Andrew Marsh, chair of Vistage for the North East and Northumberland, NED for numerous businesses and charities; and successful entrepreneur, spends his days helping business leaders achieve goals and find opportunity.
Over the last two months Andrew has looked at the importance of a robust policy and approach for Diversity and Engagement, as it is crucial to get these right, rather than being view them as just a box ticking exercise. This month he looks at ‘Inclusion’, as the third of the trio, which needs to be fully integrated into a strategy, not only through statements, but also as being demonstrably deliverable.
”In the DEI conversation each are as important as each other, and intricately bound together but for the purpose of this article we are going to look at Inclusion. So, what is Inclusion? ”The dictionary says: the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of other minority groups.
”But in my opinion, as a strategic team leader and decision maker, it is the importance of ensuring that EVERY employee feels included and a whole member of the team. It means everyone feels part of the workplace community.
‘If you are claiming to be truly diverse, you need ‘an inclusive approach’ in order that those with needs or a slightly different eco-system don’t feel that it is created just for them. ”True inclusion is at its best when a wider community and ecosystem is created for all. Many purpose lead platforms can point in the right direction for this. And unless you get the internal pieces in the workplace right, the external claims become purely rhetoric as you, as a business, are not living it!
”It is also important to remember that Diversity and Inclusion are intra dependent. Diversity is being open to a mix of different backgrounds and removing recruitment bias to engage wider perspectives. Inclusion is a more conscious effort to drive behaviours to remove barriers without marginalising individuals.
”The Seven Pillars of Inclusion is a broad framework that can provides sport clubs or organisations a starting point to address inclusion and diversity. They can be applied very successfully to corporate, SME, charitable or public sector settings too.
”Pillar One is access: This is not just about physical access, but about everyone feeling welcome and accepted just as they are. It’s about changing routines and habits that may not have previously included certain sections of society.
”Pillar Two is attitude: Negativity toward inclusion comes from a place of fear, misconception and ignorance influenced by culture, religion, gender and age. Often these attitudes manifest as behaviour. But remember, positive attitudes mean nothing if not backed up by positive behaviour.
”Pillar Three is choice: Everyone should have options. And the right equipment, modifications or actions should be available to enable that choice. Sport uses the ‘inclusion spectrum’ – commerce and business can learn a lot from this, so it is well worth taking a look at.
”Pillar Four is partnerships: Find the right organisations to make joint inclusion commitments with, to ensure a strong outcome. Building in flexibility there allows for longevity, which builds confidence and allows for true inclusion on a whole new level.
”Pillar Five is communication. Internal and external communication about intentions, commitments and action is critical to embedding inclusivity.
”Pillar Six, the obvious need for policy: Your set of policies, rules and guidelines should focus on the long-term goals of inclusion and should be published in a way that is widely accessible, in an appropriate range of languages and methods including braille.
”Finally, Pillar Seven, is opportunity. It is not enough to offer a choice. Those choices need to be ones that can be developed, modified and revisited regularly to create opportunity for all.
”The best advice I can give any organisation with ‘Inclusion’ on their radar is:
”To do inclusion well, you need to understand who your people are. What do they need? Performance reviews, open door policies and accessibility are a good place to start, along with physical adaptations to your building. Make sure everything you put into writing can be translated but most importantly, keep listening. Give everyone a voice and respond accordingly.
”It will be challenging and there may be some things that you can’t put into place, that are asked for, straight away. But as long as everything is logged, you are getting there. In actual fact, we have been doing ‘Inclusion’ for years – use of the words ‘team’, ‘culture’ and ‘structure’ indicate that. The next steps are about bringing everything back to each individual, caring, listening to their voice, and doing what you can with it as an employer.
”To finish off, I’d just like to refer you all to Korn Ferry’s Report. Their statement is that ”one future of work plan doesn’t fit all”. According to the report, those who are focusing on inclusion’ are making better decisions 87% of the time and are 75% faster at bringing their products to the market. That has to speak volumes!” Next month Andrew will conclude this series on diversity, engagement and inclusion by exploring how they fit together and the impact they have on ESG efforts.
