a little guide to MAINSTREAMING INCLUSION a little guide to mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 1 of 10

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1 MAINSTREAMING INCLUSION mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 1 of 10

2 Hello! You may be starting here fully convinced, mildly curious, or perhaps largely skeptical about the value of moving beyond inclusion as a special initiative that sits outside of your core strategy. No matter where you stand now, I get that you re running an organization and need to deliver bottom line results for owners, investors, shareholders or donors. So let me make crystal clear from the start: Mainstreaming inclusivity is a business strategy. The business purpose is productivity. Inclusivity is a core characteristic of a 21st century workplace that breeds engagement, creative risk-taking, and a sense of ownership. You may pose the question, But how do we increase accountability? Because somehow we equate inclusion as soft stuff, leading us to assume it may decrease focus on getting results. I hear this all the time. Well, my answer, the BraveShift answer, is: How can you increase accountability? Inclusivity. How can you boost engagement? Inclusivity. How can you foster more innovation? Inclusivity. How can you gain more trust as leaders? Inclusivity. How can you elevate team performance? Inclusivity. We ll get back to the business case in the guide, but I knew I had to welcome you with this right from the beginning. We re talking about mainstreaming inclusivity because we mean business. Dan Doucette, BraveShift Founder white cis male inclusivity champion mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 2 of 10

3 6 Steps to Mainstream Inclusion 1. State Your Formal Business Case 2. Get Senior Management to Squirm 3. Be Sure Middle Managers Own It 4. Create Your Wall of Differences 5. Practice Monthly Micro-Inclusions 6. Sustain Other Diversity & Inclusion Work This little guide will hopefully be enough set you well on your way. I intend this to be within reach of just about any organization, because you can implement most of the actions in a manner that makes sense to you. There s no unique content to learn. You don t need to organize training workshops, although you ll need to organize people coming together for several activities and conversations. Everything you need to know to mainstream inclusion, you already do. It s simply a matter of having the commitment and the discipline to proceed. We make the time for what matters most to us. Here ya go mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 3 of 10

4 STEP #1 STATE YOUR FORMAL BUSINESS CASE I don t care if you insist that your senior management team is already totally on board. I don t care if you re already investing in Diversity & Inclusion activities. I want you take the steps to explicitly spell out the business case for why you re doing this. Even if as an organization you ve shown this commitment, I know there are some who aren t really as wholeheartedly convinced that inclusivity matters so much as a business need. They may be vocal about their skepticism, or they may be afraid to speak up. Take the step to incorporate a formal strategy statement on inclusion into your business plan. You can decide however brief or elaborate you wish to make it. In addition, ask your CFO to develop and sign off on (yes, I literally mean signing the document with a pen) a financial model that spells out the ROI of mainstreaming inclusion. Literally express it in financial terms. (I used to be a CFO, so I know this can be done.) Productivity, productivity, productivity. That s the business proposition. Inclusion is about creating a work environment that leverages the most from your team. Focus on the particular ways you measure productivity as your develop both your strategy statement and ROI model. mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 4 of 10

5 STEP #2 GET SENIOR MANAGEMENT TO SQUIRM Some of you in senior management feel nervous about opening up the theme of inclusion, imagining a workplace overcome by disputes of identity politics. Mainstreaming inclusion is not about causing disruption, but about leveraging differences. So leadership does need to model speaking about differences while managing their defensiveness and fear, admitting to their vulnerability, and showing empathy. I ask that each member of your senior management team do some deep self-reflection. Inclusion begins as a personal experience of self-acceptance. Only through empathy for our self we can find empathy for others. Have each person journal answers to these questions: What are the five identities that I feel most strongly? Which one or two of these identities has been the main source of exclusion in my life experience? To what extent might I still experience that exclusion? How have I built self-acceptance and sought acceptance from others? To what degree do I experience exclusion due to this part of my identity in my workplace? Ideally, you d set a time to gather and share some personal insights together as a management team. mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 5 of 10

