top of page

our values

Collaboration. Equity. Sustainability.

Collaboration

At Constructive Disruption, not only do we want to work together on our own team, but we believe in collaboration with your team as well. Our research and planning processes are built with a collaborative approach at the center. We believe high-quality, sustainable plans emerge when diverse staff, key leadership, and local stakeholders have a meaningful opportunity to contribute their thoughts and create an all-inclusive exchange where views are recognized, respected, and valued. 

​

We employ a variety of methods in our work:

  • The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)’s Public Participation Pillars;

  • Harwood Institute tools of engagement, including the Turning Outward process;

  • A range of brainstorming methods, giving ample opportunity for individual and group, verbal and non-verbal, and written and kinesthetic options for contributions. A particular favorite is the World Café method;

  • Asset Based Community Development; including community mapping to determine who we need to talk with and identify gaps in that stakeholder list, ensuring a diverse and inclusive list of participants;

  • Principles of Design Thinking, including empathy/ecosystem mapping, customer journey mapping, directed storytelling interviews, and prototyping;

  • Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE)’s toolkits.

Equity and Data Justice

We center equity, diversity, and inclusion in all of our work, and seek to lift the voices of those typically left out of strategic planning work. 

​

In particular, we incorporate data and research justice into our data work. The Coalition of Communities of Color, building on the work of the former DataCenter: Research for Justice organization, shares “Research Justice is a strategic framework that seeks to achieve self-determination for marginalized communities. It centralizes community voices and leadership in an effort to facilitate genuine, lasting social change.” This approach is informed by the principles of community-based participatory action research (CBPAR), which states that community members are experts​: the people we interact with as part of our data collection, focus groups, and research are the experts. Members of the community being researched are the researchers, and those who interact with the process do not need to be taught anything in order to contribute. Those contributions must be recognized as of value, and the knowledge and expertise all members of our community bring to a project helps ensure we are staying focused on our strengths.

Sustainability

We believe critical action is necessary to preserve our planet and seek to bring an environmental justice lens to our planning processes. The single best way we as a consultancy can reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce our work-related travel and increase the virtual options for participation. Many of our projects are initially proposed as virtual-only, with the option for discussion during the contracting processes to apply a thoughtful, critical lens to choosing the in-person opportunities offered as part of our work.

 

As we feel the practice of carbon offsets do not align with the principles of environmental justice, we are deliberate in our equivalent donations. For example, Constructive Disruption has applied for membership in 1% for the Planet, agreeing to donate 1% of our annual gross profits to environmental causes, and our place-based giving focuses on equity-based environmental projects, such as The Chúush Fund: Water for Warm Springs in Oregon.

bottom of page