Inter-County Baseball Team Re-Naming

You’re likely seeing/hearing a lot about the re-naming of the Inter-County Baseball League. I want to unpack this a bit and put out a few things to consider about this and for our own work too:

After a Mis-Step: Apologize and do better.

This is a great example of what to do when something is brought to our attention related to DEIJ. We all have more to learn. And, we all make mis-steps. This is a good example where folks are acknowledging the mistake, committing to doing better, and moving on. This is generally the approach to take. Remember, the intent is not as important as the impact and actions speak louder than words.

Diverse workplaces are important.

Having diversity on our staff, including people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, can build our organizational knowledge and competencies. It can help us consider issues from angles we haven’t before and reduce the number of mis-steps we make.

Do homework.

Meaningful engagement is important. I know it can feel like a lot sometimes. But, we can’t know everything. Reaching out builds a sense of community ownership and helps us to catch unintended harms or mis-steps. It’s also useful to do a deep dive into phrases or names we’re considering using to catch any potential conflicts with our intended messaging.

Do no harm.

Our personal perceptions of whether the name is harmful are irrelevant – if the name is harmful to, or could cause harm to, a community or communities, it’s our responsibility to adapt, even if that’s inconvenient or hard to do. Kudos to the group for altering course, it can be hard to turn the ship once it’s set sail.

Please feel free to reach out if you want to discuss!

Rebecca