It’s no secret that most of us want to do a good job at work and enjoy the work we do. We want to be treated fairly, have respectful relationships with our colleagues, and opportunities to develop. When we feel included, we feel valued, positive, supported, encouraged.
But the reality is that this doesn’t always happen. Some practices and behaviours can lead to individuals and groups feeling marginalised, overlooked, or excluded at work.
This is where diversity and inclusion efforts play a crucial role. These initiatives focus on building more positive relationships in the workplace and ensuring that processes – like recruitment, promotion and succession planning – are genuinely fair and objective.
Although we like to believe we hire the best person for the job, research shows that unconscious biases such as affinity bias (where we gravitate to people like us) can influence hiring and promotion decisions. Gender and racial stereotypes can narrow who gets in and who gets ahead at work. Unfortunately, this evidence seems to get lost in the current opportunistic critique of DEI efforts in the United States.
“Gender and racial stereotypes can narrow who gets in and who gets ahead at work. Unfortunately, this evidence seems to get lost in the current opportunistic critique of DEI efforts in the United States.”
Sometimes exclusion happens intentionally, but more often, it’s unintentional.
For instance, during recruitment, we might inadvertently overlook candidates by using language that appeals to one gender more than another, by offering roles without flexible work options, or by choosing not to send interview questions in advance. We might rely heavily on the ‘culture fit’ of a candidate without also considering ‘culture add’ – how the candidate adds to the diversity of the team mix, so the team benefits from diverse thinking approaches.
In meetings, we can unintentionally diminish people’s contributions (and willingness to speak up) by failing to invite alternative perspectives, talking over others, or holding back on ‘micro-validations’ – small gestures that encourage or affirm others. These micro-validations are particularly important for people from marginalised groups who are more likely to experience micro-aggressions and discrimination from an early age than those from majority groups.
We can inadvertently create in-groups when we favour people who are like us.
The result of these subtle biases and exclusionary behaviours is two-fold: organisations miss out on getting the best talent and employees become reluctant to speak up with new ideas and ask questions. Ultimately, performance – of individuals and teams – diminishes.
Why education about inclusion is important
Our ‘Inclusion in Action’ workshops deliver immediate benefits to organisations by educating leaders and team members about these subtle biases and exclusionary behaviours and building their motivation to engage in new behaviours.
We work to reduce defensiveness by explaining that we all have biases, and emphasise the importance of challenging biases for fairer, more objective decision-making. By using familiar scenarios and action-oriented content, we help people recognise and address barriers in their day-to-day work.
‘We work to reduce defensiveness by explaining that we all have biases, and emphasise the importance of challenging biases for fairer, more objective decision-making.’
To help motivate people to try something new, we incorporate behavioural science techniques (nudge theory) and brain science research on the important role that supportive comments and conversations (such as micro-inclusions) can play in boosting the feel-good chemical of oxytocin in our brains.
At the end of each workshop, participants share one thing they might do differently. Here’s a few actions and insights from a recent workshop with board members:
- I’ll be more aware of unintended exclusionary practices that may occur in meetings
- Include’ inclusiveness’ as part of my post-meeting self-reflection
- Be more mindful of micro-validations, and how we can support other board members
- Treat others how they want to be treated
- Explicitly invite alternative perspectives
- I’ll check for sunflower bias (‘I do it all the time’!)
- Focus on different thinking approaches for effective decision-making
- If you or others are withdrawing, it is a red flag for lack of inclusion
All these actions contribute to more inclusive workplace cultures. And this is important because – as Deloitte research has found – an increase in individuals’ feelings of inclusion translates into an increase in perceived team performance (+17 per cent), decision-making quality (+20 per cent), and collaboration (29 per cent).