lack of clear responsibilities

closed meetings

don't really feel that

An \old\" way of thinking that was established on the preferences of employees who no longer work at EDF. Need to establish new ways of doing"

Being funded by specific grants, which limits my ability to step up on more elements of the climate crisis work

Lack of clarity on the boundaries and expectations for my role and how I fit into the wider team sometimes leaves me out

There aren't any other people on my smaller team that look like me/have the same background as me. So I can sometimes feel \othered\". "

People are not always forthright in their views so it is sometimes hard to know where you stand.

Nothing

Effective communication among team members needs to be improved more

If I hear about things after others.

For the Political Affairs department, would love to see more virtual options for people who are concerned about COVID in terms of retreats.

Senior leadership does not enable an environment where I can safely challenge the status quo.

I cannot really think of anything that inhibits my ability to contribute to the team in a meaningful and substantive way

Lack of physical proximity to leadership of the PA program.

undervalued for the skillset I have

I feel included

Being a new hire

If I'm on bluejeans and most everyone else is in person, it's sometimes hard to hear or feel included.

Honestly, nothing. I am still new and everyone has been extremely welcoming to me so far.

Nothing as of yet. I'm still new and learning the team dynamic/culture/vibe. \n

I'm new to the team but feel like I've really been welcomed and included.

At times not knowing about projects or internal decision-making processes, that impact my role. Lots going on, as they say...

Not being located in DC

Nothing comes to mind

Having different viewpoints and background that doesn’t align with a majority of the organization

Focus of my work is different from the core focus of the team

I feel included

Working on issues that aren't EDF's core priority can make my work feel disjointed. I also don't feel as socially integrated as others.

mostly, but not always asked to do things I can do

My team must reexamine its structure to evaluate how to be more effective and therefore better able to include each person appropriately.

Lack of communication

Sometimes my expertise is overlooked or I get requests for tasks that don't fall in my purview. When this happens, I feel unseen.

There isn't much diversity within our staff.

Seniority

I do feel included, but in the past our sub-group leadership has reacted badly to certain viewpoints so I hold back.

Experience level

I float between a number of teams - so internally I never feel like I entirely belong to any one team.

One challenge is being remote and not always knowing 'what is going on' - but we are a new team and are working on communication

Nothing

Being remote and on the west coast can make feeling included challenging.

Nothing

being my authentic self

I largely do feel included. To the extent that isn't true, it's probably due to being a newer hire, and possibly confusion around job roles.

Empathy and support

Communication

Wanting to have some separation between my work and private lives.

I work across several teams. Generally, the lack of communication sometimes prevents me from feeling included on the different teams.

Distance. We are a new small Political Affairs state team that sometimes gets overlooked by the HQ team in DC.

the reorg, and overall structure

Not fully understanding my role w/in state affairs

I'm relatively new!

lack of clarity around the new role of state director for other parts of the political affairs team and for other parts of edf workstreams

Occasionally being excluded from early decision making on projects/task for which I will be asked to implement or secure certain results

I have very little say in the strategic direction of the team.

For the team I work with on the daily there isn't anything that is preventing me from feeling included.

As a manager on the team, I do not meet directly with the team lead. Information comes through my manager.

Nothing prevents me from feeling included. I always make myself available but I am not fearful of asking questions or being wrong.

The rigidity to keep the status quo prevents me from feeling included and being able to disagree with some of the processes.

its not about feeling \safe\" but about having the time and opportunity to learn"

It feels hard to ask basic questions about someone else's work because you don't want to give them the sense that you haven't been following-

I feel safe to learn

I think the belief that things have been done a certain way for so long, so that's how we do it.

The job is often high pressure when it doesn't necessarily have to be and higher-level coworkers get caught up in that.

I feel very encouraged to learn.

I actually feel very safe learning on the Moms team - for me, this is a strength of our team.

I often feel dismissed when I challenge the status quo.

not much tolerance for mistakes

not an issue

There is so much work going on - I often feel like if I ask a question, it would indicate I haven't been paying attention.

To learn on my team? What does that mean?

Access to what i need to learn

I'm not sure

Doubt but that comes from within.

