The 10 components of the Thinking Environment©: A truly inclusive space

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch

In my recent blog on how to make the most of our existing diversity, I spoke of creating an environment that invites each person to share their best thinking.  After all, if we’re unable to create this type of environment in the first place, it won’t make much difference whether the group of thinkers is diverse, as we won’t be able to make use of this wealth of varied experiences.

Today I want to introduce you to 5 of the 10 components that, when observed by everyone in a team, create exactly the type of space where the best thinking emerges.  Just imagine the power of that thinking in a team of varied individuals, both in experience and demographic!

The components I’m speaking of are the 10 components of the Thinking Environment, a coaching methodology established by Nancy Kline. As one of Nancy’s ‘disciples’ – by way of my good friend and Thinking Environment guru Jane Adshead-Grant – I have embraced this way of being, both in our team and with our clients.  When we succeed in embodying all 10, we become witness to the best thinking we can generate.  Today, I will share the five components that have the greatest synergies with Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).  They are: (1) Attention, (2) Equality, (3) Appreciation, (4) Encouragement and (5) Difference.

  1. Attention  

Attention is about honouring the person thinking out loud by listening intently, with a level of curiosity that is focused on generating the speaker’s best thinking.  Whether in a group or one-to-one, this requires the listener to quieten down their own internal dialogue that will inevitably pipe up, either as a reaction to what is being said or as the mind wanders.  In Inclusion terms, this is closest to our Inclusive Behaviours of Empathy and Listening.  The Listening part is obvious – listening to understand, without interruption or an urge to share our own opinions.  Empathy is also important so that we can understand and honour the speaker’s desire to feel psychologically safe in what they are saying.

  1. Equality 

This component is about honouring everyone as an able thinking peer.  Irrespective of background, rank, seniority or maturity, embracing Equality is believing that each person in the room has the ability to think well and to contribute to the conversation.  This is particularly difficult to embrace when there is a stark difference between people’s roles, e.g., an intern in a group of experienced professionals.  Chances are, if the group has not embraced this component, the intern is unlikely to speak up and share their thinking.  This might seem acceptable for some, but it will not be acceptable to an inclusive leader who aims to tap into the diverse thinking of every person in the room.

Equality is also about having sufficient empathy to recognise that others in the room also wish to contribute, and to therefore curb one’s contribution to an equal amount of speaking time.   Every person in the room should get an equal amount of time to speak, irrespective of their level of seniority, age, or any other perceived hierarchy.

  1. Appreciation  

As a 2013 HBR article famously claimed, the higher the ratio of positive to negative feedback, the more motivated, engaged and committed we are. This is as true in working situations as it is in our personal relationships.  This is the power of Appreciation: showing another what we believe is good about them has the power of opening their mind and making them think better.  It also has the added potential of highlighting an attribute in someone of which they may not have been aware.

In Inclusion terms, appreciating someone’s inclusive behaviour encourages more of these behaviours.  We might, for instance, interject in a meeting to appreciate someone making space for someone else to speak or calling out a biased assumption or bias.  We sometimes even use appointed Appreciation Monitors whose role it is to keep their eyes and ears open for inclusive behaviours which they are tasked to recognise out loud.   In addition, when we embrace the Appreciation component, our mind actively listens out for positive encouragements and attributes which we may not have noticed otherwise.  For this reason, this component is a powerful motivator to think freely and openly.

  1. Encouragement 

The term ‘encouragement’ means helping someone find courage.  In this context, it is helping another find the courage to think boldly, to go to the unexplored edge of thinking.  This can only be done in an environment that is psychologically safe.  Encouragement, therefore, is a way of establishing psychological safety and hence, also, Inclusion.  One might do so by silently showing interest in what the other is saying, or quietly saying ‘go on, I’m interested to hear your perspective’.  Or by stating at the outset that we welcome a challenge and have an interest in hearing what we perhaps have missed.  Any gesture that makes the other person feel unworried about what others might think of their opinions or, worse, what they might do as a result, is a valuable way to encourage good thinking.

  1. Difference  

One might argue that the main point of creating an inclusive environment is so that we can uncover the most innovative, creative, insightful thinking.   This can only be achieved if we truly value each other’s difference.  This component, therefore, is about not just acknowledging that we can be very different, it is positively welcoming our differences.  If we understand that each person has travelled a path that can be vastly different from ours, we can honour them as a peer.  As a result, they might reward us with an ingenious contribution or insight of their own.  That is why we say Diversity is the reward for Inclusion.

