Return to Basics

Creating Respectful Workplaces as Culture Change

Ginna Green, Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield, Fran Sepler, Rachel Faulkner (Moderator)
What do we mean by “respectful workplace” and what are the strategies for building a more respectful workplace as a form of cultural change? In this session, we will hear from experts and practitioners who work every day to create a more respectful workplace.

Innovations in Workplace Communication and Policies

Dr. Shira Berkovits, Dr. Keren McGinity, Sarah Pierson (formerly Beaulieu), Robert Bank (Moderator)
How do we ensure that the workplace strategies we are implementing are designed by centering the experiences and needs of those most vulnerable to misconduct and abuse, while also being practical for leaders and organizations to implement effectively? Learn from experts on how they are pushing forward with innovation in two of the fundamental components of healthy workplaces: how we talk about misconduct in the workplace, and how we create and implement policies to both prevent and address it.

Researching Gender Equity in the Jewish Community

Danielle Natelson, Chava Shervington, Yocheved Sidof, Mordy Walfish, Dr. Guila Benchimol (Moderator)
In 2021, Leading Edge issued a report on The Gender Gap in Jewish Nonprofit Leadership. A similar report was recently completed on the relationship between leadership and gender in Orthodox Judaism. What can we learn about trends from comparing the findings of the two reports? How has the 2021 report informed changes in organizations’ approaches to this work?

Recharge & Reflect

Josh Feldman, Founder of R&R: The Rest of our Lives
Join us for a chance to Recharge, Refresh and Reflect. How this will work: You will take break from your computer and call the conference line on your phone (available on the main screen). Then, we will move. Gently, and slowly at first, then with a quickening of pace. We will ground ourselves in the moment and access the ways in which motion can help us reflect and recharge. Love walking/moving? This is for you! Struggle with less traditional learning experiments? This is the perfect stretch! You will leave energized. Its a mini break. Spend time inhabiting, in your body, exploring the focus point of your conference. Josh will talk through prompts while you walk in silence. Feel free to step outside or remain inside. As a modification you can do this workshop as a visualizing from a comfortable stationary position- do what is right for your body.

Stories of Courage

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Nancy Levy Torres, Rabbi Mary Zamore, Elana Wien (Moderator)
Cultivating institutional courage is a necessary piece of ensuring accountability within organizations, including in the context of addressing historical revelations of misconduct and abuse by prominent leaders in our community. When organizational leaders take bold steps to make things right, it is often because those who have directly been harmed by abuse and misconduct in our workplaces and communal spaces have come forward. In doing so, those who have been harmed display tremendous courage in both advocating for themselves and for the future well-being of our community. True courage requires both institutional leaders and victim-survivors of abuse coming together to point the way forward. Hear from such leaders in this session.

Confidentiality and Disclosure from a Jewish Perspective

Rabbi David Teutsch and Rabbi Lila Kagedan
Identifying and naming harmful behaviors and actions is important. If we can’t see what is wrong, how are we to fix it? But doing so raises important legal and ethical implications in our workplaces and communal spaces, particularly in terms of who has the power to identify and name the behavior, as well as in setting the terms with regard to what information is and is not disclosed. Legal tools such as mutual non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses in separation agreements, can be used both to protect the interests of those most harmed, as well as to silence individuals from coming forward fully. The legal implications and considerations of this topic are complex and beyond the scope of this session. This session will instead use Jewish text and tradition to examine the Jewish ethical considerations of workplace practices, specifically as they relate to who is being heard, who is being protected, and how Jewish ethics can guide us to do better.

Bringing a Commitment to SRE through a Transformative Justice Lens 

Dena Robinson
How might we advance safety, respect, and equity in the workplace without reproducing carceral frameworks and relying on punishment or policing? How might we advance safety, respect, and equity in the workplace through redress, accountability, and digging up the roots of harmful behavior? This breakout session will delve into the "how to" of transformative justice and the ways in which you can apply that framework to your workplace.

Creating an Organizational Culture and Commitment to SRE 

Joy Brand-Richardson, Jon Hornstein, Idit Klein, Jon Marker, Sara Shapiro-Plevan, EdD, Gamal Palmer, Todd Rockoff, Deborah Rosenbloom, Atara Steiner
For an organization to truly become a safe, respectful, and equitable workplace, the entire culture of the organization must shift. How do we move SRE from one person in an organization to permeate to the whole organization? How do we make this work a permanent part of our organizations and not a reactive short-term step? In small group discussions, we will address these questions and strategize about how to bring the fundamentals of safety, respect, and equity to your organization.

What’s Law Got to do with It? ​Unpacking Legal Considerations of Institutional Courage

Chai Feldblum
Creating a safe and respectful workplace requires, most importantly, culture change. But leaders also have to be aware of legal requirements regarding anti-discrimination and anti-harassment. This session will explain the basic requirements of those employment laws and offer ideas for leveraging compliance with the law into support for culture change.