Generally, I have a lot less experience and knowledge compared to my coworkers and I try not to highlight that - leading to less learning

Nothing at the moment.

Don't always have the space to ask for crowdsource wisdom on questions\n

feeling like I'm getting judged for not knowing what others know

Pressure to meet existing deadlines, not enough time for new things.

Again, I am new so I feel free to take time to learn how to do my job and my team encourages that.

It seems like there is an established way of doing things at EDF and it can be hard to challenge that bureaucracy.

Not fully understanding our role w/in political affairs >> state affairs

EDF has high-achieving, competitive people. Admitting ignorance is challenging in that context.

Time to follow through.

Fear of judgement for slowing the work pace down.

nothing comes to mind\n

Nothing at present.

Fear of missing out on promotions, fear of saying the wrong thing

I do feel safe to learn

Sometimes there are expectations that people should already know certain things.

I feel very safe to learn on this team

I am sometimes reluctant to ask questions because I think I should probably know more than I do.

nothing

Self consciousness about my relative privilege (along lines of, gender, race/ethnicity, education…).

I don't feel that anything prevents me from feeling safe.

Nothing

Workload

Lack of understanding

Myself

Time

I generally feel safe to learn, but often don't have the time to prioritize learning.

My own feeling, that I don't know if I ought to devote the time to engage and learn amidst the day-to-day press of work.

Degree to which I perceive group leaders are assuming a level of baseline knowledge on a complex issues or policy area

various workstreams assume that everyone has a detailed knowledge of the work they do and why and is similarly bought in

Nothing, our team frequently circulates learning materials for all of our mutual enrichment.

I feel like I'm in a really stuck place with my supervisor. We have different strengths and we are frustrated with each other.

Not being involved at the beginning of an issue puts me at a disadvantage

Not enough time. Always an emergency and too much on my plate.

There is a lot of information and projects throughout EDF - so trying to keep up can be a lot

Nothing

It can be difficult to determine what is relevant to the larger team which results in disengagement around new ideas

When I have asked for guidance on development, I have been told one I suggested were not for me (at my current level).

There has been no professional development or promotion for a few years, even as my responsibilities have changed.

ditto the previous response--not so much about feeling safe as about having the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way

Nothing

Power dynamic

Nothing

I feel safe contributing

Nothing

I'm one of the younger ones on the team and am still getting acquainted.

I have seen others' contributions immediately dismissed.

not an issue

My work often challenges the status quo at EDF, so it is sometimes met with defensiveness.

My work clearly doesn't align with the broader climate crisis endeavors.

not always aware of what the more senior people are thinking or have decided...

People understanding what exactly I do and why my work is valuable.

I think the fact that I am new/young - I am not very experienced or have an 'expert' opinion

Nothing

I am still unclear of my place on each of my teams - so I do not know when it is acceptable for me to contribute or take a back seat

Lack of experience and lack of confidence that my contributions will be seen as valuable.

The rigidty to the status quo.

When questions/suggestions are joked about or brushed off rather than acknowledged.

I don't feel constrained at all but am mindful about being the only straight, white male on the team.

Personal work relationships

There is no feed-back loop. There is no eagerness to seek out my views for improvements, and when I do, there is no follow-up.

I feel safe.

Not knowing fully the scope of my work

Cannot think of one.

That I lack seniority

Just being new, it can sometimes be intimidating to chime in. Everyone is very encouraging of me adding my thoughts though.

I feel safe to contribute, but I don't feel like my ideas ever impact the decisions made.

fear

defensiveness

People can be territorial with their issue portfolios

I feel safe to contribute

Siloed issue area focus - not many opportunities to collaborate across the team with others.

I have less experience and therefore might be wrong about things

Fear of being interrupted.

Knowing that my different opinions will be looked at negatively or seen as wrong. Even being too uncomfortable to say I’m uncomfortable.

Want to project competence!

Judgement

so many opinions

perception that suggestions/observations/input offered will result in new task and assignments with an already busy workload

I already contribute a lot and feel like I may be crowding others out.

When projects or issues I want to work on are not considered part of the team's existing priority areas I sometimes feel dismissed

Fear of offending from a place of unconscious bias or ignorance.

nothing. I can challenge the status quo\n

Nothing.

