Inclusion with a Purpose = Consistently Good Outcomes

“Inclusion sounds good but what is it, what does it look like, what does it get me”? This question, in one form or another, is one I hear often from business leaders. Being inclusive, like being fair, is instinctively the right thing to do. But what actually do you need to do and why? What is the business context?

Only last week a client meeting provided another practical example of looking at what I call Inclusion with a Purpose. The diversity strategy team inside a utility company is reworking their roadmap around diversity and inclusion. Where do they want to go and why? At the same time the organisation is reorganising and rebranding. At the heart of everything sits the ambition to deliver a customer experience which is second-to-none. This is a strong anchor-point for their thinking about operating inclusively. So now the question becomes “what do we need to do to deliver second-to-none experience for every customer in a region with very diverse communities?”

Why is this question so important to the business? Because regulators are increasingly linking future tariff increases to customer satisfaction. Profitability is hard-wired to the experience of every customer. The question creates the landscape for which a specific road map is needed. Now the organisation needs to apply a diversity lens to all the practices which link to customer experience. More questions will need to be asked and resolved.

· Do we have all the data we need on customer diversity in our operating area?

· What kinds of diversity are likely to impact customer experience and how?

· Are our systems allowing us to compare customer experience for different demographic groups?

· What can we learn from different customers about what they need and expect from us to give us second-to-none ratings?

· Does the makeup of our own staff and leaders reflect customer diversity with the empathy that brings?

· How can we access the different perspectives and ideas that could help us develop innovative ways to improve customer experience?

· Which of our core practices deliver consistent outcomes across differences like age or cultural norms and which do not? What needs changing?

· Have we helped our customer-facing staff develop the awareness and the attitudes required to provide consistently good service to every customer?

· How will we measure, report and respond to feedback on service from different groups?

Anchoring the effort in a core business outcome helps define what Inclusion with a Purpose means for any particular organisation. This helps leaders clarify what they need to do and makes it easier to communicate why specific diversity-related actions are being taken. In this case it will also drive greater engagement with diverse communities which links to recruitment and reputation as well as customer satisfaction.

What does Inclusion with a Purpose mean in your organisation?