Did You Know?
Only a fraction of employees in the UK feels a true sense of belonging at their workplace despite extensive diversity training. It’s time to delve into why and how we can do better.
Let’s face it, despite our best efforts, many of our workplaces remain mere assemblies of diverse individuals rather than truly inclusive communities. Worse still, despite the many hundreds of thousands of pound business has thrown at Unconscious Bias training we are largely no better off. The World Economic Forum’s Gender Equity Report in 2023 estimates that gender-based disparities are likely to continue for many decades to come, possibly even into the next century. But what about other disparities around disabilities and race?
The Iceberg Tip: Culture Evolution
This is only the tip of the iceberg; the real challenge comes when we are trying to evolve our organisational culture. Inclusion is a given, but for me, belonging is where the magic happens. Where we get an alignment of passion and purpose in what we as candidates and employees seek, and what our organisation stands for. This is the heart of the brand, how it makes us feel being associated with it. Let me just give you something to ponder here, both inclusion and belonging are feelings – I feel included, I feel like I belong. We must focus on the emotional human factors, and not the balance sheet, that will come later if we get it right.
Quick Fixes vs. Cultural Change
I see too many organisations looking for a quick fix, looking to hire themselves out of the monoculture and tripping over their tokenism and inauthenticity. Quick fixes don’t change cultures, if your workplace is brimming with banter, microaggressions, and doesn’t seek to foster psychological safety then is it more than likely that you employee experiences is suffering.
Diverse Views in a Single Workplace
Our society, and therefore our workplace is a mix of diverse individuals, who each bring their own opinions, perspectives, and blind spots into the office, some of these are biases, some are deeply held beliefs, and some are just preferences. If we look at some recent examples of divides that exist, we need to look no further than Brexit/Remain, Vax/Anti-Vax or even views on Gender Identity to see area of potentials conflict.
How can we reconcile all these strongly held views and yet still nurture a culture of acceptance where everyone can thrive and succeed, whilst avoiding toxic debates and unpleasantness?
The Fear of Getting it Wrong
In my own experience, there is a real sense of fear, a fear of getting it wrong through our thoughts, words, or deeds. What if I say something that creates upset, or worse still what if I don’t care enough about my impact on others and how it makes someone else feel?
Where to being: Understanding the ‘Why’
For me, the place I like to start with understand the “Why” – why does it matter to me as an individual and why does it matter to us as an organisation to foster a culture of belonging, one of positive people experiences.
Once we can understand that question and our answer then we can start to understand the steps we need to take to being that people experience vision to fruition. If we were discussing our brand and brand values with our marketing team, we would be all over this, customer personas, buyer journeys, and customer experiences – all I am talking about here is thinking, caring and valuing all of our people’s touch points to ensure positive outcomes.
The Playbook Approach
When I work with organisations, I encourage them to start with this why” statement which is clear, concise and everyone can acquiesce behind, often this is the preface in the People Strategy Playbook, penned by the CEO, offering leadership guidance around the vision.
This playbook isn’t a project plan, but a living document, a guide, and not rigid rules – it will talk about the importance of Inclusive Leadership and why that concept is essential. We cannot expert our leaders to grow and be effective without investing in their people skills development.
Data, Data, Data
We must communicate our direction of travel to not only our internal colleagues but also wider to stakeholders and the world at large. Collect data, review data, analyse data – without data we are sailing blind. Ensure you are capturing people’s feelings about their workplace lives and their psychologically safety – ensure you can analyse and drill down by demographics and departments. Look to micro-surveys, daily or weekly touch points, understand the pulse of the organisations – annual snapshots are great for governance and reporting, but generally these are running three to six months behind the curve before any corrective action can be taken – remember that iceberg I mentioned at the beginning? Well, you’ve just run into it.
Remaining Authentic
The hard part is being authentic if it doesn’t come naturally – how can you increase representation of minority or marginalised groups? How can you sort out your pay gaps, glass ceilings, sticky floors, broken rungs, and all the other buzz phrases in your people population without tokenising or rocking the boat of the privileged – and trust me, they will push back with their, “but what about me, it’s not fair”. Maybe they will be right, where is their fast-track mentoring programme, staff network, or other acceleration scheme for the Straight White Man?
This is the dilemma, so many priorities, resistance to change, apathy or a feeling of “it’s ok, why bother”, coupled with the “where do we start”, ”what if we get it wrong”, and the timeless challenge of “we have no experience” – who is going to help us?
There is no off-the-shelf playbook – it’s your company, your people your mission. In addition to what I have said so far, let me help by giving you some key areas to focus on, and a framework to get you started.
Actionable Insights for HR and People Professionals
- Develop a People Strategy and Playbook’: Create a comprehensive plan that goes beyond diversity targets. This strategy should focus on cultivating a culture where everyone feels valued, listened to, and understood.
- Inclusive Leadership Training: Invest in regular training for leaders and managers, focusing on empathy, cultural competence, and inclusive communication. Leaders should be equipped to foster an environment of psychological safety where all voices are heard and respected.
- Regular Employee Engagement Surveys: Use these surveys to gauge the real sentiment and experiences of your employees. Don’t just collect data; act on it. “You Said, We did” – listening is good, action is better. Identify areas of concern and work collaboratively with employees to address them.
- Promote Allyship and Advocacy: Encourage employees to be allies for each other. This means standing up against microaggressions, understanding different perspectives, and supporting each other’s growth and success.
- Create Inclusive Policies and Practices: Review your current HR policies and practices to ensure they are inclusive. Check their language. This includes everything from recruitment and onboarding to performance evaluations and promotions.
- Open Dialogues and Safe Spaces: Regularly hold open forums where employees can share their experiences and perspectives. This should be a safe space where everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves without fear of judgement or retribution.
- Celebrate Diversity and Encourage Inclusion: Regularly celebrate cultural events and individual achievements. This recognition shows appreciation for diversity and fosters a sense of belonging.
- Mentoring and Sponsorship Programs: Develop programs that support underrepresented groups in your organisation. This can include mentorship, sponsorship, and career development initiatives.
- Transparent Communication: Keep the lines of communication open and transparent. Regularly update your team on progress and challenges in your diversity, inclusion and belonging efforts – how is that culture being nurtured, celebrate the wins.
- Measure and Report Progress: Regularly measure your progress against the goals and ambitions set in your People Strategy and Playbook” and report these findings to the entire organisation. Check Who is getting hired? Who is getting promoted? Who is getting the Training and Development? – and importantly who isn’t! This creates accountability and ensures continuous improvement.
Embracing the Challenge
The uncomfortable truth is not just a reflection of failed policies but an urgent call to action for our people professionals. The pain point is clear: we have diversity in numbers, but do we have inclusivity in spirit, and do we actually care enough about our culture and the belongingness our people deserve?
Please let me conclude, the journey to true inclusion and belonging in the workplace is both challenging and rewarding. It requires a deep commitment to understanding and valuing the unique experiences and perspectives of each individual. By embracing these challenges and focusing on creating positive people experiences, we can build organisations where everyone feels they truly belong.
As we move forward, let’s challenge ourselves and our organisations to not just ask ‘why’ inclusion and belonging matter, but to act on the answer. Let’s commit to creating workplaces where every individual is valued, heard, and empowered to succeed.
Are we ready to embrace the challenge of redefining belonging in our workplaces, to move beyond mere inclusion towards a culture where every individual feels an integral and valued part of our organisational family?