What are some of the best practices for creating a positive and inclusive organizational culture?

Building an inclusive workplace starts at the top. Leaders should embody the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their actions and decision-making processes. When leaders demonstrate inclusive behaviors, it sets the tone for the entire organization. As well, actively seek diversity in hiring and promotion practices. Encourage diverse perspectives by recruiting candidates from different backgrounds, experiences, and demographics. Embrace diversity not only in terms of race, gender, and ethnicity but also in terms of thought, skills, and experiences.

If you are the owner or founder of your company, your vision and values will be the blueprint for your culture. Usually until you reach 50 employees, then it may go in other ways (depending on who you hired). Your culture will not live on its own in bigger company, you have to write it down, oveercomunicate it, live it, over and over again. And say goodby to employees that are not representing those values. In large companies it is more difficult, but if you want to foster DEI culture, all management have to live by this. You are examples. End every break from these values should be sanctioned immediately. And every good example should be celebrated.

Se você quer que a cultura organizacional seja seguida por todos, a melhor forma é ter o exemplo vindo dos líderes e dos gestores. Reconheça as diferenças, integre socialmente a organização no ambiente, implemente uma política de liderança inclusiva e ofereça condições apropriadas no ambiente de trabalho. Dê oportunidade de crescimento e segurança. A cultura da organização forte e positiva é aquela percebida pelos clientes e pelo mercado em geral, fortalecendo a imagem da empresa e atraindo clientes e talentos.

Involve employees at all levels in the process of defining the organization's vision and values. Encourage diverse perspectives and experiences to contribute to the development of a collective identity. Conduct workshops, brainstorming sessions, or surveys to gather input from employees. Clearly communicate the organization's vision and values to all employees. Use language that is easily understood to ensure everyone grasps the core principles. Regularly reinforce these messages through various communication channels such as internal newsletters, meetings, and training sessions. Consistent communication helps build trust and alignment with the organizational culture.

The right data and analysis will give you answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask, identify what you need to do differently, and demonstrate progress of your inclusion efforts overtime. Your data should be both lead and lag indicating, and cover all aspects of your organization. For example: • Workforce representation • Employee and operational performance • Employee and customer experience • Health, safety, and legal related incidents • Human resource related processes and outcomes • Compliance with policies and procedures • Adoption of new ways of working • Inclusion related requests (employee and customer) and time to resolution • Innovations and improvements • Inclusive initiative implementation and participation.

Utilize feedback from the team to gain an understanding of the state of the culture. Identify a diagnostic tool, such as a high-performing team survey. After surveying the team, find safe ways to get their objective, qualitative feedback on why they scored each area as they did e.g., bring in an external partner to engage the team on their responses. Use this insight to help formulate action plans. High-performing teams regularly engage in self-assessment, so consider repeating this process each year.

to assess the general state of organizational culture, one could consider factors such as communication effectiveness, employee engagement, inclusivity, leadership transparency, and alignment with the organization's values and vision. Regular feedback mechanisms and surveys can be valuable tools to gauge the overall health and dynamics of organizational culture.

Once you have evaluated the current state of inclusion in your organization, rather than try to fix everything at once, apply a process to determine what you should prioritize first for improvement. There are several criteria you can apply to narrow your focus to what matters most, first: • The indicators with the poorest results or with the biggest gap from the ideal, objective, or target • The indicators, that when improved, will result in the greatest benefit or impact • The indicators that can be addressed with the least amount of effort or time • The indicators that can be addressed with minimal cost.

Upon identifying issues and goals in the assessment of our organizational culture, we will implement targeted action plans, including improved communication channels, diversity and inclusion initiatives, leadership training, and regular feedback mechanisms, to foster a more positive, inclusive, and aligned workplace environment.

Change the System Creating an inclusive organization requires you to look beyond the surface and seek to change the environment and systems that influence and govern the way we work. This doesn’t mean that developing the inclusive capabilities of the people in your organization is not important, you just need to make sure you focus on more than capability and make improvements and changes that require the people in your organization to demonstrate inclusive actions and behaviors. When undertaking inclusive system change seek to integrate the 'requirement' for a person, team or project to demonstrate inclusion in order for them to be successful in what they do.

Engaging your team authentically is one of the best ways to develop your people and foster inclusion. Take time to personally engage regarding their work, their challenges, and their successes. Identify opportunities to give of yourself to aid them. Are they working on something you're skilled at that allows you to invest a few minutes of OJT? Could they use a sounding board to help them think through a challenge? Upon sharing a success, might you be able to share not only your pride in their accomplishment but how it also ties to something bigger for the business? Development doesn't always have to come in the form of a training class, something as small as being intentional about how you engage as a leader can have a tremendous impact.

Criar um ambiente seguro e sem julgamentos é essencial para que ideias frutifiquem e para o desenvolvimento dos profissionais. Uma liderança que entende que o seu colaborador é quem deve ser o destaque, impulsionar o time e trazer relevância mostra o seu resultado.

Implement regular surveys and feedback mechanisms to gather insights on employee experiences and perceptions of inclusivity. Utilize key performance indicators to track progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals Share success stories and lessons learned internally and externally to inspire and educate others. A non-profit organization showcases employee-led diversity initiatives in newsletters and social media to promote a culture of inclusivity Engage stakeholders and partners in DEI discussions and decision-making processes to gather diverse perspectives and enhance collaboration Continuously evaluate the impact of DEI efforts through transparent reporting and analysis, using feedback to drive continuous improvement

Engage others in action planning to determine the best solutions for improvement, as well as sponsor and implement the changes. Make sure you engage with: • Executive leaders to endorse your action plan and sponsor initiatives with active and visible support • Operational leaders and their teams to revise their ways of working • Functional leaders and their teams to revise how they support the organization • Employee resource groups, and others with lived experience, to enlist their input to decide on the best solutions • DEI council members, and other advocates for inclusion, to champion and be early adopters of the improvement actions • HR to check if the proposed changes need to be reviewed in the context of human resource practices.