Workshop | Cultivating Connection and Courage: Leadership for Difficult Times

Public employees in the Pacific Northwest have in many places been leading through example in the national conversation on equity and inclusion in the public sector. While many public agencies have made great strides in developing robust equity plans, innovations in community engagement, and equitable strategies, our peers in these spaces are starting to face the most significant and explicit pushback to this work we have seen in decades. We must also acknowledge that people with identities in the margin are most likely to be targeted and or impacted in moments of pushback, the importance of trust within diverse teams, and the role of meaningful allyship.

In this moment it is mission critical that we make space to pause, to acknowledge the grief and fear that can arise in these moments, and to ground into our personal and collective leadership.

In this workshop, we’ll share real-life stories of how leadership teams, and individual contributors, have navigated through moments of pushback to DEI efforts in their organizations and communities, and how they used their courage, commitment to the work, and one another to get through it with their efforts, and hearts, intact.

Participants will also have the opportunity to reflect on how they may bolster their resources, and emotional and strategic first aid kits before they need them. We’ll share tools, practices, and prompts for conversation to enable teams to both prepare for and navigate tough situations.

Katie Augsburger is a dynamic force at the intersection of history, human resources, and equitable workplace practices. With over two decades of experience leading HR teams, she brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her work.

As a founding partner of Future Work Design, Katie works with clients to get curious about the the “why” and “how” policies and practices were created, and even more curious about “who those policies best serve”, to help imagine a better, more inclusive future state.

Katie's impactful contributions have garnered recognition, including Oregon's Best Company To Work For and Fortune Magazine's Most Flexible Workplace.

Beyond her professional achievements, Katie's influence extends to the public sphere. Katie has been the featured speaker at such events as the Portland Design Museum, Living Future Institute Conference, Partners In Diversity, NAPFA Conference, HR While Black, NOMA Conference, Portland Human Resources Society Annual Conference, Disrupt HR and many more.

Katie continues to educate and inspire through her featured appearances on podcasts and articles.

Certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), Katie's expertise is both broad and deep. Her multifaceted approach, coupled with her relentless pursuit of progress, makes her an invaluable asset in shaping the future of work."

Nina Narelle is an experienced consultant and organizational designer with a passion for guiding organizational change. Her career spans over two decades, focusing on group process facilitation, leadership development, and organizational design. As a consultant and coach, she collaborates with organizations committed to transforming how we work together and what we choose to create to leave our communities and the world a little better than we found them.

Nina's expertise lies in executive/leadership team performance, organizational and process design, collaborative strategic planning, EDI, and organizational change. Her work is more recently informed by and driven by a curiosity about the possibilities within collapseology and postcolonialism.

She has played pivotal roles ni various organizations, including being a founding partner and senior strategist at Future Work Design, where she works in a multi- racial team to lead organizational change and strategy work through the lens of equity and inclusion.

Additionally, Nina served as an assistant professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she explored mainstream leadership and ethics models through an equity lens, fostering a deep understanding of power dynamics. As a senior consultant at XPLANE, she combined strategic expertise with creative design to help organizations define and activate complex strategies at an enterprise scale. She also held roles such as Chapters and Membership Programs Manager at Conscious Capitalism, Inc,. contributing to one of the first US organizations to adopt the Holacracy operating model. As Principal at NCN Consulting, Nina brought her dedication to social and environmental justice to support mission-based organizations.

Nina has been a featured speaker at conferences and public events, including the Portland Design Museum, The National Association of Change Management Professionals, the Western States Center ACMP Conference, the annual Governing for Racial Equity Conference, and the Organizational Development Network.

As the Director of Strategic Services, Chief Brian Smith oversees the Division of Government and Public Affairs at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue (TVF&R). TVF&R is Oregon’s largest fire district, providing fire and emergency medical services to over 500,000 residents across 390-square miles. TVF&R is dedicated to delivering high-quality fire protection and emergency medical services, with 28 fire stations, staffed by over 450 career firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians. TVF&R has a total workforce of nearly 600 people.

Chief Smith began his fire service career as a Firefighter / Paramedic with the McMinnville Fire Department in 1997.  For the last 23 years he has been with TVF&R and before promoting to his current position, Chief Smith spent nearly twenty-five years on a fire engine responding to emergency calls of all types.