RITA SEVER: LEADING FOR JUSTICE
ON BIG BLEND RADIO: Rita Sever who discusses her latest book, “LEADING FOR JUSTICE: Supervision, HR, and Culture.” Watch here in the YouTube player or download the podcast on PodBean.
With a focus on organizations that support social justice, author Rita Sever encourages attention to supervision, HR, and culture in her new book “Leading for Justice.” Sever, a business consultant committed to advancing social justice causes, curates her advice in this book, helping managers identify and address challenges in the workplace to help level the playing field and promote equity.
Leading in organizations working for justice is different from leading anywhere else. Staff expect to be treated as partners and demand internal practices that center equity. Justice leaders must meet these expectations, as well as recognize and address the ways that individuals and organizations inadvertently replicate oppression.
Created specifically leaders who care about social justice, “Leading for Justice” addresses specific concerns and issues that beset organizations working for social justice and offers practices and models that center justice and equity. Topics include: the role of a supervisor in a social justice organization, the importance of self-awareness, issues of power and privilege, human resources as a justice partner, misses and messes, and clear guidelines for holding people accountable in a manner that is respectful and effective.
Written in a friendly, accessible, and supportive tone, and offering discussion questions at the end of each short section to make the book user-friendly for both individuals and teams, “Leading for Justice” is a book for leaders who want to walk the talk of supporting social justice, in their organizations and in the world.
Growing up the youngest of six kids in a low-income family, Rita Sever often had the experience of feeling unseen and unheard. She became very focused on hearing and seeing others—as individuals and within the groups that we live and work in. This led her to recognize the uneven playing field that the world calls “equal.” This awareness has been part of her unified approach to human resources and organizational development for over twenty years. She worked as a staff member for nine years at an AIDS organization and another nine years at a community action agency. In her consulting practice, she works with social justice organizations throughout the United States.
Rita has an MA in Organizational Psychology and is a certified professional coach. Rita approaches supervision as a primary leadership function. In addition, she sees the function of human resources and the culture of an organization as essential components of organizational effectiveness. She works with individuals, teams, and entire organizations to help the organization to be in alignment internally as they work to achieve justice externally. Rita works as an affiliate consultant with RoadMap Consulting, a national group of consultants committed to strengthening organizations and advancing social justice. Rita lives in Sonoma County, California, with her husband, Mark, and their dog, Lacy.
More at www.SupervisionMatters.com.
