Want your organization to be more inclusive? I have bad news.
By JoAnn Meyer | Principal, Previse Consulting | Production and Operations Manager | Mentor & Engineering Advocate | Board Member
Want your organization to be more inclusive? I have bad news. An organization can’t be inclusive. You can include others and when enough of you do, then your organization will. But the path to get there is travelled by the individual, not the organization.
So, what should you do?
Chances are you’ve had enough awareness and bias training. If you’re a senior leader, then your personal commitment statement is visible enough on office walls and alongside mission statements on the company website. You’ve proclaimed your support for company diversity and inclusion efforts to enough employees in small conference rooms and from podiums in town hall meetings. You’ve chartered enough teams to study and sponsored enough affinity networks to encourage and empower under-represented employees.
In short, you’re well prepared. Pre-season is over and if your organization is not inclusive, it’s time to get up off the bench and play.
The use of a sports metaphor is intentional. Any sports fan who has studied the fundamentals (maybe some theory too) of the game or race or match, is seldom satisfied to just be a spectator. Weekend warriors lace up the shoes and look for a pick-up basketball, flag football or adult league soccer game. Even if age, common sense or limited ability prevent physical participation, there’s always the mental calisthenics associated with “active-watching” of the pro or elite amateur big game. Real fans aren’t passive. They’re managing fantasy sports teams, trash talking, or flaunting their command of stats. They want to be part of the action.
Is that how you feel about including those under-represented in your organization? Are you a fan of including others? Are you an enthusiastic devotee, which is one definition of fan?
If you are a fan and interested in seeing a few winning maneuvers, below are three examples from the “How to Include Others” playbook.
1. Ask
If you are a team leader, supervisor, manager, or executive, ask the people who depend on you for guidance and support to perform their jobs, the following:
· “How do you feel about the work environment?”
· “Do you feel included and your input respectfully considered?”
· “Do you feel good about how others are treated?”
During my 30 years in the oil and gas industry, only once did a manager seem curious about my experience as a woman in a male dominated workplace. He said, “You are the only diversity I have on my team. Do we have issues that cause you embarrassment or discomfort in any way?” I was shocked.
I will never forget how validating it was to have my boss ask for my perspective and perhaps dissenting opinion. I searched for Jim in the company directory years later. I needed advice to address a situation with a man much senior to me. Jim was still the only person who had ever cared enough to offer his support, personally. I didn’t locate Jim, instead struggled alone to decide the best course of action.
2. Invite
If following formal diversity and inclusion policies, programs or management processes are the essence of your efforts, your company is probably not on a path to being more inclusive. Frequent, small actions are more meaningful than compliance driven actions or rare, expensive fanfare. Grandiosity does not equal impact, at least not positive impact. Consider this small power move,
John comes into the conference room for a Monday morning meeting still excited from the big win of the local football team. Before the meeting starts, everyone is sharing their favorite play from Sunday afternoon and dreaming of going to the play-offs. John glances around and notices Saira. She’s the most junior person in the room, at the far end of the table looking uncomfortable and a little bewildered. Bill asks Saira how her weekend was and if she did anything special?
Notice John didn’t ask if Saira had seen the big game which would have effectively highlighted that she was different, an outsider, if she hadn’t. Instead he asked about her weekend, not intending to just pull her into his story. Not a big effort, but a considerate little act that says, “You are part of this group and I am interested in you.” A powerful message was sent to the person invited to join in and to those observing this exchange.
Talk about a senior leader being inclusive, this is most valuable player (MVP) award worthy.
3. Mix it up
At company functions, lunch time or coffee breaks, do you always sit with the same people, with those whom you have an established relationship and whose company you enjoy? Make some new friends. Ask to join a table of people you don’t know well. Might be a little awkward at first, but this relatively small investment of time and curiosity can pay all kinds of dividends.
Once you’re there don’t dazzle everyone with your intelligence, hierarchical importance or tales of past accomplishments. Assume the role of learner, curious to acquire as much first-hand knowledge about your new friends as possible, before finishing coffee or dessert.
In conclusion, the ultimate goal may be more inclusive workplaces, but the challenge isn’t the workplace. The challenge is whether each of us can change our mindset and behavior. All that’s left for us to do is actually include those that are different than we are.
The workplace will be more inclusive when each of us is.
