Creating inclusive cultures in online spaces
Vimla Appadoo is an expert in the field of service design and inclusion. In an event for our Leaders in Conversation series, she spoke to us about how to create inclusive spaces online
Social impact is what drives me. By that I mean making a tangible difference in the world. That can be the smallest change in one person’s life through to big systemic change.
We have been conditioned to have a professional and personal outlook in life. Like, this is what I do in my spare time, and this is what I do in my professional time. But an effective workplace culture is one that feels inclusive enough for you to be your personal self and still get work done in the same manner with the same efficiency and productivity. There’s a facade of what a good culture looks like. There are some companies that think they are a mindful company because they put beanbags in the office or provide yoga on a Monday, but still expect their teams to work overtime for free.
Inclusivity is about making everyone feel welcome regardless of the differences that they have and who they are and who they want to be. It’s about everything that makes us different and unique — and this includes the invisible as well as the visible differences. There will always be those invisible things happening because they are there whether we like it or not. I say this as someone who is an ally of Black Lives Matter and who recognizes that the inequality I’ve experienced is very, very different to that which other black and brown people have experienced.
I’m getting frustrated by the fact many organisations, particularly the large ones, are ‘all talk but no action’. They’re not committing to change or have failed to recognize that their board all looks and sounds the same and so they actively need to do something about it. It’s not just taking part in a social media campaign that makes a difference but real tangible action that you can show progress through. Currently, any one who doesn’t fit our norm doesn’t get a voice at the table. We need to shift that so that there are more voices at the table. That means rethinking recruitment and decision-making. It also means people in power and in positions of privilege, myself included, giving our voices to others to enable that equality to happen. When you have worked your butt off to get to the table yourself to then feel like you’re giving it to another person, that is a really, really scary thing to do but that’s what I hope to see.
You have to focus on people. When I’ve worked on big transformation projects in the past, they’ve always been driven by cost-saving initiatives, particularly when I was in the public sector. The focus was on systems and processes: what new system can we put in place that will make us more efficient? Or what bit of tech do we buy in that gets rid of all of these people? But nine times out of 10, the decision was made purely on finances rather than understanding what the organisation’s people needed to do their jobs better. For me, the real cost savings come when you put people first. Not in terms of who we can make redundant but understanding how people fit within the systems and processes. People are your business, your staff, your customers and your everything. You won’t exist without people so it makes sense to consider their needs and how they operate within the system.
We are in a privileged position to have Internet access and afford the quality of equipment that enable us to use technology, such as Zoom, and to have the education and neuro-diversity that allows us to have this kind of conversation. When thinking about culture when everyone is working from home, it’s important to take all of this into consideration. There’s a role for companies to provide employees with the right equipment so they feel comfortable and safe doing their jobs in a non-office environment. Companies need to make sure people have a computer that they can use and the Internet access that they need, and safe and secure networks that protect data. And it goes right through to having the right chair to sit on and having a footstool if you have back problems to putting systems and processes in place to make sure people still feel a part of a community or workplace so that they’re not left out. It can be quite isolating to work from home completely. That might mean having some really difficult conversations with employees about living habits that you didn’t realize existed. So, you don’t often know for certain how big someone’s home is because it was not talked about, or if they’re a carer with other demands being made of them. There’s a new responsibility for organizations to ensure that their employees are working in a way that does work for them.
We need to be really conscious of the decisions we’re asking people to make. If you’re asking your employees to go back into the office because you can, that could be a life or death decision for the people that they then see. We have had a really tragic family lost due to the virus, which has meant that I will not take a risk by getting on public transport or going to the supermarket. We need to be really, really conscious of the decisions we’re forcing people to make and the impact that can have on who they see and how they see them. I’d encourage people to ask employees in an anonymous survey, how comfortable and confident they feel to return and what return looks like to them so that you’re not putting systems and processes and policies in place that don’t reflect the genuine or true feeling of your staff.
Empathy and emotional intelligence are the key skills required by any leader today. We really need to take this time to listen to people, and understand where they’re coming from. Making it really personal to me, coming from an Asian background, to have different generations living in a single household is really normal and so when I’m speaking about family, I don’t necessarily mean my immediate family. I want leaders to recognize that without me having to explain it. Likewise there are small unconscious things that occur, such as how a lot of companies shut down for Christmas but not everyone celebrates Christmas. Another very common one is Friday drinks after work. Not everyone is comfortable in the pub yet often business decisions can be made in the pub, which is a problem if you are not included in this space.
One of the things that has come out of the Black Lives Matter movement for me personally is engaging with people that have a different opinion or haven’t been on that same learning journey as me because I can’t expect someone else to take on that battle for me if I want to see change. I’ve got to be willing to engage in the change process myself. And therefore, putting myself into conversations that might be uncomfortable and asking a colleague if they feel included.
A meritocracy is a fallacy; it doesn’t really exist. If it did, you would automatically get diversity in the range of CVs that apply for job vacancies. What we need to do as leaders and organizations is ensure that the way we’re recruiting allows for a diverse pool of applicants to choose from. I’ve been in situations where someone has claimed an all-female panel is diverse, but they are all white. That isn’t diverse.
Unconscious bias is something that we’ve all got. I’ve got it, everyone does. We’re humans and humans are based on the amalgamation of every experience and every interaction and every thought process that we’ve had, so we have this entrenched in us. It’s about taking the time to recognize that and accepting it, and then thinking through how we can learn all of those different things together.
The next event in the series is The Power of Deep Listening
You can connect with Vimla by twitter @ThatGirlVim
