Being Inclusive

When a friend moved from Chennai to Bangalore last year, his family had to figure out and adjust to a new place – a new apartment society, a new school, new neighbours and new friends. When his teenage son and a few children of his age from the same apartment society decided to go out to lunch on a weekend, they started to go through the names of all the nearby restaurants. When my friend’s son said he was lactose-intolerant, the youngsters realized that several places such as pizza parlours and ‘dhabas’ (where the food would be marinated in yoghurt and spices) were out. Undeterred, they painstakingly went down the list they had drawn up and finally chose a Chinese restaurant that would work, and they all had a great time.

My friend’s son was made to feel welcome in a way that mere words cannot achieve. What the children did was, quite simply, behave in an inclusive manner.

In our workplaces, we too can show that all people are equally important, in small ways and big, with much impact. Here are a few small ways we can treat everyone equally, with respect and inclusion:

• Speak in a language that everyone in the room understands. This seems to be a perennial problem in India. I have lost count of the times when employees spoke in their native language even when others in the room were from a different state. As a manager, you should practice this inclusive behaviour and enforce it as a general rule amongst your team members.
• Invite everyone to speak up in your meetings. Inviting someone to speak who has not spoken yet with the words, “I have not heard from you – what are your thoughts on this solution?” is a simple yet effective way to let everyone know that you want to hear from everyone, that everyone has a voice. And at the same time, can you respect the introvert’s wish to speak later, in a smaller group?
• Help others without bias. Can we help our colleagues with information, connections, endorsements and even advice, even if they are not from our background? Listening to what someone is going through, especially in these trying times, is helping too. Helping others without playing favourites lets your team know that you respect them all, that you value them all, that everyone belongs in your team.
• Challenge your own biases. We may feel discomfort sometimes when talking to someone from a very different background or who dresses or talks a certain way. Some of us may even be uncomfortable talking to people of a different gender or a person of a different age group or someone from a different ethnic background. While we may not have any obvious prejudices in our mind, we may have a few unconscious biases we can become aware of and guard against. Can we pause for a moment and think about why we might feel that discomfort and what we can do about it? Can we get to know others a little better?

Almost everyone agrees that fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace is not just important but that it also makes perfect business sense. Research shows that diverse teams are more innovative and more successful. Staff attrition drops and managers can focus on winning deals and delivering better products and services. Such companies become attractive places to work and the smartest workers take note. Some companies pay attention to who their vendors are, how they recruit and retain a diverse workforce, how they treat persons with disabilities, how they handle misconduct and how they assess and reward performance. Some conduct ‘Diversity’ and ‘Unconscious Biases’ training programs. Some even have a dedicated Chief Diversity Officer.

I read somewhere that if Diversity is the ‘what’, then Inclusion is the ‘how’. You, as a leader, can support your company’s efforts and show your team how to build a truly inclusive culture by modeling the behaviours you want to see. I would love to hear what you are doing to make everyone in your team feel they belong.