Building a culture of inclusion begins when leadership is on board. Their commitment is essential to sustaining a positive culture in the long run.
Although the responsibility for inclusion sits on the shoulders of the CEO, the only way for any diversity and inclusion program to survive and be effective is through leadership commitment. When employees see the behaviors and actions of inclusive leaders, they will be more engaged and productive, helping to grow and contribute to a workplace that is inclusive. Now that why know why it’s important, let’s ask the next logical question: how can you promote an inclusive company culture starting from the top?

How to Build a Culture of Inclusion

Build relationships. An inclusive culture requires a solid foundation of trust. By making efforts to authentically connect with employees and ensure psychological safety for them, leaders can build trust. When employees trust their leadership, they are more likely to share exciting and new ideas, as well as offer fresh perspectives that may have otherwise gone unheard.

Own it. Diversity and inclusion are often treated as a single initiative owned exclusively by HR; however, only when leadership steps up to own and drive diversity and inclusion will a company’s diversity and inclusion practices thrive. Leaders should be the first to role model inclusive behavior, and this will allow employees to feel safe enough to do the same.

Hold inclusion training for leaders. Don’t assume that leaders understand what it means to be inclusive; take the initiative and educate them how to cultivate an inclusive culture. Through inclusion training, they can grow emotional intelligence and better understand unconscious bias, giving them the confidence and skills to make fast, efficient and effective decisions as a people leader.

Practice inclusive leadership. Inclusive leaders actively seek out and consider different perspectives to inform their decision-making. This enables them to collaborate more effectively with others, facilitate constructive conversations, give actionable feedback, and act upon the advice of diverse employees. Leaders should be inclusive of the multiple viewpoints, perspectives and styles that are a part of diverse teams. Inclusive leadership makes diversity matter.

Form an inclusion council. One of the first steps you can take toward establishing a more inclusive organizational culture is to establish an inclusion, diversity, and equity (IDE) council/taskforce. These groups can be involved in goal-setting around hiring, retaining and advancing a diverse workforce and in furthering other IDE efforts. Carefully select employees (including leaders) who are not only passionate about building a diverse and inclusive organization, but also have the respect and trust of your people.

Hold leaders accountable. Make inclusion a core value of the organization — not just something you do to “check a box.” Increase accountability by tying a portion of leaders’ bonuses to diversity and inclusion goals. This sends a strong signal that the company takes the goals seriously. It also pushes leaders to be accountable for their behaviors.

Representation matters. Women and people from marginalized groups are still underpaid and underrepresented in higher level positions compared to their white, male counterparts. Employees should see diversity represented in senior leadership. While finding ways to attract diverse leaders is important, an inclusive culture will help retain that diversity.

No diversity and inclusion efforts and initiatives will be successful without buy-in from leadership. As with any culture change, if you want to develop a culture of inclusion, you must start from the top of the organization. Inclusive leadership is the key to not just creating a culture of inclusion; it is one if the most a crucial elements in fostering an innovative and productive workforce.  If you’re interested in working with your leadership to foster a culture of inclusion, Inclusity is here to help.

In this blog, we hear from Patrick Hughes, a facilitator with Inclusity. He openly shares his perspective as a white male in the IDE space; he fits into almost every in-norm, dominant social identifier in our society. Patrick addresses the “elephant in the room” right upfront: ”Hi, I’m Patrick. I’m a white guy with a lot of privilege, and I’m fully committed to inclusion.”

How did you first get involved in inclusion, diversity, & equity (IDE)?

My journey began about 13 years ago when I was completing a master’s program in organizational development. One of the courses was called “Use of Self as an Agent of Change.” We spent a week looking at social identity theory and how who we are impacts our ability to work with organizations, individuals, and teams. This was my first exposure to concepts related to IDE. This was the first time that anyone told me that all of my social identifiers and who I am walking around unconsciously impacts others, potentially in a negative way.

As a white male, what role do you play in IDE efforts?

I see myself as a partner, ally, and interrupter. I look at my role as partnering up with other people to make things happen, not leading the charge. I’m constantly looking at how I can be an ally for any marginalized group because I live in so many privileged categories and in-norm groups. I’m looking for ways to partner with or be an ally to folks that aren’t in-norm groups, so I can create inclusion. Also, because of this awarded privilege that I sometimes have, I look for ways to interrupt conversations that may be creating exclusion. I think about how I can use the voice that I’m given because of my gender and skin color to elevate others.

