From Junior to Consultant: Two Key Lessons from My Journey
Suhaila Sikand, Common Spark’s newest Consultant
Over the past year and eight months since working with Common Spark, I’ve been approached with a simple question: ‘What do you do for work?’ Initially, I thought I had a great answer, ‘I work on energy policy!’ As it turns out, I was selling myself short: at Common Spark, it’s never just energy policy. My journey as a Junior Consultant with Common Spark Consulting proved that I had a lot to learn. And I did. And I still am.
Below are two big takeaways (from many) in my journey thus far.
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#1. To actively shift power means, a lot of the time, it’s just not about you.
In conjunction with my work at Common Spark, I am part of a rad group of gals who meet occasionally for our climate feminism book club. Last year, we read ‘Hood Feminism’, where Mikki Kendall lays it out straight: sometimes it simply isn’t your turn to be the focus of the conversation. And that’s when all the pieces started connecting — allyship, solidarity, mutuality, and what it means to show up generally, especially in the energy industry.
Over the past three years, I’ve been peeling back the teachings from my design degree (read my bio if you’re curious how I ended up here), not the tools or the exercises, but the framing. The traditional human-centered design process does not serve communities, in fact it just uses them. Too often, the design process turns to communities to justify what the designer thinks is the problem and the needed solution. What’s fascinating in my journey is that I’ve seen similar characteristics of that designer persona in a lot of so-called-allies—some environmental, some urban planning.
It leads me to continually question: How much of what I do is actually for the community, versus using the community to uplift my own goals and milestones? What would it look like to let communities define their own challenges and priorities, and determine their own solutions? And for me as a ‘designer’ and an environmental advocate, to follow their lead instead of asking them to justify my own? What would it look like if I decentered myself?
In fact, the key to facilitate conversations that don’t end up with the status quo is to actively shift power to those who have been shut out and denied power, access, and a listening ear for a very long time. A foundational first step to actively power-shift as a facilitator is to decenter my role in the conversation while still holding responsibility as facilitator. This goes beyond intention, and requires building trust and awareness with myself and others through vulnerability, humility, and action.
Power: Having the influence, control, or persuasion to define an outcome or process; having the privilege to safely access spaces and resources; having the ability to take or give power away from another.
#2. Stepping into vulnerability and accountability leads to self transformation and growth
I’m currently enrolled in the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice, in which the phrase “to hold accountable” was recently questioned because it implies punishment and houses negative connotations; it implies that someone or something carries the power to hold over someone else. However, accountability can be intrapersonal: acknowledging missteps, apologizing for them and actively mending them, and growing beyond them. Most of that is hard personal work and it takes vulnerability (feeling and courage) and humility to start. A colleague recently told me, “accountability is perseverance too;” it’s not only being accountable, but also staying accountable. These characteristics aren’t weakness, like society taught me growing up, but rather a point for growth that only makes people stronger.
Last year, I made a mistake. Common Spark led a meeting with a number of advocates in which many presented what they were working on and their priorities in their advocacy for the purposes of greater coordination and collaboration. Common Spark was managing the follow-up, connecting folks to presenters if they indicated an interest in collaborating or learning more. However, when a frontline CBO spoke about their own work in a meeting, it wasn’t clear if they were inviting the opportunity to connect to other participants. Alas, after the meeting, I facilitated e-introductions to this person but hadn’t waited for their confirmation. A few days later, I realized the mistake I had made. This person probably had over fifty uninvited email introductions in their inbox from ‘allies’ trying to do better and wanting so badly to help a frontline CBO. I had broken their trust. Acknowledging what I had done, I and Common Spark crafted an email apology, including the steps I took to do better.
I’m the type of person that carries guilt with me—anytime I mess up I have it in the back of my mind reminding me not to repeat that mistake because of how it affected the people around me. But guilt isn’t accountability: instead I commit to not make assumptions based on one’s life experiences—to let people speak for themselves and support their power to connect to others on their own terms.
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I have finally narrowed down my answer to the ‘What do you do for work’ question, and I feel pretty confident about it: I use my background as a Climate Designer to facilitate spaces that challenge, question, unveil, and change the unjust status-quo of the energy system to inspire policy-making that makes clean energy affordable, safe, and accessible to everyone.
Common Spark Consulting not only works externally with our clients and partners, but we also strive to work inwardly, recognizing that we must internalize the care, thoughtfulness, and intention we hope to represent as individuals and an organization. The Thought Library is where we share our ideas and thoughts, where we are at right now, on topics and issues that we hope will spark conversation for a brighter, more inclusive energy future.
