Inclusion isn’t optional. Here’s how to walk the talk.

Inclusion is central to DEI. It literally gets a whole letter to itself. It’s kind of a big deal. 

And yet, it’s all too common that organizations merely pay lip service to it. Making grand statements without backing them up with meaningful action, or sitting back and assuming that inclusion is a byproduct of improved diversity. Newsflash: It’s not!

Intentional inclusion involves taking a proactive, considered, and deliberate approach to inclusion.

An approach that brings underrepresented groups of people into your culture, values their input and doesn’t tokenize them.

The result? Happier employees, who are truly included and feel like they belong.

In case you need reasons beyond creating a healthy company culture, here’s your reminder that intentional inclusion is good for business.

👉 One study found that more inclusive companies are far more likely to be innovation leaders and see 2.3x higher cash flow per employee.

Happier employees are better for business. Who’d have thought?

Now let’s get on to the practicalities of intentional inclusion.

Here are 4 ways to practice it in your workplace.

4 ways to practice intentional inclusion 🌱

1️⃣ - Lead from the top

This is crucial. Your leaders have a responsibility to set the tone, so intentional inclusion must come from them. 

There are lots of things to do – from addressing microaggressions when you witness them to asking employees from underrepresented groups about their experiences. But the best place to start is to start caring. As our VP of Engineering, Thomas Coffin explains:

Allyship and inclusive behaviors have a virtuous cycle. The more you care, the more you educate yourself. The more you demonstrate it publicly, the more others will trust you, and the more they will share with you about existing non-inclusive behaviors. The more you will learn, leading you to care even more.

2️⃣ - Foster open communication

If you don’t have open lines of communication, you won’t know about instances where people aren’t feeling included, and you won’t be able to address them proactively.

In other words, you won’t be able to be intentional about inclusion. 👎

Setting up employee resource groups (ERGs) is one way to build workplace inclusion – it’s often easier to discuss your issues with people who share your experiences.

You can also run anonymous employee pulse surveys to grasp how folks feel about inclusion (some may feel more comfortable sharing their feedback anonymously).

3️⃣ - Embed intentional inclusion into your culture

And repeat its importance again and again and again.

Emphasize that inclusion is the whole organization’s responsibility – not just the responsibility of minority groups. 

As Guangyu Li, senior partner at McKinsey, rightly says:

It shouldn’t be left to any individual community to defend itself. It’s in our collective interest to show up for each other with concrete action and to come together in solidarity.

4️⃣ - Learn together, continuously

To Li’s point about collective responsibility, intentional inclusion involves educating people on how to show up and why it matters.

Your onboarding process should set this up – explain your commitment to inclusion from the get-go, and communicate what’s expected (and, what won’t be tolerated). Beyond this, provide opportunities to learn about inclusion together. 

Make training engaging and actionable. For example, don’t just give employees written materials explaining what microaggressions are. Role-playing exercises involving aggressors, victims, and bystanders will be more engaging and memorable.

💡There are resources for this kind of thing online, for example, this micro-interventions toolkit.

✂️ Time to #CutTheBS and ask yourself: Are you being intentional about inclusion?

We’re curious to know how you approach inclusion. Are you being intentional? If so, how? What seems to work in your experience? If you’re someone who doesn’t feel included at work, what would help? Let us know in the comments. 💬

While we still have you, and on the topic of DEI, we’ve got a fresh report ready for you to read – Talent over titles: Can skills-based hiring transform tech recruitment? Tackling tech’s diversity problem is a core topic of the report.

Check it out! 🦍❤️