[Anonymous]

HI I am in need of inspiration!

last year we had a diversity forum but it went horribly wrong as instead of discussing ideas on how to improve diversity- which we did, we had individuals use it as a platform to be very negative and it resulted in a complaint and investigation.

we have unconscious bias training, we train managers on diverse recruitment, we have a diversity survey where we talk about how to be better, we have a cultural calendar where we celebrate all cultures festive holidays and we make allowances for eid and those that fast with flexibility we are very flexible with working arrangements (being in tech it is about output not when and where you work)
do any of you have any ideas on what else we can do?

I do not wish to have a forum setting again as with the best will in the world as much direction on action and positive actions it still opens the door to what happened last time which was opinions upsetting others.

any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂

[Anonymous]

Tammie, let’s connect, be happy to discuss this further with you to share what has and hasn’t worked for me previously. I’m launching in my new company shortly so formulating the framework now.   Email me louise.lee@correla.com

[Anonymous]

Hi Tammie and Louise

Tammie – I could have written an identical post as you so would love to take part in a conversation with you both is possible?

 

[DanCB]

Hi Tammie, great question- it can sometimes feel like you’ve had lots of big initiatives, but you aren’t seeing the results you’d expected. We would advise on really focusing on the conversation that managers are having with their people and helping them get it right. To start with, help your leaders to be able to spot and change their approach to micro-inequities and micro-aggressions within their teams – these are small, almost indiscernible actions that can over a period of time make a person feel singled out or excluded.

Here are some examples of these approaches being used in other organisations:

–        GoDaddy does something around micro-inequities where leadership is trying to raise awareness around how it looks and feels when someone is interrupted in a meeting, or doesn’t get credit for a good idea. They also revised their annual review process to ensure that managers evaluate both men and women on a standard set of criteria. You can listen to our podcast recording to hear more details on how they used small changes to make big impacts.

–        At Autodesk, their managers get support and resources to actively listen to their team members in check ins and conversations to identify barriers to an inclusive environment through everyday conversations. Then, they work with the team to address these barriers. This commitment to listening is explicit and part of the management approach at Autodesk.

In our webinar on ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ (at 26 mins and 19 secs) you will find a few more examples on helping managers to focus on the conversations.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Disruptive HR Team

[Author]

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