Employee Experiences Are At The Heart of Inclusion

You’re likely reading this blog already recognizing an investment in inclusion as a management no-brainer and surefire way to improve business outcomes. You’ve probably reflected on the ethical imperative to cultivate an inclusive company culture offering the kind of work environment employees want and deserve. And at this point, you may realize that worthwhile diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work is not simply about recruiting a demographically diverse staff–though that’s important. In truth, the most productive office dynamics emerge among people who think differently from one another and are supported in coming together to fully express those unique perspectives and ideas.

The long and short of it is, businesses do well when their people are at their best–and your staff will thrive most when they are feeling respected and meaningfully included as their whole selves. Your personal self reflection–including grappling with internal resistance and navigating the counterproductive tendencies that can get the best of us all–is crucial to your inclusive leadership. The flipside of that invaluable coin is making the effort to learn what your employees, for their part, are thinking, feeling, and experiencing.

You can start by inquiring about these key areas:
Are the “I”s in your team feeling valued?
Inclusion facilitates a sense of belonging while making employees feel uniquely respected, secure to express themselves, and personally empowered to strive to their full potential. The answers to the following questions will tell you a lot about whether individual employees feel prized for who they are and also genuinely connected with their colleagues:

• Do your employees feel that their voices are heard and taken into consideration?
• Are they comfortable bringing their whole selves to work–including their imperfections, challenges, and any personal histories of grief, stress, or trauma, etc.?
• Do they find their work environment to be conducive to emotional well-being and good mental health?
• Does the work environment drive up or lessen their burden of “Emotional Tax”?
• Would they characterize the learning environment in your company as one of comradery and curiosity versus competition?
• Do they have a sense of psychological safety, where risk taking and mistake making are understood as precursors for individual learning and collective
  progress?
  
  

Are their hearts in it?
Inclusion cultivates an environment where staff are motivated, invested, and excited to partner in the organizational effort. Employee engagement, reflected through parameters such as satisfaction and loyalty to the company, can say a lot about your culture’s inclusivity–or lack thereof. You should explore:

• Do your employees see how they’re contributing to the organizational mission?
• Do they feel company loyalty and do they intend to stay?
• Do organizational viewpoints resonate with their social consciousness?
• Since job hunters increasingly look for signs of DEI in evaluating prospective employers, did your branding attract them for this reason during their job search?
• Would they recommend working with your organization to their friends?

Are you leveling the playing field?
To achieve equity, we begin with the premise that not everyone starts on a level playing field. Inclusion means giving everyone tangible opportunities to succeed in the face of broader social disparities that carry into workplace dynamics. Negative responses to these questions from your staff can be a sign you’re falling short in this fundamental
area:

• Do employees feel coached and mentored versus dictated to or micromanaged?
• In addition, is there a sponsorship practice where senior leaders strategically advocate for junior protégés?
• Does every employee feel they have access to the resources they need to be successful?
• Do newer and junior staff have as many opportunities for development and advancement as others throughout the organizational hierarchy?
• For those with lived experience of marginalization, do they perceive a commitment to their success that includes actively striving to counteract the social inequities that have oppressed them?

Seek to hear, and ye shall find
To quote human potential thought leader Bryant McGill: “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” Are you intrigued to find out more from your staff in these areas, yet unsure of the best way to elicit this kind of
feedback?

The great news is your employees are the very best source of information about their own experiences, so you don’t need to go far to get the answers you’ll need to develop a meaningful, relevant DEI strategy. The building blocks of inclusive cultural transformation already exist within the hearts and minds of your staff, so let’s go ahead and uncover them! Reach out to us today for support in taking the pulse of your company culture.