Inclusively yours: May 2024

Moving Ahead faculty member and DE&I expert, Holiday Phillips, is here to guide you through your biggest DE&I challenges. 

Dear Holiday,

I've been following the discussions around DE&I initiatives, and while there's a lot of emphasis on individual responsibility, I wonder about the role of systems in fostering inclusivity. How can organisations strike a balance between individual change and systemic change to truly create inclusive environments?

From Curious in Corporate

Dear Curious in Corporate,

Thank you for bringing up this crucial aspect of DE&I work. Striking a balance between individual change and systemic change is indeed key to fostering truly inclusive environments.

Here are three strategies that organisations can start implementing today:

In the tech world, circuit breakers are used to prevent short-circuits by interrupting the electrical flow. Similarly, in DE&I work, we can use circuit breakers to interrupt the status quo in processes.

Take recruitment, for example. A circuit breaker might involve adding an extra step, such as a culture-specific or inclusion-focused interview. This intentional slowing down of processes is a ‘slow down to speed up’ strategy.

By investing time upfront, organisations save time and money in the long run by building diverse and inclusive teams.

Human biases can unintentionally seep into systems created by individuals, no matter how well-intentioned.

To avoid this, it’s crucial to ensure diversity among the people creating systems and processes. If internal diversity is lacking, organisations should seek external evaluations, bring in consultants, and prioritise diversity in their creator teams.

This approach prevents individual biases from solidifying into systemic biases that may favour one group over another.

Acknowledging the limitations of in-house diversity, organisations can use personas — imaginary employees with diverse identities — to road test systems and processes.

By putting themselves in the shoes of these personas and asking, “How might I experience this?” organisations gain valuable insights.

While it’s not a perfect method due to the reliance on assumptions, the act of bringing curiosity to how different groups might experience a system can propel organisations further in their inclusivity journey.

Remember, achieving inclusivity is an ongoing process that requires both individual commitment and systemic change. By implementing these strategies, organisations can move closer to creating environments that truly value diversity.

Inclusively Yours,

Holiday Phillips

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