What are some common challenges or barriers to fostering a culture of belonging and inclusion?

In this space, I've found that Listening or Active Listening is a real skill that many leaders undervalue or under-estimate. Truly hearing your employees and meeting them right where they are at is so important.

Inclusion means to ACT. Act of being authentically intentional to allow people to share their stories and experiences. Inclusion is just not about accepting different cultural differences, the core is to accommodate, listen and support people's emotions, thoughts, perspectives and sentiments. When sentiment is cared for, your employees will demonstrate a spirit of fidelity and purpose. Everything revolves around emotions. When the culture has the ethos of caring, respecting and leveraging people's emotions and sentiments, it results in a healthy DEI. What we are as a company is important here in this context, but WHO we symbolize is the key to attaining your DEI vision. Psychological safety and vulnerability are the true pillars.

In my view, diversity and inclusion encounter challenges like unconscious bias, insufficient representation, resistance to change, and inadequacies in organizational policies. Addressing these obstacles necessitates a focused commitment to awareness, education, and the cultivation of an inclusive culture.

Equity is the jewel in the crown of inclusion, diversity and belonging. Cultural humility is the quest for equity: it addresses the unawareness shortcomings of cultural competence. https://equitymoonshot.substack.com/p/how-might-we-cultivate-the-2-spirit

One of the challenges here is overcoming one's ego when one takes leadership roles in organizations, and leaving behind one's baggage of opinions and assumptions. Dropping one's ego of 'knowing it all' & being 'open' to learn helps in understanding different perspectives and overcoming one's own biases.

Transparency around processes need to be communicated so everyone is on the same page. Don't let your people fill in the gaps because humans will fill it with stories. Always best to have a pulse on issues that employees want to be kept abreast of. And once that pulse is taken, to address things promptly and again with transparency.

Safety and trust precede the co-creative process of engaging in generative dialogues and reciprocal feedback needed to innovate in solving our complex web of wicked problems in the 21st century. https://equitymoonshot.substack.com/p/how-might-we-cultivate-the-2-spirit

A culture of respect, service and altruism enables the process of giving recognition, acknowledgements, appreciation and informal celebration of collaborating together. https://equitymoonshot.substack.com/p/how-might-we-cultivate-the-2-spirit

A culture of equity based on dynamic, collaborative power-sharing and reciprocal empowerment enables collaborative learning and transformation. https://equitymoonshot.substack.com/p/how-might-we-cultivate-the-2-spirit

Reversing the decision making process helps, when the leader steps back and lets the team discuss, brainstorm and decide. To do this, an essential factor for the leader is 'trust'. Trusting goes hand-in-hand with empowering. The next time you go in for an important presentation with your team - let your team member present, and be there as a safety net for them. The words 'I am around if you need me' go a long way to empower them, and to build trust.

Creating a sense of inclusion and belonging really starts with alignment of organizational values and goals. Say-Do mismatch exists when alignment is missing or lacking. Trust becomes hard or impossible to build, and the right behaviors are not able to be modeled or rewarded without it.

I have found that the best way to lead in today's complex and multicultural world is through adaptive leadership, a blend of several leadership theories. Only when leaders know how to communicate effectively, balance cultural values and lead their followers in a way that is both culturally sensitive and forward thinking, can problems be solved with innovative solutions.

Psychological safety exists when members of a team feel able to speak up, disagree, ask for help and generate ideas without fear or rejection or humiliation. Of the four stages of psychological safety (Tim Clark), the first is inclusion safety (followed by learner, contributor and finally, challenger safety). Seemingly minor missteps can really dampen the pursuit of inclusion safety. Getting people's names wrong, making incorrect assumptions about whether people like to drink after work or are available for early or latecalls and not showing care or concern (without being invasive) about one's home life or personal circumstances are all things that can stand in the way of fostering a culture of belonging and inclusion.

To create a culture of belonging in meetings, watching out for and eliminating interrupting is crucial. Encourage and include the voices of those silenced or talked over. Soliciting input from everyone fosters empathy and drives compassion. As a leader, ask for the opinions of the entire team to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

I think the failure of “insiders” from majority groups to meaningfully examine their own identities, ie being white, being CIS, being temporarily able-bodied, etc. limits real inclusion because it puts the burden for hard conversations solely on those who represent “outsider” identities. We all need to be part of the conversation representing our own identities, most of which are accidents of where we are both and who we are born to.