What are some of the lessons learned from engaging in IDE work?

I’ve learned a lot around how to be empathetic and how to hear and value others’ emotions and experiences. When I work with individuals and groups, I want to hear feedback so I can grow and create safe space where we can have relationship and dialogue. I’m not reluctant to initiate and engage in difficult conversations. Through the difficult conversations come strengthened partnerships and new insights. But, this must be authentic. If you engage in this way and don’t mean it, you’ll do more harm than good.

How do we engage white males in IDE efforts?

We need to disarm white men and create a safe space for them to share emotions around feeling excluded in IDE. If we don’t validate their experiences and feelings around exclusion, the overall objective of ensuring that everyone feels connected and valued will fail. White men need to see themselves as part of the solution – not part of the problem where they feel blamed and vilified.

What have you personally gained from working in the IDE space?

I’ve gained a richer life experience and deeper relationships. I’ve gained new perspectives that enable me to be a better leader. I now walk around this world from a conscious place as opposed to unconsciously through my socializations. The socializations and biases that I grew up with are not who I want to be in the world. For me, creating inclusion is creating the world that I want where everyone feels valued and empowered. Previously, I thought I was creating the world I wanted only to realize that there’s unconscious bias getting in the way of that. I wanted to create empowered teams and be a leader that everyone loved and admired, but I wasn’t. I was exhibiting behaviors that were contrary to what I wanted to create.

Why are diversity and inclusion everyone’s responsibility, including white males?

We cannot build inclusion if we’re excluding anyone. White men absolutely need to be at the table. They have the opportunity to leverage much of the power and privilege that they have been given to further the efforts of creating inclusion to benefit everyone. However, white men must be willing to step into uncomfortable situations and embrace change to make this happen. It can feel scary because the world has been set up to benefit them, so why should they want to change. Sometimes you have to risk a little bit to gain a lot. Once I was willing to risk alienating some friends and colleagues or being seen as a traitor or outcast, I found a whole new world open up to me on the other side. That world of inclusion now entails deeper relationships, more productive teams, and exponential growth in my leadership abilities.

So, your organization has decided to make inclusion, diversity, and equity (IDE) a priority. We know IDE culture change is a complex process, and every organization’s journey is unique. However, no matter where you are on your roadmap for developing an IDE program, a culture assessment is the foundational point for an effective IDE initiative.

A culture assessment provides companies with qualitative and quantitative data on their culture, leadership, and equity, including a deep understanding of the views of its workforce and how they experience the organization. A comprehensive culture assessment may include a climate survey (qualitative employee survey), focus groups, leadership interviews, and/or policy review.

A culture assessment identifies areas of opportunity and specific challenges in your organization’s IDE journey to create a strategy for meaningful change. “We want to broadly understand the culture, because we want to do work that aligns with the existing culture,” Mitchell Campbell, Director of Research and Evaluation for Inclusity, shares. “A cultural assessment helps identify an organization’s challenges but also helps us identify positive aspects of culture that we can enhance through the work that we do.”

Inclusity has helped leading companies assess and improve their inclusion and diversity efforts through our comprehensive approach and tailored solutions. Here are some tips to consider when evaluating a company’s culture for IDE:

Measure inclusion, not diversity. One misstep companies take is measuring diversity and mistaking it for inclusion. A company may employ a diverse workforce, but unless diverse employees feel safe, welcomed, and valued, the organization is not inclusive.

Don’t just ask questions about inclusion. When asking questions only about inclusion, you only see part of the picture. Address all the elements of the culture and not just questions about inclusion, even if at face value the question doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with inclusion. For example, asking if leaders are accessible can offer insight about how inclusive an organization is.

Be inclusive of everyone’s perspective. Make sure to talk with individuals at all levels of the organization. Only talking with leaders may give a skewed perspective of the organization. You need the perspective of everyone in the organization, including those in entry level roles and people who are new to the company.

Use a broad definition of diversity. When people think about diversity, they typically think about race, gender, and maybe sexual orientation. You also want to consider things like how long someone has been with the organization, what department someone works in, whether someone is a remote employee, etc. All of these different aspects of someone’s identity in their work role can have an effect on how included they feel, and thus are also important aspects of diversity.

Capture both strengths and challenges in the existing culture. Our instinct is to focus on what’s not going well because that is what we need to change. It’s equally important to focus on strengths of the organization, such as what makes people feel included, because this information helps us to understand what leads to the experience of inclusion within an organization. We can then capitalize on those existing strengths to expand inclusion to others in the organization as well.

