DIVERSITY is having a seat at the table. INCLUSION is having a voice, and BELONGING is having that voice be heard. – Liz Fosslien

Diversity = age, ethnicity, gender & race

Inclusion = A sense of belonging, feeling respected, feeling valued for who you are, feeling a level of supportive energy & commitment for others so that you can do your best work

Intersectionality = refers to the reality that we all have multiple identities that intersect to make us who we are

Quick Facts:

• Companies with high levels of gender and ethnic diversity outperform others by up to 35%
• Companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenue due to innovation
• 67% of job seekers consider workplace diversity an important factor when considering employment
• More than 50% of current employees want their workplace to do more to increase diversity
• High representation of women in C-Suite positions results in 34% greater returns to shareholders
• Companies with diversity are 45% more likely to report that they captured a larger portion of the market, and 70% more likely to have entered into a new market in the past year
• In 2019 people with disabilities represented 19.3% of the US workforce
• Women will only apply for a job when they meet 100% of the listed criteria
• Cultural changes that have strong connections to meaningful business objectives are able to achieve greater levels of commitment because more stakeholders are impacted by the benefits.
• Profitability – Businesses with higher levels of foreign and female executives boast 53% higher return on equity than other companies
• 60% of today’s corporate leaders are perceived as strong supporters of their organisation’s diversity efforts
• Employing a group of diverse thinkers can be a big benefit to your business. Diverse organisations generate higher revenue, are more innovative, and they see lower rates of turnover.

Microaggressions = an incident in which someone accidentally (or purposely) makes an offensive statement or asks an insensitive question. These can seem small but overtime they can make a big impact on someone’s employee experience, physical health and psychological well-being.

Solution: Creating awareness of microaggressions

Metacommunication = This is a hidden insult

A well-managed diversity and inclusion program can directly influence a company’s results in several key ways:

• Maximise the value of a global footprint
• Encourage collaborative innovation
• Strive for operational excellence

Strategies to create an inclusive culture:

• Value inclusion and diversity
• Foster cross-cultural competence
• Support global mobility

Components of cross-cultural competencies:

• Awareness
• Attitude
• Knowledge
• Skills

Change drivers:

• Technology
• Worldwide population increase
• Changing demographics
• People working beyond the traditional retirement age
• Five generations at work today
• Corporate social responsibility

Ways to celebrate diversity:

• Create a calendar for culturally significant days
• Create your own traditions
• Partner mentoring

Questions to confront diversity:

• Were your process or approach designed and executed with inclusion in mind?
• Who was the process designed by/for/with & without?
• Who benefits from this approach?
• Who might be disadvantaged?
• How can the process be re-designed to reduce bias, discrimination and inequity?
• What future inclusion or bias scenarios might impact current systems?

Call to action:

• Who can support you as you review processes and systems to mitigate bias?
• How can those who are in the frontline provide input?
• What are some probable business outcomes that could occur when you reduce bias and exclusion from processes?
• How can you leverage those ‘probable outcomes’ to obtain stakeholder and/or leadership support?

Unconscious bias in the workplace:

• The Halo Effect – if we think of someone highly in a certain way, then we are likely to think highly of them in other ways too. The opposite effect is called ‘The Horns Effect’.
• Affinity Bias – this refers to our tendency to gravitate toward people similar to ourselves
• Attribution Bias – a cognitive bias that refers to the systematic errors made when people evaluate or try to find reasons for their own and others behaviours.
• Preferring Certain Names –
  • resumes with black-sounding names experience a 50% call-back gap.
  • Asian sounding names are 20%-40% less likely to receive a call-back
• Gender Bias – an assertive woman might be perceived as ‘aggressive’ while a man with the same attributes might be described as ‘confident.’
• Confirmation Bias – this occurs when we make a decision about something, then actively look for information that supports that decision, while also overlooking any opposing facts and viewpoints.
• Weight Bias – Judging a person negatively based on their weight.
• Age Bias – Occurs when assigning tasks to people based on their age
• Height Discrimination – Companies tend to promote tell people, particularly men into senior roles. (Fact: the average CEO is 3inches taller than the average male)
• Bro-Behaviour – when a female makes a point that no one seems to feel strongly about. 30 minutes later, a male member of the team makes the same point, and everyone jumps on board.

Diversity of thought – Bringing multiple viewpoints to the table.

• Diverse teams have different life experiences which cause individuals to approach problems differently and to empathise with end-users in new ways.
• Diverse thinkers don’t offer visual cues, you need to combine analytical thinkers with risk-takers, brainstormers with empathetic thinkers.
• Diversity of thinking enhances innovation by up to 20%. It also helps groups spot risks, reducing these by up to 30%
• Thought Diversity features more than a one-way approach and harnesses the potential of diversity and inclusion as an organisational resource
• Great Diversity = Greater variations of perspective and approaches.

Ways to guarantee your workforce includes a variety of thinking types:

• Break down silos
• Assess thinking styles
• Use diverse thinking techniques
• Encourage everyone to speak up

Organisations with inclusive cultures are:

• 2x as likely to meet to exceed financial targets
• 3x as likely to be high performing
• 6x more likely to be more innovative and agile
• 8x more likely to achieve better business outcomes

Having a more inclusive leader can increase an individual’s feeling of inclusion by 70% which in turn increases:

• The team’s performance by 17%
• Increases decision making quality by 20%
• 29% increase in team collaboration

The 6 signature traits of an inclusive leader:

• Cognizance
• Curiosity
• Courage
• Cultural Intelligence
• Commitment
• Collaboration