co-creation: why lived & strategic experience are critical to success

I recently finished reading ‚You Are Your Best Thing’ an anthology of the Black experience in the US co-edited by Brene Brown and Tarana Burke. In the prologue, Brene Brown makes a statement that lived experience is more important than academic or theoretical experience.

 This sentiment drove home the point, that when dealing with gender inequality or any injustices for that matter, the experiences of those who are oppressed must be amplified and need to be front and centre, in addition to having a strategic element.

 I have always and will always maintain that anecdotes are data, as they provide deeper insights and reveal more than a straightforward question-and-answer exchange. They are an opportunity to explore the nuance of someone's experience. Yet, we still face the challenge that anecdotes are reduced to being akin to gossip; a story with only a grain of truth.

 The combination of lived and academic experience gives rise to the possibilities of co-creation. To find a solution that serves women, but also serves the needs of the business.

 In the current climate, the overarching label of diversity and inclusion has managed to distance the reality, that behind this injustice, there is lived experience. That the voices of those, who have been historically and systemically muted need to be switched on to begin to make inroads into an area that might resemble success.

 The problem is that academic or theoretical know-how comes with a prestige that is not afforded to the oppressed who share their lived experience to enable their companies find or create a solution.

 Once shared however, their experiences are dismissed as being useless because of the discomfort they cause and are then compared less favourably to the academic experience, which which leaves leaders feeling better, but fail to practically help the oppressed.

 This is where co-creation can be critical in moving the dial. The combination of giving the right weighting to lived experience and combining it with technical knowledge and strategic capability to get to this outcome of equity and equality.

 A lot of companies have made the mistake of over-leveraging those with lived experience by not only asking them to share their stories, but also expecting them to be able to deliver a strategic plan and provide the solution.

 The question then is, how much are companies really asking Black women to do, for example?

 Asking to participate and help with their diversity and inclusion initiatives, is one thing, but are they also being asked to provide and define what the solutions should be, all as an add-on to their job?

 This isn’t to say that those who have lived experience don’t have strategic capabilities, but rather that, a company’s success is also based on selecting the right candidates for the right roles.

Namely being clear on who is providing strategic or academic experience and who is providing lived experience, outlining the objectives of their roles and providing more than adequate support.

 Sharing experiences of racial trauma is a very different experience from being able to objectively discuss racism through a looking glass. Since George Floyd's murder, many companies have asked Black colleagues to share their stories, but have asked non-Black practitioners to provide solutions.

 This has left a huge gap in breaching trust, but also having failed to solve the issues Black colleagues have faced.

 Lived experience should take priority not just at the point of storytelling, but throughout the whole process. Building solutions together and not in a silo. Without lived experience in the room, there can be a trivialisation of the topic. A shying away from what is uncomfortable and awkward.

When the distance from the problem is too great, the chances of forgetting that people live this trauma day in and day out increase.

We have to talk to understand the problems, but we also have to talk to find a solution, with the right people in the room.

So for emphasis again, I will say the solution is the combination of lived and strategic experience which will find not only a solution for those who are oppressed but also serves the needs and goals of the business.