We know that the biggest impact on our thinking is how we are treated.  So creating a Thinking Environment for our colleagues and teams is creating a space where they feel they belong, and are valued and respected as thinking peers.  This is what the 10 components endeavour to create.  Of course, embodying all 10 components – even all 5 – at all times is a tall order.  But if we focus on even just one, this will drastically improve the contribution from our colleagues.  And given that better thinking leads to better actions, perhaps it’s not too much to ask?

Which of these components will you embrace for your future interactions with colleagues?

Walking the walk with our clients: Selected case studies

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch

Reaching Stage 7 in our EDI Journey Roadmap is the ultimate prize. It’s where an organisation is fully immersed in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and benefitting fully from the increased Diversity of its workforce. Not many organisations are there. Yet. But we support organisations across all phases of the EDI journey, helping those aspiring to get closer to this ideal state.

The main thing our clients have in common is that they want to be more effective at tapping into the diversity of their people and they want to progress along their EDI Journey.  Where we start on the journey with them depends on where the organisation already is. Then we support with strategic and impactful EDI guidance to individual leaders, teams and governing bodies, such as boards and councils. We provide a wide range of original, interesting and highly pragmatic approaches, all matched to or created specifically for the challenges each organisation is facing.

One of the best ways to demonstrate what we do and how we do it is to share some recent projects we’ve been involved in. Today, therefore, we share three case studies of different types of work we have undertaken recently.

1. A global approach to EDI
Working with a global professional membership organisation, we were tasked with the challenge of guiding their members and sector towards greater diversity and inclusion across all their global jurisdictions. Being a small organisation (albeit with an extended reach to a large global sector), this was going to be the first time they looked at EDI, both for their modest number of staff and their large number of volunteers and members across the world.  The remit came from their governing body where, with the help of the CEO, the chairperson put together an EDI statement that reflected their aims as a membership organisation to suitably reflect and serve the members of their global community.

Taking our direction from the EDI statement, we delivered guidelines, training and nudges to four sections of their community: their governing body, staff, volunteers and members.  At each stage, we had to take into account time availability, different levels of exposure to EDI, the volunteer nature of the engagement (where relevant) and the professional tone needed to align with their culture.   Together, we developed and delivered a range of initiatives to help leadership, staff and volunteers to become more aware of Inclusion, to understand the benefits to themselves and the organisation, and to give them ideas and tools to change their behaviour. In addition, we helped the organisation to address potential bias in their approach to recruitment and attraction of volunteers.

This was an intense 18 months of workshops and training, slowly introducing new concepts and behaviours that aligned with the organisations’ values, and consistently and regularly nudging them towards greater commitment to EDI, including in local chapters.

The organisation’s EDI strategy is now fully understood by the governing body and, more generally, people are fully aware of why it is important and what Inclusive Behaviour looks like. Open conversations are taking place on Inclusion, and staff understand how to be more inclusive. The approach to recruitment of staff and attraction of volunteers have been changed significantly and the organisation has recently been recognised for their efforts on EDI with an industry achievement award.

2. Inclusive Recruitment 
Inclusion and Diversity were already high on the agenda of this video games developer, and most were fully engaged with the topic. However, as the studio was growing rapidly, they wanted to ensure that the new talent they hire is genuinely diverse. To answer this call, we delivered sessions on inclusive recruitment for their hiring managers, offering up a range of ideas on what really works to make recruitment more inclusive.   In this way, we helped the managers to review their approach to recruitment as well as look more closely at key processes for talent management.

The studio’s hiring managers are now enthusiastically implementing new ways of working, and we have been asked for (and have already delivered) the session again for a wider group of managers and staff.  As a result, they are in the process of improving the diversity of their workforce and ensuring that the studio benefits from the diverse experiences and thinking this offers.

3. Inclusion Diagnostic and Action Plan
The partners in a growing architecture firm noticed that women were no longer being promoted at the same rate as men, although they had been when the organisation was smaller. They asked us to look at what barriers were obstructing the career advancement of women and underrepresented groups, and asked for recommendations on how to break these barriers.

We undertook an Inclusion Diagnostic and gathered a wealth of qualitative data through exit interviews and a series of focus groups with men and women.  Based on the results, we ran a session with the partners, and came up with a three-part action plan to design more transparency in the progression process, improve mentoring and add an inclusive leadership module in their leadership training programme.

Once we’d helped them understand the challenges being faced by their staff, the practice partners could better understand where they are with gender diversity and, most importantly, the obstacles they face. They are implementing clearer progression processes and are looking at how best to integrate other recommended actions with the leadership training programme.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these three very different projects. There are many more examples of our work on our website so please take a look to find out how else we are able to help.

