Your Inclusion Journey: Insights From My Recent Study About Your Experience

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In case you missed it:

Here are some interesting posts from the past week:

I reviewed 16 books in 16 weeks: Here are the key messages I took

Here’s 3 clear signs you’re working with a DEI Grifter

60 Second Book Review: The Wake Up

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2 weeks ago issued a survey because I wanted to know more about you

I only asked 4 questions but it told me a lot about your Inclusion Journey.

I talk about: 

- Research 

- Books 

- Articles 

All for a reason. 

Most of the time I’m behind the mic. 

Most of the time I’m in front of the camera.

All of the time you’re the person in the room who gets all the attention.

That's how I want it.

I’m sitting on a mountain of content, a real mountain of value and I want to tailor the support I provide so that it better suits your needs. 

Why?

One of the 7 Common Mistakes organisations make on their Inclusion Journey : BRISTOL 

The O stands for One Size. 

Organisations use a ONE SIZE fits all approach to issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

I don’t want to make that mistake anymore than I want you to make that mistake.

I talk about it here.

So I did what researchers call a quick and dirty survey: 

I asked 4 questions: 

What is your current role at work? 

What is your organisation doing to create an Inclusive workplace? 

What are you struggling with most on your Inclusion Journey?  

What would need to change to make your organisation more inclusive?

Here’s the very top level findings: 

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1) What is your current role at work? 

DEI Leader 

You are a person who has direct responsibility for building Inclusion where you work.

HR Leader 

If you don’t have direct responsibility for building Inclusion where you work; you’re obligated to work with the person who does. 

This is a complicated relationship, made “easier” if they report into you. 

Everyday Leader

This is a sweet spot. 

You make Inclusion your business.

It’s likely that you have no formal responsibility for doing it. 

You are the person everyone is trying to influence. 

You know when I say I’m on a mission to help a million people like you to make your workplace inclusive?

I’m trying to get a million people to behave more like you.

DEI/ HR Consultant: 

These are people who get paid to help all of the people I've mentioned.

Some of these people think of me as a competitor.

The smart ones think of me as a colleague. 

Despite all the talk about Belonging and Collaboration in this space. 

I wish there was more among the people doing DEI work.

I've reached out to so many people who are just not interested.

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2) What is your organisation doing to create an Inclusive workplace? 

This read like a maturity model.

I spoke about this last week.  

Maturity models are frameworks for measuring an organisation's “maturity” in discipline X; in our case Inclusion. 

They typically have 4 or 5 steps in a hierarchy. 

I identified 4 stages based on the responses: 

i) We are implementing a comprehensive strategy

One person said they were : 

“Deploying a multi-part EDI strategy that supports employee differences, provides accommodations and supports human rights”

ii) We have a few initiatives in place but not everything is aligned

For some this was “Monthly teams calls with DEI speakers.”

For others it was “cherry picking which dimensions of diversity it wants to celebrate.”

There was a lot of variety here. 

Most people were here or in the next stage. 

iii) We want to do something but we’re figuring out where to start

I need to rename this because it was less about figuring it out and more about frustration. 

People were frustrated that nothing was happening even though it was implied or promised. 

This implies a false Diversity Promise. 

One person said : “The DEI staff group I sit on are very frustrated” they went on to say how the company were “dragging its feet”.

Some respondents were excluded: “I don’t know. I’m not invited to company meetings.”

There was a promise of momentum and the organisations were not paying it off. 

iv) We are making people aware of the issues but no firm action yet

This is where people talked about awareness.

One respondent said : “Too much talk and not enough actually making a difference.”

I want to make something clear here. 

I’m not talking about scams or saying one thing and doing another. 

It’s more useful to think of this is in the context of a maturity model.

These are organisations who haven’t started and are not pretending to start. 

I found the responses to this fascinating.

I'll share more with you in the future.

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3) What are you struggling with most on your Inclusion Journey?  

The answers were indicative of what we call the “3 Biggest Problems”:

People: Organisations have trouble engaging the people that they want to include

Potential: Organisations struggle to create a culture of Inclusion where everyone can reach their potential 

Performance: Organisations find it difficult to articulate a “business case for diversity” for their specific organisation.

 The answers were predictable:

“The change of culture and behaviours”

 “To ensure it is real and meaningful in my store and for my team.”

 I’ve got a massive head start in understanding this because I have the benefit of: 

- Speaking with many of you.

- Working with organisations. 

- Thousands of minutes of interviews conducted with you 

 So I’m not starting from a blank slate. 

This reminds me how I'm going to be able to support you.  

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 4) What would need to change to make your organisation more inclusive?

 You spoke about the 3 Biggest problems without using the phrase: 

You spoke about: 

- Getting buy in from Senior Leaders

- Changing the culture 

- Building accountability 

These were solutions to the 3 Biggest Problems.

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This is a very top level summary of a quick and dirty survey.

Rest assured I'm coming to refine the process.

I’ve got a lot more information that I’m going to use to help support you. 

If you haven’t already 

Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter. 

This is where I share insights that billion dollar businesses pay me to learn.  

This is where you'll learn about my wicked and wild offers first.

We’ve got big plans and I want you to be part of them

We’ll get into the nuance later 

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As always 

I’m cheering you on. 

Dr. Jonathan 

Whenever you're ready, there are a few ways I can support your Inclusion Journey:

1.     Work with me 1:1 

2.     Get Practical Book Insights 

3.     Get our Free Email Course