6 STEP #3 BE SURE MIDDLE MANAGERS OWN IT I don t like to do a lot of finger wagging, but in this case I ll tell you: Efforts to mainstream inclusion will go nowhere if middle managers are not prepared to own it. Mainstreaming inclusion is about the quality of everyday interactions, and middle managers are in a unique position to model, encourage and monitor. In the worst cases, they can sabotage. They ve got to buy in. At the outset of your new effort to mainstream inclusion, and then on a regular basis, gather together middle managers to exchange observations on the progress. In fact, think of these gatherings as your primary monitoring tool. Designate a handful of middle managers who demonstrate particular enthusiasm for mainstreaming inclusion as "stewards." This group will be your champions and provide inspiration to others. The stewards will also convene and run the regular middle management gatherings. Consider this agenda for middle manager gatherings: What are some stories of micro-inclusions (Step 5)? Which differences still disrupt inclusion here (Step 4)? What new micro-inclusions might we introduce? What are the business benefits we are seeing? mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 6 of 10

7 STEP #4 CREATE YOUR WALL OF DIFFERENCES This step is very important, because it s all about giving acknowledgment to the complexity of differences among your team. A sense of belonging begins when people see that they are accepted for who they are. Equally important as personal identity differences are differences based on group affiliations. These affiliations are distinct in every organization. Examples include team assignment, work location, telecommuter status, level of training, years of tenure, etc. Create a Wall of Differences which represents the full range of identities and affiliations people experience in your workplace. You may ultimately express this as a word cloud, a simple list, an artistic rendering such as a poster, or whatever form makes sense to explicitly acknowledge these differences. Be as practical or creative as you like. Follow these steps either by gathering people or collecting responses electronically, whichever suits your circumstance and preference: Provide a list of identity and affiliation categories. Identities: gender, race, age, etc. Affiliations: department, location, etc. Invite everyone to list identities and affiliations that most affect their sense of inclusion at work. Let people add categories if necessary. Feature the resulting Wall of Differences in the same way you engage people with your values. mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 7 of 10

8 STEP #5 PRACTICE MONTHLY MICRO-INCLUSIONS While your Wall of Differences signals a shared commitment to an environment of psychological safety, you make inclusion real on a daily basis through your words and actions. This means everyone, not only senior leadership and middle managers, needs to join. It s important to keep this simple by identifying a variety of ways to communicate and collaborate that foster inclusion. Create a Micro-Inclusions Playbook and ask everyone to choose one micro-inclusion every month that they will adopt both to model themselves and to encourage from others. Your Micro-Inclusions Playbook, is merely a list of examples of words, actions and gestures during the course of working together that contribute to building an inclusive environment. You can be as ambitious as you like putting this together. You could ask your middle manager stewards to generate an initial list, convene a group of interested staff, or choose another approach. Distribute the Micro-Inclusion Playbook to everyone. Every month, each person chooses a new microinclusion on which they ll focus. Encourage and acknowledge when you see them happen. Be persistent. Do your best. Keep it up! mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 8 of 10

9 STEP #6 SUSTAIN OTHER DIVERSITY & INCLUSION WORK This strategy of mainstreaming inclusion must not and is not in the least intended to replace or diminish other diversity & inclusion initiatives, practices or policies you are already pursuing. Our intention here is to strengthen your culture and improve your business results by adopting inclusivity as a normalized way of thinking about professional interactions. Inclusion is just the way of working in the early 21st century. Keep up the great work you re doing and keep in mind you ll never be finished. You know we Humans are so complex we re changing all the time! Ten years from now there s no doubt this conversation will sound very different. Use this little guide as a jumping off point. If there s something here you take strong issue with, certainly make adjustments! If there s something you don t understand, contact me. And please do share feedback and suggestions! daniel@braveshift.com mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 9 of 10

10 Program Offerings Teamwork & Inclusion A Strategy of Belonging Stewards of Teamwork (for Managers) Group Coaching Lighthearted Leadership Managerial Bravery Immersion Workshops Dominant Differences Courageous Conversations Lighthearted Leadership Managing Through Growth Consulting/Group Coaching daniel@braveshift.com NONPROFIT CONSULTING PODCAST mainstreaming inclusion Copyright BRAVESHIFT LLC 10 of 10