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Making The Most of Our Existing Diversity

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch

Many of our clients almost audibly wince when I start talking about Diversity.  They gaze around the room in embarrassment, noting that it is made up almost entirely of one type of person: middle-aged, white, educated men.  How, they think, can we talk about Diversity when we look as homogenous as this?

 

You won’t be surprised to hear, perhaps, that this is not a unique scenario.  Most of the teams I work with are relatively homogenous.  So it’s a relief (I imagine) to hear me say that although we might look similar, there are most certainly many ways in which we are different. This might be in the way we take in information (visual, auditory or kinaesthetic), the way we interpret information (coloured by the lens and filter through which we have lived), or the way we share information (verbal, nonverbal, written or visual).  These basic differences alone will allow us to have valuable diverse perspectives and opinions.

 

We also know, of course, that even in a homogenous team it is often difficult to tap into the true thinking of another person.  In a very corporate environment, for instance, people may never share what they really think, even when they are being asked to, out of fear of reprisal.  How often have you pondered whether you should be truthful or ‘polite’ when it came to giving your boss feedback as part of a 360° assessment?  How worried were you that, if you are too truthful, they might guess that it was you who submitted the feedback and be displeased?

 

So, what is the use of having diverse teams – those that pride themselves on the diverse backgrounds and genders that make them up – if there is not enough psychological safety and hence no real ability to benefit from the richness of that diversity of thought?

 

By now, therefore, the obvious answer to the question of how to benefit from the diversity of a homogenous team is: Inclusion.

If you’re in a truly inclusive team you will know it by the following signs:

  1. Every person in the team (and not just a few or even most) feels like they belong, that they can say whatever is on their mind, however silly, without negative repercussions to their careers. (Please note that this is not a blanket permission to say or do inappropriate things, as certain statements or behaviours will and should attract reprisals befitting of the offence!)
  2. The team starts noticing gradually that, in order to be even more collectively intelligent, it needs to further expand the diversity of the team.
In other words, once you’re operating in a truly inclusive environment, you’ll start to realise the benefits of diverse contributions and want to attract more diversity.
‘But we’re already inclusive!’

I often hear clients say that there is no issue with Inclusion (or rather, lack of Inclusion) in their teams.  They believe that they already have an environment where everyone feels psychologically safe to say what they mean.  Sadly, that often does not reflect reality.  I remember working with one such team, made up predominantly of men plus just 2 or 3 women. As we sat around a large boardroom table, a male member of the team shared this very sentiment, but when I looked around the room, I noticed that there were no nods of agreement coming from the women on the team.  Instead, they averted their eyes and looked down towards their notes.  Later in the day, when I managed to create a safe space for the workshop, one of the women spoke up and disagreed that all members of the team felt safe to speak their mind at all times.  She also added that she also knew that one or two male members of the team felt similarly.

 

It’s easy to be open with those you consider your equal or those who you regard as peers.  Consider whether you’d feel comfortable saying everything you wish to say when your boss is present.  Also consider whether those who are from an underrepresented group feel that they can fully be themselves at all times.  It’s often easier to be more empathetic with people who are like us, so you may wish to ask someone from an underrepresented group how they feel.  Who knows, you might find out that your team is not as inclusive as it needs to be in order to truly benefit from every person’s thinking.

 

‘Surely, we don’t need to hear everyone’s thinking?  My PA, for instance, attends our meetings to take notes, not to contribute!’ 

It might appear odd to ask a person who has a seemingly different role – like an admin assistant, a financial controller or a graduate trainee, for example – to contribute to the discussion.  After all, they are unlikely to have the requisite knowledge or experience to contribute.  Be that as it may, if we manage to create an environment in which everyone including the PA feels like they are invited to contribute, we might be surprised by what they have to say.  In our meetings at Voice At The Table, for instance, our admin assistant contributes a lot of great ideas, despite not having any EDI experience.  The whole point of Inclusion is to hear what diverse thinkers have to say, and that must include those whose role appears to sit ‘outside’ the actual team.  So, in company workshops, I always invite people to hang their titles at the door and contribute on an equal footing with everyone else in the room, irrespective of seniority, age or any other type of societal hierarchy.

 

To truly benefit from the diversity of our incumbent teams – let alone those that are more diverse – we must first learn to tap into the thinking of each person around the table.  Anything short of this will rob the collective intelligence of the team of its natural power.  Each person is capable of thinking and has unique experiences to share – we would be missing out if we didn’t know how to make the most of the wisdom that is already surrounding us.

