You have been building an individual practice for two months. These two weeks are about looking outward — at the organisation, the structure, and what would need to change at the systemic level for the Cost of Entry to genuinely lower.
Week 9 — What would structural change actually look like?
Not aspirational. Not "more training." Specific, concrete, observable change in how your organisation operates.
Corner One
This week's focus: write the ask
You have been documenting the cost for months. This week: turn that documentation into one specific, written ask. Not a complaint. A request with a specific outcome. "I am requesting that [X] be formally recognised / redistributed / compensated in the following way." You do not have to submit it this week. But write it as if you are going to. The act of writing it is the practice.
Structure for your written ask
"I am requesting [specific thing]. The reason: [documented pattern]. The proposed change: [concrete action]. The person/body with authority to action this: [name]. The timeline I am requesting: [realistic timeframe]."
Reflection prompt
What did you ask for? What felt risky about writing it down? What would it mean for your organisation if this ask was acted on?
Corner Two
This week's focus: submit your structural suggestion
Remember the structural gap you identified in Week 5? This week: submit it. To your manager. To HR. To a committee. Formally. In writing. With your name on it. This is the difference between awareness and action. You have done the work. You have the competence. Now use it.
Reflection prompt
Did you submit it? What was the response? If you didn't — what stopped you? That answer is your next piece of work.
Corner Three
This week's focus: use your access
You have access. Airtime. Credibility in rooms that others don't get into. This week: use that access once on behalf of someone who doesn't have it. Bring their idea into a room they weren't invited to. Name their contribution to a decision-maker. Advocate for a structural change they have been asking for. You have the access. This is what it is for.
Reflection prompt
What did you do with your access this week? What was the result? What did it cost you — if anything?
Corner Four
This week's focus: advocate for your own category
If your organisation's equity or inclusion framework doesn't have a category for people like you — say so. To someone with the power to change it. "The current framework doesn't capture my experience. Here is what it misses." You are not asking to be the exception. You are asking the framework to be more accurate. That is a legitimate and important ask.
Reflection prompt
Did you make the ask? What language did you use? How was it received?
Week 10 — Peer sharing
You have been doing this work largely alone. This week is about finding at least one other person who has also been doing it — and comparing notes.
Corner One
This week's focus: find one other Corner One person
Find one other person — from this workshop or elsewhere — who carries a similar load. Have one honest conversation about what the past ten weeks have been like. Not a support group. Not processing. Just: "What has actually changed for you? What hasn't?" You are building a shared evidence base. Two people's experience is always stronger than one person's.
Reflection prompt
What did you learn from comparing notes? What was similar? What surprised you?
Corner Two
This week's focus: check in with a Corner One colleague
Find a Corner One colleague — with their consent — and ask: "Over the past few months, have you noticed anything different about how I engage? Be honest." This is not fishing for a compliment. It is a feedback request. Their answer — whatever it is — is your most important data point for the past ten weeks.
Reflection prompt
What did they say? What was hard to hear? What gave you evidence that the practice has been landing?
Corner Three
This week's focus: ask for honest feedback
Find someone in your team — ideally from a different corner — and ask them directly: "Over the past few months, have you noticed any change in how I engage in meetings or conversations about culture and equity? I'm asking because I've been working on something and I want honest feedback." Their answer is your evidence.
Reflection prompt
What did they say? What was the hardest part of asking? What will you do with the answer?
Corner Four
This week's focus: share your map
Take the map of your position you have been building over ten weeks — your language, your navigation costs, your clarity about when to bridge and when not to — and share one piece of it with someone who matters. A manager, a close colleague, a mentor. Not the whole thing. One piece. The piece that would be most useful for them to understand.
Reflection prompt
What did you share? How was it received? What did sharing it cost — and what did it give you?