As a framework for introspection and organizational DEI, emergent change is…
unavoidably complex.
We know, we know: if we could give you a more direct answer—particularly one that you couldn't find already written elsewhere—we would! Though unlike answers you can indeed find elsewhere, you’re reading this from the DEI firm that is named “Emergent Change”: we wouldn't have chosen the name if we didn't think the concept had impressive depth, after all!
But our business aside, this mini-series newsletter is ultimately about the concept of lowercase "emergent change" first, and its integration with uppercase Emergent Change's DEI practices is supplemental context. And given the relatively new and alternative thinking encapsulated by the term "emergent change," the community of people even asking what about emergent change is ostensibly, well... emerging.
We feel uniquely positioned to help guide thinking about this avant-garde mindset.
If you’re looking for a more direct definition...
Sure, our dandelion imagery succinctly captures baseline elements of emergent change such "resilience" and "transformation" and "organic growth"—but “emergent change = dandelion” may understandably be an unsatisfying answer all by itself!
The dandelion in question. Look at its seeds flow in the wind!
(The dandelion in question. Look at its seeds flow in the wind:
So as you might have already have done, a quick web search of “emergent change” will yield more direct results—though part of what makes the answer to the question "what is emergent change?" is particularly what top search results don’t yet address:
the competing interplay between human-centric and profit-centric values in settings of organizational change;
lessons in systemic interdependence and collective change that can be learned and adapted from the field of biomimicry;
the impact of grassroots initiatives in reshaping cultures and meaningfully sharing power;
teaching methodology as a day-in-and-day-out practice in individual-, team-, and systems-based change…
Okay, before we get ahead of ourselves, allow us to set the scene: if we want to answer the question of “what,” we’d love to first snapshot our answer to the question of “who.”
DEI as a Tale of Two Teachers
It’s the summer of 2022.
Schools have ended, grades are in, goodbyes are tearful, souls are filled with gratitude—and a pair of high school teachers are about to make a major professional shift.*
They’ve always rooted their instructional practice in empowering learners to make real-world, equity-focused impact (and wow: did the past three years give their classes a lot of real-world context to base their students’ social justice learning in, to put it politely).
Ready to apply their practice beyond the classroom, these teachers will transfer their social justice pedagogy and school leadership frameworks to organizational DEI consulting, approaching broader-scale communities with the love and methodology that they did their classroom communities—but this new, small, honestly-kinda-hard-to-explain business: what should they name it?
Long story short: we named it “Emergent Change.”
Long story, uh, long: there were a lot summer walk-and-talks, sporadic phone calls about exciting ideas, research, reading, meditation, deep dive into the metamorphosis that occurs inside a butterfly’s chrysalis, followed by deep reflection on mycelial networks and their magical significance to tree-based ecosystems, then nearly naming the business “Compost Consulting”... and then we named it “Emergent Change.”
Because at the end of the day, of the many possible titles that could have signaled and captured how the nuanced field of DEI consulting (and consulting in general) is at its most human-centered and growth-oriented when underpinned by the methodology of education, no other name could have done so like “Emergent Change.”
So what makes this phrase so encapsulating? Well, now with our backstory as contextual footing, we can better get to broader semantics and frameworks.
The Thought Journey Ahead
To break down answers to our titular question at hand, we’ve got a collection of descriptive, reflective, resource-filled, sometimes silly, always snazzy, and (hopefully!) fulfilling readings planned for you:
Part 1 | A Dictionary Definition: Profit, Strategy, and Many Arrows
Part 2 | adrienne maree brown: Interdependence, Catalysts, and Birds
Part 3 | Pedagogical Consulting — From Story, to Theory, to Practice
The intention neither behind any individual part nor behind this collection holistically is to the final arbiter of emergent change's complex definitions, not for the DEI space or beyond. Instead, our motivation is to share our critical thinking, lingering questions, and valued thought partners that we have engaged in to explore this loving and logical framework—in the hopes that feel inspired to explore it, too.
What indeed is “emergent change”?
We've got a new kind of answer for you.
It isn’t the quickest one.
But we’re sure happy you asked.
*While our team has since expanded through Avengers-style team-ups with other brilliant folks since the summer of 2022, that original "pair of high school teachers" is Aaron Barlin and Maris Harmon—in case you were curious!
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