you move forward:
- Check your privilege and ego: Take a breath and try to recognize when privilege and ego are getting in the way. Sometimes we don’t want to act because we’re afraid of doing the wrong thing. In this era, no one can afford to be afraid to misstep, not taking action because you’re scared is a privilege. When it comes to ego, changing your behaviour can be hard. It’s hard to admit that even good people have room for improvement, but we all do.
- Changed behaviour: Do a reset to figure out what you can change in your actions. If you’re a leader: how can you change the way you lead your team, interact with the community you serve and guide your work?
- Charge: Radical accountability is more effective through collaboration. We need to bring people along, recognize other’s strengths and make space for everyone. It’s also important to recognize when you should take up space and when you should step back to make room for others depending on your social location.
The bottom line here is we must extend the same compassion to all people as we do our intimate circles and feel the same sense of consequence when we do harm – because lives are at stake. If we don’t act now, who will? We can’t wait for anyone else, we can’t point our fingers to anyone else because it’s past time to act. We can't trick ourselves into caring about our communities, we really just have to care enough. Radical accountability helps us create an action plan for community care and a way forward to combat systemic injustice.
Hear more from Mojdeh about Radical Accountability
- Open letter to the sector: A call for radical accountability in social impact - Future of Good
- Radical Accountability and Decent Work - DIGGING IN with ONN Podcast
- We need Radical Accountability in the social impact sector - Social Impact Advisors Podcast
- Broad Perspective: Radical Accountability and the Path Forward - London Free Press