The words “diversity” and “inclusion” are often overused and underappreciated. Today, let’s explore a strategic business approach that goes beyond lip service. As featured in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and the BBC, Dr. Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey brings a wealth of experience as the host of The Element of Inclusion podcast. In this blog, discover how leaders achieve workplace diversity and inclusion and create environments where everyone thrives, belongs, and achieves their full potential.
Inclusion in the Workplace
Workplace inclusion is about fostering a space where everyone can perform, everyone can belong, and everyone can reach their potential. On the other hand, diversity, as a management approach, acknowledges our differences and emphasises that there is value in these differences.
To navigate a successful journey towards workplace inclusion, it’s beneficial to draw insights from four key sources. By gathering evidence from these areas, you empower yourself to make informed decisions, steering away from one-size-fits-all approaches and shaping a workplace that reflects your unique vision.
- Seek information and data relevant to your focus.
- Explore evidence within your organisation, even the absence of evidence can be insightful.
- Understand the perspectives and experiences of those affected by the change you seek.
- Leverage your knowledge and consider insights from others.
The Three Pillars of an Inclusive Workplace
The three pillars of an inclusive workplace are performance, belonging, and potential. Confident and effective leaders, by their very nature, empower their people to achieve these three pillars.
Performance – Performance means being productive, useful, and creative—doing what you want to do or aim for. In our jobs, we all have a role to play and need opportunities, access, skills, and development to do well and improve.
Belonging – Does everyone feel accepted in your team? It’s important to choose team members based on values, skills, and traits, not false proxies like skin colour, faith, or unfamiliar sexual orientation to judge people.
Potential- In an inclusive organisation, you can pursue your career goals as far as you want. It also means we welcome those aiming for the top, and wanting to be CEOs, as well as those content in entry-level, middle management, or part-time roles.
The Three Biggest Problems Leaders Experience Around DEI
People – Make sure you know who is in your organisation. Besides the people who are in the minority, it’s also important to involve those who are part of the majority and aren’t left out. Keep in mind that inclusion is for everyone, not just for the marginalised.
Potential – Potential is about building a culture where everyone feels included and can achieve their best. When we talk about diversity and inclusion strategies, a big part of it could be about changing the company culture if it means being able to meet everyone’s needs.
Performance – Take some time to think about why diversity and inclusion are good for you and your team. Instead of relying on a standard business case, organisations need to understand why diversity matters specifically to them.
Where Do We Start With Workplace Diversity and Inclusion?
Start by doing some homework to understand your thoughts, opinions, and views. Everyone has different ideas about what inclusion means and it helps that you’re not clueless about it. Once you are ready to do the work, focus on the three main problems. Identify the people that you want to include and understand who they are. Check both those who excelled in their jobs and those who didn’t, those who have concerns. And finally, identify what diversity and inclusion mean for you. It doesn’t need to be a perfect definition, just a clear understanding.
The best approach for anything should be based on evidence, both for inclusion and decision-making. Some practices have been around for hundreds of years that we might want to keep. And if there are good practices that have been around for a while, maybe we should use them instead of always coming up with new things. This is called The Lindy Effect, which pertains to things that stand the test of time, like advice or books.
Achieve an Inclusive Workplace Culture
Leaders are the driving force behind making inclusion a core part of the business strategy. Picture it like defining how everyone’s unique strengths contribute to the success of the team and the whole organisation. When employees can fulfill their aspirations, it creates an environment where everyone can perform at their best.
This Culture of Leadership podcast episode covered a bunch of interesting topics. Give it a listen for the full scoop and share your thoughts. You can also catch the episode on YouTube.
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