Talk out loud.

Perspectives, ponderings, and points of view on the topic of DEIB at work

Inclusion as a concept is passive. People tend to think that by not being exclusive, they are - by default - being inclusive. But that is not how it works. If we’re not actually doing something, we’re not doing it right. Building an inclusive relationship, an inclusive team, or an inclusive culture requires action. And this is where the invitation comes in. To be truly inclusive, we must invite differing ideas, perspectives, solutions, experiences, ways of thinking, and voices to the conversation. We must be proactive in our pursuit to hear from people who aren’t in the majority.

In my work with organizations, I focus on three main elements of an inclusive culture:

  • What we focus on.

    Instead of focusing on whatever celebratory month it is, we should focus on the actual elements of an inclusive culture: promotions, career, leadership representation, decision-making, environment, idea contribution, and more.

  • What we teach.

    Instead of teaching a way of thinking that defies decades of an individuals’ upbringing…instead of trying to change mindsets, we should teach the skills, behaviors, and actions required for an inclusive culture.

  • What we tolerate.

    Instead of outlining the actions we won’t tolerate (harassment, et al), we should explicitly state what we expect of employees, and then measure it, track it, and use that data to make informed people decisions.

Keep scrolling for more details…

WHAT WE FOCUS ON.

Too often, organizations are focused on the highly visible but less impactful things rather than the less visible but more important things. What do I mean by this? Lots of companies are focused on Black History Month programming, International Women’s Day acknowledgement, Gay Pride Parade banners, and providing some sort of celebration for holidays from cultures around the world. At the same time, however, black people aren’t being promoted, women are being paid less, gay folks aren’t represented in leadership, and our colleagues from around the world are required to assimilate to American cultural norms. I’m not saying marching in the Gay Pride Parade is a bad thing - it’s a great start! But we must also ensure that we’re including LGBTQ voices in decision-making, that gay families are represented in our collateral, that same sex couples are invited to the company events, that adoption is covered in our parental leave, that transgender-related health care is covered, that our leadership is representative of the LGBTQ population, and more. An inclusive environment is not one that touts their events, it’s one that ensures that the way we talk, meet, make decisions, promote, hire, fire, and reward is equitable. If we only focus on what the public can see, and not what truly makes an inclusive environment, we’re missing the point, and we run the risk of being accused of performative DEI, which is not great for business.

WHAT WE TEACH.

We spend upwards of $8,000,000,000 (that’s 8 billion for those who lost count of the 0’s) on DEIB related training in this country every year. And we have yet to see the changes and progress that we’re paying for. Our ROI is abysmal, as far as I can tell, so it’s time we revisit what we’re teaching, to whom, and why. The workshops I lead focus on the invitation: how managers can invite the contributions of the people on their teams, how leaders can invite the input of a larger - more diverse - population for issues that affect them, how decision makers can invite the perspectives of people different from them, how we can run more inclusive team meetings, one-on-one’s, brainstorming, and the like. The invitation is the proactive approach to get more, different voices in the conversation, which creates a more inclusive, participative, and safe environment. If we continue our training methods of ‘capturing hearts and minds’ we will miss the boat: we don’t have time to battle decades of societal upbringing, worldviews, mindsets, or attitudes. We need to teach the behaviors and skills required for inclusion, not inclusion itself.

WHAT WE TOLERATE.

Let’s face it, in every organization, we have some toxic employees. Toxic employees are the ones that behave in a way that is harmful to the organization, including is people or its property or its performance. In fact, a Harvard Business School study found that toxic workers have an outsized impact on the organization: 50% of the people around the toxic worker decreased their own work effort, 66% of them had their performance decline, 78% lowered their commitment to the organization, 80% lost work time worrying about the person, and 63% of them lost time actively avoiding their toxic colleague.

Organizational culture is shaped by the worst behavior we tolerate. And while companies tend to have a lot of paperwork outlining what they say they won’t tolerate, it’s insufficient for building an inclusive culture. Just because an organization won’t tolerate sexual harassment doesn’t make them an inclusive company! In fact, it’s the more subtle, pervasive, harder-to-spot behaviors that make an un-inclusive environment. So my work with organizations is to reframe what we won’t tolerate into what we expect. And then we measure it. We track it. We address it. If we are explicit about what we expect of managers and leaders and employees to create an inclusive environment, we can more easily and more objectively assess whether it’s happening or not, and then take action if it’s not.