The Partnership's the Thing: Northwestern and Chicago Shakespeare Theater Design for Equity
When the iconic Chicago Shakespeare Theater wanted help creating a more inclusive and equitable workplace, they turned to leaders shaping the future: graduate students in Northwestern University’s Master’s in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) program.
The students, who are part of the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate (LEIOC), brought important outside perspectives to the project, said Kara Riopelle, managing director at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. But even more critically, they were deeply devoted to the work.
“We wanted to collaborate with people who are committed to this kind of change in organizations,” Riopelle said. “They brought creativity, depth, and breadth of experience as thought partners in this space and were committed to understanding the constraints and opportunities presented in the organization.”
Collaborating with outside organizations is a key aspect of the MSLOC program’s experiential approach to learning at the School of Education and Social Policy. Prior to working with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, LEIOC students worked on a design challenge for the Holdsworth Center in 2021. In both cases, the students supported organizational change through connection, collaboration, community, and partnership.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater, dedicated to welcoming the next generation of theatergoers, produces bold and innovative plays, musicals, and theatrical presentations from around the globe. The company also offers education programming for students, teachers, and lifelong learners, and creative community engagement with artists and neighbors across the city.
To improve their employees’ daily experiences and help clarify how the company is viewed by its stakeholders, Chicago Shakespeare Theater worked with Northwestern LEIOC to make sure their commitments to the principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) were tied to action plans and metrics to track progress. Their partnership with Northwestern LEIOC built on the work they are doing concurrently with their DEI consultancy, Cultivating Better Tomorrows.
Designing for DEI Challenges
The graduate students were guided by two experienced faculty members: alumna Renetta McCann (SoC78, MS11) chief inclusion experience officer at Publicis Groupe and a Chicago Shakespeare Theater board member; and Kimberly Scott, assistant professor and executive director of the Master’s and Executive Programs in Learning & Organizational Change.
As part of the data collection process, the students interviewed 17 Chicago Shakespeare Theater staff members to identify common themes within the organization. Understanding the experiences, perspectives, and needs of the people in the organization is an essential first step in design, Scott said.
And while a large part of any design project should be dedicated to discovery, the commitment to collaboration doesn’t stop there. “Design justice requires ongoing discovery with members of the organization and community, throughout the creation of solutions,” Scott said.
Faculty mentors also played a large role. Alumna Sonya Kaleel (MS18), LEIOC mentor and founder and principal of The Inclusion Practice, said learning by doing gives students the chance to apply the tools and frameworks they are acquiring in class and get messy solving a real-life client challenge.
“It’s incredible to see how the students lean into the discovery process that is filled with ambiguity and complexity and come out with some fantastic insights and opportunity spaces that support the client’s aspirations,” she said.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater ultimately selected several different solutions that emerged from the collaborative process. The students outlined an initial, rough design for each idea, created prototypes, and then tested their proposals.
One of the LEIOC design teams expanded upon a proven technique used to set goals. Using the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, and actionable, relevant and realistic, timebound) goals, they integrated design justice and diversity, equity and inclusion questions into a goal-setting framework that Chicago Shakespeare Theater could use.
Another team created a “pulse survey” blueprint to help Chicago Shakespeare Theater better understand employee perspectives about inclusion, while a third team constructed a gamification approach to developing managers’ diversity, equity, and inclusion skills.
“In so many ways, this project helps shift the narrative around how sustainable diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice solutions can be designed and implemented,” McCann said. “This approach uses a learning lens, in a committed community, with a reliance on dialogue, risk-taking, and creativity.”
Study What you Most Affect
While the journey from discovery to insights, idea generation and finally, to developing prototypes can be challenging, students and Chicago Shakespeare Theater team members said it provided a rich problem-based learning opportunity. The groups were able to merge practical experiences, team collaborations, and challenges that everyone deeply cares about.
“It got messy and felt uncomfortable at times,” said certificate alumna Eve Williams. “But in the end, collaborating with the Theater and my LEIOC team allowed me to put learning into action, and work on ‘trusting the process’ to co-create a viable and inventive solution to further embed IDEA in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s culture.”
LEIOC alumna Melody Pabon also valued the collaborative learning experience, adding, “My team leveraged each member’s unique skills and knowledge so our end-product is a true reflection of all of us. The project has given me confidence in approaching future DEI work/initiatives from various angles.”
For the Chicago Shakespeare Theater team, the collaboration wasn’t just a student project on paper. They too, learned from the process and found the resulting toolkits would help advance their ongoing work.
“Sure, it’s a great exercise for the students, but it’s so deeply rooted in who we are at Chicago Shakespeare Theater that we can actually take this back to our work as an organization and build,” Riopelle said. “The degree of thoughtfulness and generosity exhibited in this partnership lived up to its commitment and the spirit it was presented. Truly, it’s a unique experience to have that generosity.”
“Working with Chicago Shakespeare Theater was insightful, engaging, and exciting...largely due to their partnership and openness throughout the project. The experience delivered fascinating and practical learning as we provided analysis, feedback and perspective on the organization and their DEI journey," said certificate alumnus Dwayne Maddox.
The Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate launched in summer 2019. Summer 2022 marks the launch of the fourth LEIOC cohort. LEIOC is a one-year program supporting organizational change leaders motivated to champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in their organizations and beyond. The graduate program combines research-backed change leadership principles with theoretical frameworks from psychology and sociology to equip practitioners with the skills needed to actuate DEIJ in organizational practices. To learn more about our Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate (LEIOC) program as a prospective student or organizational partner, fill in this Request for Information form and we’ll schedule time to talk. We look forward to playing whatever role we can in helping you achieve your learning, professional, and/or organizational goals.
Photo credits: Ali Ibrahim, Vito Palmisano. Group photo courtesy of Katie Weiss.