Once an IDE culture assessment is complete, it can provide insights to set your organization up for achieving a culture of inclusion. This includes existing strengths that can be capitalized on, existing challenges that need to be addressed, specific social identities that need to receive more or less attention in the inclusion effort, examples about what makes people feel included, and concrete recommendations that can often provide quick wins.

Mitchell uses a medical metaphor to explain the importance of a culture assessment. “When we don’t do a climate assessment, we’re doing the WebMD version of medicine,” he says. “But when we do a climate assessment, we’re doing an in-depth assessment that helps us to better understand the condition and then make specific diagnosis and treatment.”

Contact Inclusity to learn more about how to get feedback from your employees and start taking action to transform your culture and foster equitable and inclusive workplace practices in your organization.

Every June, businesses celebrate Pride Month to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community; however, true allyship requires advocacy beyond one month a year. The LGBTQ+ community and its allies need businesses to activate beyond Pride Month and stand behind the community year-round. Corporate America can demonstrate their true commitment through actively working to reduce workplace discrimination and supporting employees who identify as LGBTQ+ in the workplace.

Internationally recognized events like Pride Month should remind us of the importance of fostering fully inclusive workplaces. Instead, many companies fall prey to the phenomenon of “rainbow washing,” which is when businesses align themselves with Pride for personal gain, rather than to genuinely support the LGBTQ+ community. Examples of rainbow washing include public gestures of support such as corporate groups marching in parades, corporations adding rainbow colors to their logos, changing social media avatars, publishing support statements at the start of Pride Month, and using a rainbow to push products — all without the benefits of an LGBTQ+ inclusive workplace. For example, one Fortune 500 corporation updated its Instagram profile picture to include a pride flag despite donating nearly $1 million to anti-gay politicians.

Creating a genuinely inclusive culture means taking year-round action. How can businesses or organizations celebrate and support LGBTQ+ employees beyond Pride Month? There are ways to give more meaningful support to the LGBTQ+ community through intentional and concerted effort to build an equitable and inclusive workplace. The suggestions below promote LGBTQ+ representation and equality in the workplace through actionable steps:

• 1. Policies Should Be the Starting Point

  Set and enforce policies to protect LGBTQ+ employees such as non-discrimination (including sexual orientation, sexuality, and gender identify) and anti-harassment policies to ensure workplaces are free of discrimination and subtle acts of exclusion (microaggressions).

• 2. Offer Inclusion Training

  Provide diversity and inclusion training that addresses sexual orientation and gender identity, formal LGBTQ+ awareness training programs, as well as inclusive management training.

• 3. Commit to Inclusive Hiring Practices

  Level the playing field for all candidates with practices including inclusive job descriptions, bias awareness training for hiring teams, and diverse interview teams.

• 4. Promote Formal LGBTQ+ Allyship

  Allies are influential colleagues who openly champion and support LGBTQ-inclusive policies and employees. Allyship can take many forms, including implementing programs like Culture Champions, which provide participants the skills and tools to role model and foster inclusion.

• 5. Support Employees with Climate Surveys

  Conduct research to better understand the culture for employees who identify as LGBTQ+. The purpose of the research is to identify issues and concerns that impact the organization’s ability to have a welcoming and inclusive environment.

• 6. Expand Benefits

  LGBTQ+ employees often face disparities in access to healthcare and benefits such as parental leave. Offer paid family leave to include LGBTQ+ employees and same-sex benefits. Gender affirming health care benefits allow gender-diverse people to maximize their overall health and psychological well-being.

• 7. Establish an LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group

  Promote inclusivity and belonging through an LGBTQ+ ERG. An employee-led affinity group addresses the unique needs of the community and improves the working environment for hiring, retaining, and advancing LGBTQ+ employees.

• 8. Support Events Beyond Pride Month

  Engaging with the LGBTQ+ community beyond obvious events, such as Spirit Day, can send a strong message about a business’ commitment to diversity.

Supporting LGBTQ+ employees can look different from company to company, but the main goal is that every employee feels supported and valued. Employers have a responsibility to make sure all employees feel seen and supported in bringing their true and authentic selves in the workplace. If your company is interested in talking with Inclusity to ensure that you’re providing a truly inclusive work environment for all employees, we’re here to help.