Authentic Inclusion

Times of crisis focus the mind on what is important and never before has it been so important to focus on inclusion and diversity, to bring together the multitude of different experiences employees have had during the pandemic, to create a future workplace and culture where included employees feel that they belong.

The business value to be gained through enhanced productivity will certainly be needed to support organisations to not only survive, but thrive, during what is anticipated to be the largest recession for over 100 years.

With nothing normal about our “new normal” the innovative thinking diverse teams bring will be needed to create effective solutions to sustainable new ways of working, and essential to providing new and profitable customer products and experiences.  With the continued uncertainty and change response that will be needed over the next few years, fostering and nurturing these teams will increase the agility of your business to continuously innovate and respond to opportunities and challenges.

How you act now and how you engage with  all employees through the changes to come will either build employee engagement and strengthen your employer brand as a proven great place to work, or risk long term impact.  A company that treated their employees badly will be difficult to recruit the best talent into.  Listening to your employee networks will be provide invaluable insight into how well you are doing on this and also build long term communication channels to support the continuing flexibility and ability to change that is likely to be part of  our near future.

Customers also seem to be caring more about the ethics of business. The negative publicity and backlash faced by organisations that have not treated their employees well has the potential to be reflected in the future profits of a business, as customers take their business to those who may have had to make difficult decisions, but have handled them well.

Inclusion builds engagement of employees and trust between the employee and the organisation.  In an uncertain world that trust will be invaluable in being able to try new ways of working and enable the organisation to stay flexible and agile in response to the unknown future.

Inclusive Leadership

This is a time for authentic, inclusive and value driven leadership to bring out the best in the organisation’s people and create these much needed inclusive cultures.  Leadership characteristics previously valued may become redundant.

Through the pandemic we have seen empathy emerge as a strongly valued leadership behaviour.  Leaders who have the humility to share their own vulnerabilities and ask for help have been respected.  Leaders who have admitted they don’t know all the answers but are listening have been well received.

Going forward and making decisions in a world where many factors are still uncertain will require courage, flexibility and the trust of their employees.  To be successful in what is definitely a constantly changing world, leaders should foster inclusive, open, transparent cultures.  This way they will get the feedback they need and engagement they desire.

So what can HR and D&I professionals do?

• HR leaders should consider a review of what leadership behaviours have been effective and valued by employees and adjust their own leadership behavioural models. Then also reward leaders for living  these behaviours and provide development support for those who may have struggled to adapt.
• Encourage and give a voice to your inclusion champions. Ensure they are visible, engaged in diversity initiatives and active participants in future ways of working decisions.
• Challenge non inclusive behaviours.  Be the conscience of the business around inclusion and role model the desired behaviours to set the tone both amongst your peers and with your leadership teams.
• Celebrate successes and give voice to your minority groups. Hearing another’s story and understanding their perspective builds inclusion and makes visible the different experiences everyone is having.  This encourages an open culture through which to build cohesion around plans to change.
• When listening to your employees, address and tackle issues quickly, to show you are actively listening and taking action to demonstrate commitment to inclusion.
• Champion Transparency. There’s going to be a lot of unknowns, share what you know, what you don’t know and what you’re doing to find out to build ongoing and continuous trust from your employees.
• Take time to review your processes and procedures, are they fit for the flexibility and inclusivity needed in the coming months and years? Are they known and understood.  Use a framework to ensure you have addressed possible future needs and not just those most urgent now.

It’s a big challenge, but the role of D&I has never been so vital.

For further information and our Covid-19 Impact Assessment toolkit please go to https://theclearcompany.co.uk/covid-19-resources/

About the Clear Company

The Clear Company are the recognised leaders of inclusive recruitment and talent management insight, training and technology in the UK. Established in 2003 clients such as Lloyd’s of London, Highways England, Ofcom, The Civil Service, Co-op and PageGroup have taken significant steps on their inclusion journey, becoming leaders in their sectors around hiring and ongoing talent management.