HELLO

Darlene Slaughter 

She/Her

LinkedIn

 

Meet the Leader

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Darlene Slaughter is a strategic and visionary leader, recognized for championing inclusive, high-performing workplace cultures built on dignity and respect. Known as an authentic and approachable leader,” she mentors and coaches emerging leaders, facilitates global dialogues on diversity, equity,  and inclusion, and encourages people of all backgrounds to reclaim their voices, take risks, and pursue purposeful work aligned with their values. Her mission is to help individuals unlock their potential and create more equitable, supportive environments for everyone.

 

Restorative Leadership Interview Questions:

 

Question 1: What helps you stay creatively courageous when the world feels threatened/like it’s on fire?

 

One thing that helps me stay grounded during chaotic times is identifying the places and spaces that uniquely belong to me—where I can find peace and stability. I try to maintain a balanced perspective by viewing situations from multiple angles, asking myself questions like "Why is this important?" or "Why is this really a problem?"
Creating physical spaces of calm is another essential practice, especially when internal and external stressors threaten to overwhelm me. I've transformed my backyard into an oasis, with beautiful garden spaces that radiate a Zen-like tranquility. This sanctuary provides much-needed respite from life's constant busyness.

There's something deeply therapeutic about putting your hands in the dirt and tending to plants. Gardening requires a kind of creativity that naturally disconnects me from daily stressors. The process demands presence and patience, offering a form of active meditation that grounds me in the moment while nurturing something beautiful and alive.

 

Question 2: Describe a time when your imagination helped you move from fear into action.

 

 I find myself in one of those pivotal moments right now. It's not a paralyzing fear, but rather an unsettling uncertainty about what I want and what direction I want my life to take in this next phase. The questions feel urgent: What do I truly want? How will my path reveal itself? There's an undeniable weight of doubt about what comes next as I continue to age. While I've embraced the aging process, the reality is stark time feels more precious when you're acutely aware of unfinished dreams and aspirations that haven't even begun. The clock becomes both motivator and source of anxiety. One solution that's helped propel me into action has been enrolling in an improv class. Talk about unleashing your imagination! The experience has been incredible—stressful in the best possible way and absolutely filled with laughter. It's genuinely unlocking parts of my mind and spirit, pushing me to think beyond conventional boundaries and awakening a level of creativity and conversation that had been lying dormant. The class is teaching me that sometimes the best way forward isn't through careful planning, but through saying "yes" to the unexpected and trusting that something meaningful will emerge.

 

Question 3: What does growth and holding space look like for you after a loss or rupture? 

 

Growth and holding space after a loss or rupture is an important question. In 2020, I lost my life partner to Covid after 38 years together.  It was a major loss to me and a loss to his family and community.  He was a teacher and the number of children and teachers that depended on his presence in school was immense.  I lost my way of being and my identity as his partner.  Finding my way through the grief, the isolation, the ending of what was and knowing that it was gone forever, was the journey of healing.  It was necessary to hold that space for myself and others and to acknowledge that it was ok. In those moments, I shared my story with others and designed a workshop to help employees and managers know what grief looks like at work because we were all grieving something during the pandemic without the words to talk about it. I shared what it was for me and held space for others to do the same.  It was a time when I cried and did not feel ashamed of showing emotions in the workplace – that was the growth. I knew it was influential and transformative for our staff and our managers. It was a moment of getting us back to our humanity.

 

 Question 4: How do you protect space for imagination in your team or community? 

 

Protecting space for exploring our imagination at work is not easy. The work culture in many places has values and beliefs that sometimes go against our creative sides, or those abilities aren't always viewed as helpful or supportive. Being innovative is talked about as long as the boundaries are maintained - which can stifle creativity.
However, we can sometimes make our environments healthy and inviting by engaging in mindfulness to start and end meetings, using strategy and visioning tools, playing music during meetings, or prompting teams with icebreakers before starting processes. I believe you have to be intentional in protecting the space because people won't be open to being vulnerable at work if they think they may be judged or perceive judgment from others.

The question is: why are we afraid to explore? What systems and structures have we allowed that judge play and imagination as not the business "way"? Holding space for these activities are the cornerstones to innovation and creativity. These cornerstones are needed in our workplaces today when society and organizational norms are under attack.

 

Question 5: What rituals or practices help you (and/or your team/community) name what hurts while still holding on to what’s possible? 

 

The rituals and practices that I engage in center around learning. I love self-help books, audiobooks, podcasts, video discussions, and storytelling to help name what's happening in these times and what's possible. Over the past few months, I've engaged in many spiritual conversations to gain insight into my own thoughts and feelings about navigating organizational culture and how to make a difference when so many fundamental practices are under attack and have been weaponized.
It hurts to see thriving spaces dismantled. However, within that hurt there is also a time for rethinking how to do things differently and include many who did not see themselves as part of the change. Hosting a collective vision board meeting with various leaders across the organization was powerful. Our task was to acknowledge where we are as an organization, where we need to be, and how we will get there. We all walked away refreshed and amazed at the collective creation - it was a real-time engagement strategy that has sparked great conversations in the workplace.