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A Decade of Learning: The next 10 years An Interview with Rina Goldenberg Lynch Part 2 – Looking Ahead

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch and Suzanne Bird

At the end of September we celebrated our 10th anniversary. One of the ways in which we are marking this is with a look back at the learnings from a decade of EDI consulting and a look forward to what the next 10 years might look like.  Last week’s blog covered the first part of an interview by Voice Associate Suzanne Bird, when I answered questions from our Associates about the first 10 years of Voice At The Table. This week’s blog is the second part of that interview, covering my thoughts on what’s to come in the next 10 years, both for Voice and for EDI.


Suzanne: Last week, we spoke about your time with Voice At The Table so far and how much you’ve learned.  Looking ahead, when it comes to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion  (EDI), what do you still want to learn?

Rina: I still want to learn how best to use technology to help people learn and use new skills, such as empathy and better listening.  An aspect of technology that we’re already starting to embrace is to make it easier for people to practise new behaviour habits. Unlearning some of our old habits and perspectives will take a lot of practice, and it is difficult to make the time for this.  Technology, for instance, can nudge us to make small incremental changes by practicing them often and regularly.

Suzanne: What trends do you see emerging in the EDI space in the next 10 years?

Rina: I think the focus will move even more towards behaviour change. Norms are actively and swiftly changing, so that what’s now acceptable or even desirable behaviour is already very different from many people’s understanding of what that is.  Not a day goes by without an article in the papers identifying something someone did that society no longer finds appropriate.  This indicates that the shift in behaviour is greater than most people comprehend.  Therefore, identifying, unpicking, understanding and communicating what’s appropriate or inappropriate will become even more important in the next few years This is going to be particularly important in the context of creating inclusive, psychologically safe work environments.

In terms of Diversity, our understanding of diversity of thought is going to grow and we will start to see benefits from the tools and initiatives that we’re currently designing/providing for a specific group of people benefitting others in unexpected ways.  Take, for instance, advances in accessibility software that makes it easier for neurodivergent people to access information at work.  What we’re learning is that those who are not neurodivergent are finding this software helpful to them as well.  It’s only when we go past the first threshold of bringing more Diversity through our doors and creating a welcoming environment for everyone when we truly start to uncover the greater benefits of Diversity; that’s something we have only just begun to understand.

Finally, in terms of organisational roles, it will be standard for companies to have a dedicated in-house EDI role and EDI will become a standard must-have function as important as HR or Finance roles.

Suzanne: What will Voice look like in 10 years?

Rina: In 10 years’ time I imagine we will be doing lots of novel things that help organisations tap into the diversity of their people on a larger scale.  We will also continue to work with senior influencers and leaders to help them become more conversant in this space.  On the leadership side at present, the talk about EDI is passionate at its best, but leaders don’t always know what others need to hear in order to shift mindsets and effectively tackle biased practices in the workplace. Voice At The Table will be influential in creating the much-needed change in this regard.

Suzanne: From your experience with clients, what advice would you offer to help them leapfrog their journey to inclusion?

Rina: I would simply say, keep your eyes on the prize.  And the prize is Diversity!  If you do the hard work, you will reap the expected as well as the unexpected rewards of Diversity.

If you would like to tap into our experience in helping organisations navigate the EDI Journey, why not set up an Ask Me Anything call with Rina?

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A Decade with Voice At The Table is a Decade of Learning An Interview with Rina Goldenberg Lynch Part 1 – Looking Back

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch & Suzanne Bird

The end of September marks our 10th anniversary.  We are marking this milestone in several ways (keep your eyes peeled on this newsletter for more news on this!), including a look back at the learnings from a decade of EDI consulting.  Today’s blog is the first part of an interview by Voice Associate Suzanne Bird, when I answered questions from our Associates about the first 10 years of Voice At The Table.  The second part – coming out next week – covers my thoughts on what’s to come in the next 10 years, both for Voice and for EDI.


Suzanne: Congratulations on achieving this significant milestone.  What’s been the highlight of the last ten years for you? What’s your proudest moment?

Rina: The biggest thing for me is making a difference. When I realise that people recognise and align with the Voice brand and our aims, I feel that we have made real progress. I don’t have one proudest moment, but every time someone recommends us, or someone visits our website and then gets in touch because they understand our philosophy, I feel proud of that. And a recurring highlight is whenever I realise our work has had a positive impact on an organisation.

Suzanne: How much have you learned in the ten years of Voice At The Table?

