Building and communicating an inclusive strategy - Megan Champion

Image source: Digital Smoothie

I like to start how I plan to end. I think about the intention and the outcome, and this plans and informs my journey. However things don’t always work out as you planned, and you may suddenly find yourself on a different path. These forks in the road confront us to make choices that will challenge us to evolve. The beauty of discovery is what is revealed after you challenge yourself and your beliefs. It's this revelation that leads to change. 

It is this journey that lays the foundation for a strong inclusive strategy. The journey that your organisation will go on to build your inclusive strategy is what will create inclusivity. It is the action of the journey that will bring about change. Simply creating a new set of structures and policies without challenging limiting beliefs and biases will not bring about sustainable change, and may in fact, reinforce and uphold these outdated beliefs and biases.  

Taking a journey of self discovery leads to our WHY and our purpose, and reveals our own unconscious bias and privilege of power. This revelation ignites our passion and capability for change and empowers us to challenge our beliefs. By connecting with our stories we can confront our unconscious bias, challenge our beliefs and make strategic changes towards more equity, diversity and inclusion. This strategy starts and ends with storytelling and communication.

Communication is the key to all strategies. We are humans. Since the beginning of humanity, we have used stories and storytelling to communicate and learn about each other, our history, and the world. Building an inclusive strategy starts with hearing stories and learning from each other. 

Image source: Digital Smoothie

CONNECT

Ask questions and listen. What are your employees WHY? Why do they work and do what they do? What are they passionate about? What barriers are in place that hinder their success? 

Understanding your employees WHY will reveal similarities, differences, limiting beliefs, unconscious bias and hidden potential. Understanding our WHY and harnessing that potential leads to development and innovation. For more on understanding your WHY Start with Why - Simon Sinek

The Outcome:

Employees are more connected to their purpose
They find more meaning in their work
They are more connected to the organisation
They understand the brand story more effectively
Employees discover their own unconscious bias
They understand the need for structural change
They are more open to change
Employees are more connected to each other
They work more efficiently together
Workplace culture improves
Employee retention improves

CONFRONT

Self discovery and connecting to your WHY needs to happen from the top down. As business leaders, part of building an inclusive strategy for your organisation is understanding your own WHY and purpose. Businesses need to evolve to grow and progress. The only way to achieve this is to be open and willing to confront your own unconscious bias and limiting beliefs that lead to prejudice and discrimination.  If upper management are unwilling to challenge and change their own unconscious bias and limiting beliefs then middle management needs will not be met. Middle managers will struggle to listen to their team's needs, obstacles and barriers, if their own needs, obstacles and barriers are not heard. This creates a toxic work culture that no strategy or new policy will be able to cure.

CHALLENGE 

The benefits of diversity are proven. But being diverse does not mean you are inclusive. Inviting different perspectives, but refusing to hear them is pointless. Hearing different stories that challenge our biases and perceptions improves mental health and workplace culture which leads to development and innovation. The power of different perspectives is that they empower you to reach further understanding. Further understanding creates further connection and the ability to influence by recognising what others' needs, wants and desires are.

If you are wondering why your team is not more diverse, and you can’t find any appropriate diverse hires then you first need to look at why. It’s not logical that there simply aren’t any talented and experienced people with diverse backgrounds. It's more likely that those people are not applying for roles because of a cultural fit. One of the benefits of broadening your approach is that you will attract a wider range of candidates, something all organisations need to consider in the current climate of worker shortages.

The below wheel of power segments the intersectional groups in our society that face further marginalisation.

If you were to imagine yourself in the outer segments for one day, what barriers do you believe you would face that would hinder success in the workplace? It is a good idea to workshop this with speakers (or TED talks) from these outer segments that can inform your organisation of the realities of intersectionality through sharing their stories of marginalisation and how and what they need to succeed in the workplace.

If your business currently only employs people from the inner two segments, why?

What are the barriers to hiring people from the outer two segments?

How can your business open more opportunities to people from the outer two circles?

CHANGE

What changes need to happen in your workplace in order to support workers from the outer two segments? Some questions you could ask are:

Are your company values and vision statements inclusive?
Is the language on your website and socials proactively inclusive?
Do you require unnecessary information in the recruitment process?
Is your recruitment process open and transparent?
Do you offer flexible hours?
Do you offer remote work?
Do you have inclusive spaces such as a private breastfeeding room?
Do you have wheelchair access?
Do you have bathrooms that are inclusive for those who are gender diverse or have specific cultural beliefs?

According to Sheree Atcheson (Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leader) for Forbes: “Embracing diversity and forming welcoming, inclusive cultures is not just the right thing to do, it makes business sense. An inclusive organisation is two times as likely to exceed financial targets, three times as likely to be high-performing, six times more likely to be agile and innovative, and eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes”.

Creating change toward an inclusive culture will set your organisation on a journey of evolution. An inclusive culture that understands the strength of its diverse stories will breed success.

COMMUNICATE

When communicating your strategy it's a good idea to start how you intend to end. Allow the journey to be fluid, organic and spontaneous, but plan your journey with an intended outcome of inclusion. Do this by communicating from the start to the very end. Include everyone in the process and gather feedback on this communication after you roll out the strategy. A good strategy is built to be sustainable, but also to evolve. The strategy should be flexible and able to be examined and challenged by any employee. A survey for incoming employees will help to onboard inclusively and deliver the best outcomes for each employee to succeed. A survey on any outgoing employees will help to fill in any gaps. Communication creates connection, and connection creates communication.

Confronting and challenging ourselves is not always comfortable, but stepping out of your comfort zone and travelling an uncharted path is how we learn and evolve. Communicating inclusive and diverse stories has untold potential that will empower, create change and have a positive impact on mental health, culture and success of your organisation. After all, life is a journey, not a destination. The future is untold.