I feel safe offering contributions.

Our subgroup leadership can be open on some points but also responds very badly to differing views on certain topics.

I feel safe to contribute to my team

Relatively less experience

I feel very safe contributing to our team, and also feel appreciated and valued.

Being relatively new to the PA team (less than 6 months), I still struggle with feeling confident in meetings.

Myself \n

nothing

Knowing my role. I always want to make sure I know what I am saying is correct. I don't want to relay the wrong information.

nothing

A lack of inclusion on decision making and very little interaction with team lead.

The bureaucracy in the larger organization strangles any effort to try new things or challenge the status quo.

its a big organization and decision-making is highly centralized

hierarchy at EDF

I feel safe challenging the status quo.

Only my newness!

I assume many of the practices are in place for a good reason

Being new to the team and still getting used to how EDF works instead of my expertise and experience in the work I do.

Nothing

I challenge the status quo when needed.

I tried to challenge something I found very wrong when I was newly on staff, and our subgroup leadership didn't listen well and blamed me.

Lack of acceptance to change from upper management

Overall I do feel safe challenging the status quo.

I generally feel safe to challenge the status quo on my team, but EDF has long-standing positions that feel too entrenched to challenge.

Uncertainty about who is in charge of our culture and practices: Fred? Elizabeth Gore? EDF HR? Moms? And if Moms, who within the team?

Lack of time to be able to fix the issue

I feel safe to challenge the status quo

Everyone having a different opinion than me.

It was once made clear to me during a meeting that EDF doesn't fail, which in context, seemed to mean we also can't make mistakes.

I feel safe w/in my immediate team but am unclear on our role w/in political affairs >> state affairs

My identity as a minority and as a woman makes it challenging to challenge a majority, privileged group.

I'm still learning how the team works and our norms - I don't feel unsafe I just don't have anything to challenge yet.

Some people do hold grudges, seek retribution, withhold information to gain power and control, and/or are territorial.

Nothing so far, I'm still learning how this team flows and thinks.

Not feeling supported when I do suggest challenges to the status quo

My boss has a particular way of seeing things so if I push back I don't feel she listens\n

There is not much people that look like me within EDF so I just do my job to the best of my ability.

I have a manager who really likes to be in control, and challenging how we've done things tends to upset that balance.

The backlash \n

There are some silos that do not lend themselves to being responsive to anyone but the leader.

I think it can - it might not be successful, but then again it might!

I can challenge the status quo, but that doesn't mean things will change.

EDF sees itself as having been effective accomplishing its goals for years. Questioning the way we do things feels unnecessary for some.

Big ship is hard to change so is the challenge worth the pain?

It won't matter and nothing will change.

I feel safe.

nothing comes to mind\n

same as before, I feel safe to challenge, but I don't feel like its productive to challenge.

Perceptions of lack of willingness of groups members/leaders to accept/consider input that is contrary/challenges group customs/norms/SOP

Deference to institutional politics.

I do feel safe

The lack of change that has happened in the past.

being a new employee

Being a more junior staffer and feeling like more senior members of the team's contributions have the most weight.

Unwillingness or hesitation to consider changing how our team operates and what our team works on from senior leadership

Core focus of my work is not the same as the rest of the team

Concern that the resulting change in the status quo might have unintended consequences or make matters worse.

fear

Support

I think because I am newer and younger

Folks take about wanting to move to an EJ and DEIJ lens for work but continue to push agendas that contradict EJ/DEIJ principles

Can be tough to challenge the status quo when trying to do the immediate work that is before us.

No direct contact with team lead, information comes only through my manager. Decisions about my direct reports made without my input.

Myself

There are no safe, supportive spaces to challenge the status quo. And if we did have these spaces, I doubt there would be proper follow-up.

People in positions of power have been in power for a long time and don't often bring in diverse younger or newer voices in decision making

That I will not be understood

No opportunity to do so anonymously

I feel able to challenge the status quo, though openness to ideas varies by personality.

Nothing

While management is receptive to growth/accountability, there is still a reluctance in changing the way we operate to be more equitable.