Rina: After three years, I started to feel I finally knew what I was doing. After five years, I felt now I REALLY know what I’m doing, and at ten years I feel much the same.

It’s been a little like raising a child, being appropriately hands-on and nurturing at each stage. So we’ve gone from the baby stage to the toddler stage, then starting school and now the company/child is ten years old. Our area of expertise is as complex as human nature itself, so I feel, no matter how much I already know, there’s still so much more to learn.

Suzanne: How have things turned out differently from what you expected when you set up Voice ten years ago?

Rina:  When I quit my corporate law job, I gave myself a year to get back to my corporate earnings and it’s taken nearly ten years!

It’s been a steep learning curve and I have realised that being a lawyer doesn’t necessarily prepare you for running your own business. I am tenacious, and I like change and learning, which are basic attributes required to be an entrepreneur. So are the ability to be self-aware, resilient, and able to face difficult truths sometimes. But there are still areas of running the business that I feel it’s better to leave to others. I suppose that’s true of every person, so it’s about knowing what to focus on and what to let go of and let others do.

So, to answer your specific question: everything turned out differently from expectations, but I would say that all of it was and is great!

Suzanne:  What has been your most interesting client engagement?

Rina:  The most interesting client engagement is always the one I am currently working on – and this is not a cop-out! We have evolved, and the work we do continues to evolve as we constantly look for new and better ways to deal with client challenges. This means that each new project that we take on is the most interesting as we look for the next new ideas and collaborations.

Suzanne:  What have been the top 3 key challenges you’ve seen for organisations in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)? 

Rina:  One fundamental challenge is that it is very difficult to maintain people’s motivation and commitment to EDI. It takes a lot of staying power to progress through the EDI Journey.  It needs to be front of mind at all times, and that’s a difficult reality for many organisations to embrace.

Another one is to have the ability to look in the mirror and be truthful about what you see. I’ve learned to do this and still reel from some of what’s looking back at me (and it’s nothing to do with aging 😊); many of the people we work with find this extremely challenging, especially the more senior they are.  This is not easy and not many can truly do it, but it is the secret to successful change.

These two key challenges combined show that it takes a combination of resilience, inquisitiveness and self-awareness to constantly improve.

I’d say that probably the biggest (and third) challenge is to overcome the constant strive to look for simple solutions to incredibly complex challenges. The EDI journey requires patience and a deep understanding of the cause underlying the symptom; a sticking plaster approach is not going to reap the benefits people are after when it comes to EDI.

Suzanne:  What’s an example of poor EDI practice you saw a lot of 10 years ago that we have now moved beyond?

Rina:  When I started out, my aim was to work towards greater gender equality and help women succeed by making them (us) more confident, gain gravitas, training them to be better leaders… but then I quickly realised: there’s nothing wrong with women! We now understand that the issue goes deeper, rooted in the system itself. For example, we have seen that it doesn’t work to parachute women into board positions without changing the existing culture that made it difficult for women to get there in the first place.

Now, there’s a lot more emphasis on creating an inclusive environment which will lead to greater Diversity. This is why I say that Diversity is the reward for Inclusion, because only a truly inclusive environment enables the ability to tap into people’s diversity of thought.

Suzanne:  What one thing has helped to shift the dial or been a game-changer in this space?

Rina:  A combination of COVID and George Floyd’s murder have led to a fundamental shift in the way that companies view and talk about Diversity. I don’t think that one or the other alone would have led to this shift.  We’ve had pandemics before and the treatment of Black men by the police force in the US has long been documented (and continues to be highly problematic).  In my opinion, it’s the fact that when George Floyd was murdered, the world was more sensitive to this atrocity given how much suffering and fear everyone was feeling during COVID. I think it somehow made the incident more real and more relatable to people, so it built an important momentum for EDI that continues to prevail.

Suzanne:  In what way has Voice At The Table had the biggest impact?

Rina:  Our biggest success is to help people recharacterise how they see and think about EDI.  We’ve shifted the conversation from having to solve a problem to a conversation about the opportunities it provides.  We now talk about the opportunity costs of not being more inclusive, by missing out on that highly valuable asset that is diversity of thought.  So, rather than relying on the benevolence of white educated men to be more inclusive, EDI is fast becoming something they know they’d be fools not to embrace. And this is real progress.

If you would like to tap into our experience in helping organisations navigate the EDI Journey, why not set up an Ask Me Anything call with Rina?

