Not only is inclusion a deeply personal matter, it’s also the micro-level priority in a largely macro-level D&I setting.
Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a personally significant decision. Therein lies a key Diversity & Inclusion challenge hiding in plain sight. While we can pin down diversity, even the invisible kind, and count it, inclusion can prove elusive.
Not only is inclusion a deeply personal matter, it’s also the micro-level priority in a largely macro-level D&I setting. What that means is, organisations can create policies, write procedures, define performance indicators, and roll out surveys, but they can’t demand inclusion.
This paradox is not as well understood and often gets missed all together. Think of integrity and honesty. Despite policy driven pressures, employees can get away with some transgressions, but not all of them and not all of the time. Because there are consequences.
Inclusion is has not yet reached that status. Most leaders can function without being inclusive and still keep their jobs. Unless inclusion is embedded in the organisation, its absence doesn’t turn as noticeable or consequential.
Applying these effective methods can help embed inclusion and make it more accessible to everyone at work. This ensures inclusion is not a forgotten priority, but one that stands out.
Place inclusion before diversity
As much as it helps to be known as a diverse organisation, it’s more profitable to become an inclusive one. Hiring diverse people helps with optics (which is not unimportant) and supporting fair representation. Even so, inclusion is no guarantee. In fact, inclusion doesn’t flow naturally from diversity. Without the directional support of inclusive practices, diversity creates more problems than generate any good. So, now you have a diverse organisation, but one that doesn’t benefit from it. It’s also troublesome to hire people, but not provide them safety, respect, acknowledgement, and a place they can belong.
Connect inclusion to long-term vision
The market will continue to change, rise, crash, and burn, yet organisations must look to the horizon in the distance. As Simon Sinek says, organisations that play the infinite game focus not so much on their competition and the next quarter, but on enduring over the decades. To align with this long lens of an organisation’s lifetime, it’s important to position D&I as a foundational and strategic shift that speaks to long-term vision. The message is, an organisation will get to their biggest goals over the decades, not with the help of diversity and inclusion, but precisely because of it.
Define and circulate inclusive practices
People can’t change behaviour when they don’t know what needs to change and why. It is not uncommon to hear leaders remonstrate about their people not following inclusive practices. Despite that lament, not many leaders in the organisation even know what these practices look like and where to find them. Teams are even less informed and hesitate to bring up exclusionary practices in the absence of such guiding principles. Having clearly articulated inclusive practices is the baseline, not the end in itself. It’s crucial to define inclusive practices simply and clearly and talk about their importance and meaning often.
Use stories to bring inclusion to life
While inclusive practices matter, the stories behind them matter even more so. These may not be identifiable stories from within the organisation, but plenty creativity can be applied to this one. Both leaders and their teams want an illustration of what inclusion means and what constitutes lack of it. Stories, characters, and anecdotes supplement inclusive practices, bring them to life and facilitate learning. Relatable stories link the ‘what’ of inclusion with the ‘why’ of it. When shared during team meetings and all-hands, stories serve to humanises inclusion and make diversity meaningful at work.
Create a community to deepen inclusion
Inclusion can mean different things to different people based on their life experiences, sense of diversity, and individual needs. Community building and involvement help to tease out these differing interpretations for a diverse workforce. This can turn into a fun and deeply instructive activity that brings teams together and gives people a sense of community. Think of placing a blank canvas in a common area at work, and invite employees to share what inclusion and being included mean to them. You might be moved and surprised by what you hear vs what you thought and assumed you might hear.
Make inclusion a self-directed achievement
Inclusion is not a natural outcome of a diverse human experience. What comes more swiftly is to withdraw into the safety of similarities and distance oneself from the unknown. Which is why, a room full of diversity is not necessarily one brimming with inclusion. To counter that, organisations can resort to mandating D&I related training, which often backfires. Instead, providing public and positive reinforcements, sharing stories of success, and applauding efforts to improve in inclusive practices help to accelerate inclusion at work.
Sonali D’silva is a Certified Professional in Inclusive Leadership from Catalyst Inc. She is the Founder of Equality Consulting, a training and advisory service for raising diversity awareness, leading with inclusion, and creating psychological safety at work. Find out more about Sonali at www.equalityconsulting.com.au