“Effective teams do not define their staff members by their personal intersections and identities.”
Who Should Be at the Table
When EST members are asked to describe the elements that contribute to our team’s success, they reliably point to diversity of personal experience being well balanced with an underlying shared mission. Teams should make every effort to include members with a wide range of experiences and identities to ensure multiple perspectives inform decisions. Consider including individuals who:
- Have experience with distinct forms of system navigation (youth systems, newcomer systems, etc.)
- Come from underserved communities who may be
overrepresented in homelessness statistics, but underrepresented in the literature and in existing advocacy initiatives (i.e. transgender individuals, Inuit individuals, etc.) - Represent a range of previous advocacy experience (i.e., those with significant community organizing experience alongside those with fresh eyes)
- Have a broad range of previous life, professional, and academic experiences that may strengthen the team in ways that range from the predictable to unexpected (i.e. an applicant with experience as a peer support worker and an applicant with a background in theatre, or finance, might be equally beneficial to the team)
- Represent hard to reach populations like sex workers, substance users, rough sleepers, and other criminalized and stigmatized groups
While it is important to aim for diverse groups to maximize effectiveness, it is also absolutely critical to keep in mind that effective teams do not define their staff members by their personal intersections and identities. The recruitment process for lived experts should be grounded by the same principles as any other recruitment process within your organization. Draft a role description and ask yourself:
If I were to treat lived expertise as equal to professionally or academically acquired expertise, what would my ideal candidate look like?
Many well intentioned teams have sent the wrong message by prioritizing demographic representation above all else. This can be interpreted as tokenization, or the recruitment of certain demographics to “check a box”.
The EST recommends balancing demographics by adjusting your recruitment and staffing processes. For example, an organization who receives no applications from 2SLGBTQIA+ applicants should first ask themselves if they have created a work environment that is perceived as safe by 2SLGBTQIA+ prospective applicants. If the problem persists, they should consider the strength of their relationship with 2SLGBTQIA+ community partners. Friendly outreach/flyering within an organization or area serving an underrepresented demographic can greatly improve uptake.
Skills & Competencies
When working to develop a lived experience position, or team, within your organization, ask yourself:
Are there any roles in my organization that wouldn’t benefit from lived experience?
Meaningful inclusion means looking for opportunities for engagement in your organization and ensuring equitable access to opportunities. You’ll find the nature of the role is virtually limitless. We’ve seen lived experience roles work in clinical practices, in administrative roles, in management, and in the case of our team, in system change work. The specific skillset required for your role or team will vary heavily depending on the scope of work.
An anti-tokenistic work environment requires clarity of standards. Often, organizations interested in adopting a lived experience engagement strategy focus on the person above the role, to the point that potential team members are reduced to the sum of their experiences. Teams assembled without clear purpose are often short-lived. While the specific skills and competencies needed for your team will be dependent on the nature of the work, key competencies to consider include:
- Strong communication and active listening
- Empathy, compassion, and openness to new perspectives
- Flexibility and adaptability in high-stress situations
- Technical literacy for virtual collaboration
- Familiarity with relevant systems, policies, or community resources