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The danger of neglecting work relationships

By Joanna Gaudoin

Hybrid working: there is no doubt that it has brought many benefits. New research suggests that Brits value personal life as much as – if not more than – work. And hybrid working has done a lot to provide this balance, including making time for home-focused activities, saving time travelling on packed trains and sitting in traffic jams, as well as often providing greater peace and quiet for people to work uninterrupted.

Unfortunately, hybrid working has also been to the detriment of professional relationships. Fewer casual conversations take place as people don’t see one another around the office as much anymore. As a result, they no longer build professional relationships unless they plan their communication and make a more intentional effort.

Furthermore, being away from the office allows people to ‘hide’ from those they find challenging to deal with, and not dealing with issues rarely has a good outcome.

What this means is that people only engage with those they really have to when they have to;  beyond that, people engage only with those they like and want to connect with.  The fall-out of this, of course, is that they are less likely to engage with those who are very different from them, setting back the good work that has been done as part of companies’ Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) efforts.  Without the ability to practise some of the lessons of EDI – such as listening to diverse/adverse opinions and perspectives – inclusive culture development stalls and, worse, might even devolve into pockets or cliques of ‘birds of a feather’.  The more ‘similar’ people stay in their own groups, the more they lose out on the benefits of diversity of thought within their organisation. There is even the possibility of them forgetting the true benefits of EDI and perhaps even questioning the need for it.

In other words, one of the unwanted consequences of hybrid working is the deterioration of EDI efforts and on an individual basis, potentially closing oneself off from diverse thinking.

Given the efforts most companies are making to advance EDI, it is worthwhile encouraging our colleagues to spend some time as individuals considering whether this is what is happening in their own working life.

How to encourage action to work more inclusively

One simple way to assess whether hybrid working is impacting someone’s own working relationships, is for that individual to track who they engage with and how frequently. You might suggest that they try this over a span of two or three weeks and compare it to the circle of people they had engaged with in previous times when everyone was at the office more regularly. You might also suggest that people consider whether there are fewer informal interactions with colleagues, and to also compare the quality or depth of those interactions to previous times.

Once this assessment has been done, and if people find that their circle of interactions has narrowed and perhaps become more homogenous, here are a few steps you can suggest to them to make a change. These actions will help people form closer relationships and be more inclusive whilst still benefitting from hybrid working:

1. Consider overall how you are spending your working time. Are you making enough time to connect with others and collaborate on challenges together?

2. Consider your most immediate relationships at work – the ‘obvious’ people you need to engage with. How positive are they? What are the dynamics at play? If less than positive, what can you do to improve them? Even small things, like calling up someone for a virtual coffee, can make a big difference! Focus on 2-3 relationships at a time.
3. If you are a team leader, are you spending enough time on managing and developing your team, and where relevant, managing upwards too?  It’s vital to understand how your team are getting on at work – how they are working on what they need to do of course, but also any blockages or frustrations they are feeling.  Making time to discuss their career development is also important.  When this doesn’t happen, people don’t feel valued and it is now a major reason why people are easily tempted to move on. Try to make specific time for both these types of discussions; if that is within a regular catch-up, then it’s key to ensure that enough time is put aside.  In terms of managing upwards, remembering that your boss is human too will help build the relationship, as well as considering their agenda and key current focus.
4. Think about people in the wider business who can help you in the broader sense. This might be from a day-to-day perspective like helping deliver a better work product, or from a longer-term perspective like progressing your career. Who are those people?  Are they aware that you exist, and what you do?  Generally speaking, outside your own daily interactions, people won’t be aware of you and of what you do unless you build relationships with them. You should consider that those who don’t know you may ultimately make decisions about what you work on and your next role, so it’s important to focus on these more strategic relationships.
5. Think about whether you are only really making time for people who you like or who are similar to yourself, with similar views and life experience. Are you being less open to the contributions of people who are different to you than you were when everyone was in the office? Is there anyone who might challenge you more and get you to consider new ideas and different ways of thinking? How might embracing a more diverse dialogue benefit the business and your own work? How might this wider circle of contacts benefit in turn from more interaction with you?

Since the pandemic, many people have understandably wanted to focus more on non-work activities, which is important. However, positive professional relationships are vital, as none of us can work alone.  More than that, we can all benefit from connecting with a variety of people with different experiences, values, beliefs and assumptions.  And if people notice that EDI efforts are dissipating as a result of hybrid working, this may be used as yet another reason to recall people into the office on a more regular basis – and who wants that?

As companies are gearing up for a busy time, this is the ideal time to consider the above points and how you can influence  your own and others’ more fulfilling and productive professional relationships, even as we all continue to work remotely for part of the time.

