An Elevator Speech on Inclusion

What if you have very little time to describe Inclusion in a business context, like in the lift - what could you say?

Perhaps this might help:

You need to talk diversity first!
Everyone working for an organisation has to interact with people who are different from themselves.

Then the impact of the diversity
When people interact the differences are going to have an impact. That could be positive if say, past experiences, are used to develop new solutions. On the other hand it could be destructive if differences like seniority cause people not to listen to one anothers ideas.

Then Inclusion
Inclusion is about optimising the impact of diversity. Important outcomes are at stake. Individual contribution and satisfaction as well as the capability and cohesion of teams can all be impacted, positively or negatively, by differences.

There are three keys to success:
• our attitudes
• the processes we use and
• our personal behaviours

There is no one-size-fits-all template for inclusion. In each situation we need to work out:
• What outcomes we want
• How diversity could impact the outcomes and then
• What specific attitudes, processes and behaviors will ensure the best outcomes?

If, for example, the outcome we want is to capture every possible idea for improvement from a diverse team we would need:
• The attitude that everyone,regardless of role and background can contribute.
• A process for gathering ideas that doesn’t create barriers for anyone e.g. technology that is
accessible by all.
• Behaviors that encourage contribution, like active listening or drawing out introverts.

Diversity, by itself, does not guarantee better results for an organisation. The opposite may be true. But diversity WITH inclusion creates the potential for teams to outperform in areas such as Innovation. More on that in a post to come.