April 25th, 2011
In my initial conversations with a potential client organization, which are generally with senior leaders and/or HR folks, I am consistently told by them how inclusive they are. They rarely can define inclusion in a way that makes sense, but that is for another post. For a lot of folks, inclusion brings to mind ideas related to organizational “niceness” and whether or not everyone should get a ribbon for simply participating. Inclusion is actually about our capacity to include difference and it is one of the key variables in our ability to utilize the resources that we have access to.
Organizations and organizational leaders tend to think of inclusion as a yes/no or an on/off kind of thing, but actually inclusion is a continuum. Organizations are exclusive by nature, they would not exist if they were not willing and able to exclude. Every organization makes decisions (some deliberately and intentionally, and others not) about who gets in and who does not get in, both with regards to who can actually join the organization and who can participate fully in the organization.
So.
For an organization that is serious about inclusion, the question is not are we inclusive or not…but rather:
Who is included here?
Is there any evidence of that?
Are there opportunities for us to do better?
Some basic markers that I look at to get a feel for how inclusive an organization or a team is and where might be some opportunities for improvement:
- fairness of governance: Do employees (in an honest and candid conversation) generally think that employment practices are fair? Is there any noticeable variance on this issue related to age, gender, race, etc…is there any supporting data in exit interview information or disparities in retention or engagement levels? When employment practices are not fair (in perception or reality) the organization is placing an unnecessary talent tax on itself…it is handicapping its ability to keep and utilize talent.
- openness to difference: What is the stance towards difference in general? When employees or leaders are introduced to a person a practice or a perspective that is different from what is already in place, what is the response? Are people excited, do they see difference as a valuable thing, as an opportunity…or are they resistant? When a team or an organization is resistant to difference, it limits its ability to learn, grow and fully utilize what is available.
- decision making: How does the organization make decisions that matter? Are there a lot of ideas, opinions and perspectives that are considered or does a small group of people go to an undisclosed location at an undisclosed time, make all of the decisions and then tells others when they have a need to know? Centralized decision making (especially on complex issues) can be very wasteful and horribly inadequate in times of great and rapid change.
- integration of networks: Is there a high degree of connectivity in the organization or are people very separated by department, location, level in the organization, gender, age, tenure, role, etc. While organizations exist in large part for more efficient allocation and utilization of resources, they often contain an amazing amount of separation by department, location and level in the organization…all of which stands in the way of actually sharing resources, power and information in effective and efficient ways.
I see these four variables as being pretty good markers for inclusion. They are things that you can get some decent insight on without doing another big expensive survey and give you a good idea of how inclusive an organization is and where might be some opportunities for improvement. Another interesting thing to consider is how seriously does the organization take these four things and are they paying any serious attention to them?
Be good to each other and have a righteous week.