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One size does not fit all – Adapting EDI Strategies for all

By Rina Goldenberg Lynch

Anyone travelling through one of the world’s major airports in the last five years will have noticed one of HSBC’s ‘Together We Thrive’ posters, advocating a global outlook adapted to local markets and cultures.  When I saw the posters for the first time, they immediately spoke to me.  They said that, although we might be different in many ways, we are part of the same world and want the same from life; that although we’re more similar than different, our differences matter and we benefit from embracing them; that while an idea can be global in outlook, it won’t work unless adapted to local differences.

This is how I think about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy. No matter how big the company – and how global its outlook is on EDI – its implementation needs to take into account local traditions, legal systems and economies. This is as true for international companies with offices across the globe as it is for national companies with offices across the country. One size does not fit all and EDI strategy and practices need to be adapted to take local culture into account. Just as general corporate values that reflect the overall company culture need to be adapted to the culture and behaviour of each office or even team, EDI strategy implementation also needs to be adjusted.

But what does this mean for organisations that are managed centrally from one region?  What do they need to do to appeal locally and achieve their EDI ambitions?

We have worked with a number of global companies that have grappled with these questions and we suggest the following approach:

1. Start with a broad-brush EDI outlook
A good EDI strategy underpins a company’s business mission and vision and reflects its values. In other words, the EDI statement (upon which the strategy will be set) should be as broad and encompassing as the business mission and vision.

Take Apple, for example. Its mission statement is to bring the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software and services.

Apple’s Diversity Statement supports this mission, as follows:

Different Together
At Apple, we’re not the same. And that’s our greatest strength. We draw on the differences in who we are, what we’ve experienced, and how we think. Because, to create products that serve everyone, we believe in including everyone.

From this, Apple might craft a global EDI strategy that focuses on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as a tool to (1) improve innovation and (2) better understand the user experience.

From this strategy focus, its top priorities globally might be: (a) to explore the user experience in top markets (in order to create the best user experience), (b) to improve diversity in its research and development (R&D) departments (in order to develop innovative hardware, software and services) and (c) to improve inclusion and psychological safety across the company (in order to draw on the differences and to benefit from the diversity of its people).

These priorities might then form the backbone of its global EDI strategy.

2. Adopt a ‘glocal’ EDI outlook
Once a broad-brush EDI outlook is formed and the global priorities are identified, it becomes important to identify how to implement them locally.

Continuing with the Apple example, then, and following the 3 suggested priorities, it would be important to understand how each of these 3 priorities is going to be implemented locally:

Priority 1: Understanding user experience in top markets.
This is an exercise that will need to be localised to each one of the top markets. For instance, it might involve understanding what products are selling in each of the top markets, what the most common use of those products is in those markets, and how local conventions influence this use. It would then be more feasible to identify any gaps between what users need or want and what the experience delivers.

Priority 2: Improve Diversity in R&D.
This priority will need to be adapted to the markets in which R&D takes place. In this case, the strategy may begin by understanding the R&D region and its demographic, and an assessment of the representation of that demographic in the R&D departments. This analysis will allow the company to put measures in place that are specific to the R&D region in order to improve the Diversity of those departments.

Priority 3: Inclusion and psychological safety for all employees.
This is a truly global priority that will be implemented very differently in each of the countries and even the individual offices of the company. This is also where most companies fall foul of Inclusion. In many cases, Inclusion and psychological safety are defined by the understanding of those concepts in the country from which they originate. So, in this case, these concepts might be defined according to the understanding of them in the US, where Apple is incorporated. It would, however, be a mistake to apply the same definition and ambition for this priority in each of its other locations.

Adapting Inclusion to regions, countries and even offices is an exercise in listening first. It’s important to understand how these concepts translate, what it means to people there to belong and how feasible some of these concepts are. For instance, it might be difficult to openly declare one’s sexuality in some countries as it might be punishable by law. In this case, insisting on certain Inclusion standards in the office might in fact put some people at risk! This policy, therefore, would need to be adapted by reconciling the global position with the local environment.

Similarly, in countries where most people look the same and have similar backgrounds, it would be difficult to impose measures to increase ethnic representation without additional efforts that may not be usually expected.

In other countries, it might be that people are more pre-occupied with basic needs such as food and shelter, and the idea that people are different and may need to be treated differently is not something that people may have had time to contemplate. In this situation, therefore, things may move more slowly in embracing some of the practices and policies that lead to Belonging.

In all these cases, global ambitions need to be seen through a local lens and be ‘glocalised’, just as implied by HSBC’s ad campaign. By localising global EDI outlooks, EDI becomes more meaningful to people. Bearing in mind that we’re all similar – and yet different – it will allow us to focus on our commonalities while respecting our differences. An approach that is adapted to each country, office and even department while staying true to the overall EDI company message runs the greatest chance of success.

Taking Everyone Along in your EDI Approach

By Sara Bell

If you work in or are interested in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), you’ll see the value in EDI initiatives that create a more equitable and fair workplace. Unfortunately, as advances are made by some, often backlash erodes the gains for all. I would argue therefore that it’s essential to find, establish and maintain an approach to EDI that takes everyone along, rather than creating dividing lines or feelings of anyone being side-lined.

Specifically, I consider the interconnected nature of multiple, overlapping identities or intersectionality as the key concept driving why it’s now more important than ever to take everyone along. Intersectionality means some people are more likely to experience unique and greater forms of exclusion, discrimination and marginalisation. This term was created because of a legal case which examined how a group of workers who were made redundant ended up worse off, not because they were women and not because they were Black, but because they were Black women. So Diversity initiatives that focus on gender or ethnicity alone are unlikely to create a culture of Inclusion for everyone.

I would like to share some strategies for establishing and maintaining an EDI approach that benefits all employees, avoids dividing lines and feelings of being side-lined, and takes everyone along on the journey.

1. Avoiding Dividing Lines
Diagnose the status of your diverse representation using data to ensure you are talking about the real situation in your organisation. By understanding where there are gaps in representation (e.g., the hiring of disabled employees in mid-level sales, promotion of Black women to senior manager positions in technology, retention and engagement of LGBTQIA+ staff in line management positions in finance), you can be specific and factual about where interventions are needed. Focusing on one aspect only will most likely disenfranchise other employees.

Client Example
I recently worked with a tech organisation that had a hiring target for women in engineering. Many of the line managers were disillusioned with EDI and what felt to them like an equation for EDI with a focus on just hiring women. When we looked at the detailed data, women were clustered in one department and there was a lack of Black men as well as women in line management and leadership. I facilitated a data-led workshop with the extended leadership team, for them to determine the targets for hiring as well as retention. The main focus was a detailed heat-map showing the demographics in each team. By looking at more aspects of Diversity and setting more specific targets for areas of the business, the leaders engaged with the process in a way they would any other business issue. The inclusive workshop process helped to include white male hiring managers in the conversation and they started to look beyond the different aspects of Diversity in hiring, and focused on inclusion of all in the engagement and retention of their people. The data and process engaged and included them and removed the binary male or female hiring focus which had caused a backlash.

2. Include those who are feeling side-lined
Oftentimes white educated men in organisations feel excluded from Equity, Diversity and Inclusion efforts, yet they hold significant influence over the culture and practices in organisations. We have spoken about true allyship and the role of all leaders in creating Inclusion. Along with a focus on diverse representation and inclusive culture, your EDI approach will be more impactful if you are deliberately including the white majority in your organisation (read here about the Global Majority). Reframing narratives and identities can be unsettling, so why would you not support those you are asking to share power, identity and established ways of working? Support those in positions of privilege to do the work to create Inclusion for everyone. Some examples of ways to do this include coaching and training of senior leadership teams as well as facilitated reverse mentoring programmes for leaders to understand the lived experience of others in their company.

3. Take everyone along on the EDI journey
Genuinely taking everyone along recognises that every person and organisation is at a very different starting point. So the action for the EDI approach is to think about how agile, empowered, viral changes can be part of meeting everyone where they are, and encouraging everyone to move in the same direction of Inclusion. In addition to top-down approaches, bring your employee body onboard and empower employees and supervisors to amplify their voice and experience. One way to do this is to create safe or brave spaces for employees to engage in real discussion, for example in employee forums or network groups. Facilitating experience sharing and telling these stories more broadly in the organisation can help others to understand the impact of their language and behaviour on colleagues with different lived experiences, and they will want to act differently rather than being told to.

We have been speaking this year about the EDI journey, how there are phases to maturity that organisations go through to benefit fully from the creative genius of each and every employee. It requires concerted effort from everyone in the organisation to get there. Wherever you are on that journey, I am sure your EDI strategy can take everyone along. You can progress by ensuring you are using data and listening to everyone’s voices where everyone is taking action each day for a more inclusive culture. You know this creates a more positive and productive workplace that benefits all employees, and helps to promote greater equity and fairness in the broader community beyond your business. Taking everyone along is not just the right thing to do, it is also the safest way to ensure that EDI strategies are implemented successfully.

How has your organisation managed to bring everyone along?