You're revamping your company culture. How do you ensure inclusivity and respect for diverse values?

One thing I found useful in identifying the need is looking for cues and signals from the environment and its impact to you and others on in the organisation. You may have many layers in the organisation and the impact may different for each group. Here, the capability of the change maker plays a significant role in determining the need by connecting with each segment including stakeholders like customers, society. The final step is to align every one through a astounding communication framework as voice of the organisation

A need to create an environment where everyone's voice is head and valued , regardless of their background. This can then be followed by training, encouraging open conversation and considering diversity in all decision making processes. by so doing the organisation is in a position to build a culture that celebrates our differences, ensures fairness and empowers all members to share their unique perspectives for our common goal.

En mi experiencia los cambios deben implementarse basados en objetivos y beneficios claros, comunicación constante a todos los niveles y con un programa de implementación medible. Mayor nivel de entendimiento e involucramiento = Mayor efectividad en la implementación. 1. Entender lo que va a cambiar 2. Porqué va a cambiar 3. Cuando va a cambiar 4. Que me toca hacer

Here are some basic actions derived from my experience: Conduct Surveys and Focus Groups: Gather feedback from employees at all levels to understand their perspectives on the current culture and areas for improvement. Collaborative Value Development: Engage employees in the process of defining the company’s core values, ensuring they reflect inclusivity and respect for diverse perspectives. Visible Commitment from Leadership: Leaders must champion the initiative by participating in D&I training, and openly enforcing the importance of diverse values. D&I Training: Implement training sessions on diversity and inclusion, focusing on bias, cultural competency, and respectful communication. Open Dialogue: Foster a culture of open dialogue.

For sure, gathering insights from employees is key to their buy-in on culture. I also suggest an outside-in view of the as-is culture that exists. That and where you wish to go, clearly determines the road to travel. An outside-in view also provides a reality check and a benchmark with other realities. in there, lies possibilities too.

I was once a part of a company where I felt invisible - not a good feeling at all. The manner in which I felt overlooked made me realize I could neither give my best, not be here for a significant duration. Therefore, to genuinely make the culture inclusive takes some doing. Being an inclusive culture means taking the trouble to better understand the difference in thinking, in backgrounds etc. to genuinely create policies and practices that embrace them all.

One thing I’ve found helpful is to share specific examples of what the values look like in action. Let employees share their personal stories to illustrate them. The process can be engaging and energizing. Otherwise visions can be too vague and less meaningful.

Acknowledge and reward teams and individuals who exemplify the inclusive culture you aim to build. Recognize those who contribute to diversity initiatives, whether through innovative ideas, mentorship, or community engagement.

It is important that all who are to be impacted by a given process, must have a buy-in. That will ensure a smooth adoption of the process across the organisation. That can be achieved only thru open exchange of views of all stakeholders.

Values come before vision, in my opinion. Then, the challenging work is to identify the patterns of communication, interaction, and engagement that aid or constrain your values. If you want to have a vision of what this looks like once it's reasonably implemented, that's fine, but I wouldn't start with vision. As an editorial comment, this is another prompt that feels AI generated and is used across these various culture conversations.

Man muss aufpassen bei der Benutzung von Butz words" wie zB. inklusive Richtlinien. Die sind nur hilfreich, wenn alle wissen, was darunter zu verstehen ist. Und vielleicht sind einfache Begriffe hilfreicher als Modew?rter

Yes, policies matter and they should be written in an accessible way, but that seldom is the case. Unfortunately, the reality is policy seldom drives behaviour nor encourage inclusivity. People can work around complying or seeming to comply with policy without changing thier intrinsic values and views. Thus, polices can enforce a sense of inclusivity without real inclusivity. Also,policies tend to be prescriptive and corrective. And that hardly drive positive behaviours. So, what is the solution then? Well, in a truly inclusive organisation, policy must be represent the encoding of behaviours and values. Everyone in the organisation should, by merely describing the prevailing culture, produce something that reads like policy.

Leaders create and sustain organizational culture. The practice of inclusivity can be learned. Ensure that leadership development is engaging and transformative so that leaders want to participate in it. It’s been my honor to serve many leaders on this journey!

Educate, train and sensitize leaders is essential. They need to understand the business case of inclusion (beyond diversity), but also go beyond a concept, we need to help them land and model concrete behaviors. This takes time. It is a journey. Practical behaviors: -Genuinely “see” each employee as they are, listen to them, adapt and flex your leadership style - Practice inclusion everyday: Who’s quiet during meetings? ????Invite them to share what they think - Who sits in the corner? ????Invite them to take a sit at the table - Needing a new project team? ????Ensure you don’t choose the same people every time, and ensure it’s diverse in nature - Don’t know your biases? ????Identify what triggers you, this is your starting point

Schulung ist Voraussetzung, Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung ist Bedingung. Dies geht leider h?ufig vergessen, da man denkt, Schulung bedeutet Anwendung. Ist aus meiner Erfahrung ein Trugschluss.

Leaders are indeed critical to success. Equally important is the approach to developing and upskilling them. In my experience, a hands-on development approach works best—one that incorporates real-life examples, exercises rooted in their specific environment, and addresses existing biases. Most importantly, it should define clear, actionable steps for implementation. To ensure lasting change, this process should include at least 4-6 structured checkpoints along the way.

Training is necessary, but insufficient. We've all been to fabulous workshops and seminars, vowing that we are going to implement the "whatever" and then we return to our normal routines, get "swept along," and most of that good stuff evaporates. Unless you have a reasonably skilled and committed supervisory culture who can consistently coach staff to both reward them for helpful behaviors, and hold them compassionately accountable when they fall into unwelcome patterns then your success will be limited.

Es braucht klare Grenzen zwischen "Innovation" = Erarbeitung verschiedenster Massnahmen, Regeln, Zielen, ..., Entscheidung und Umsetzung. In der Umsetzung ist eher Disziplin gefordert als Innovation.

I think it is key to emphasize that everyone owns culture so that employees don’t just point upward and ask what leaders are doing for culture. While it matters how leaders show up, it is not only up to them.

If you scale shit - you get scaled shit (Bill Gates). This principle applies here as well. Well-defined KPIs are essential. Leverage surveys, interviews, project timelines, customer complaints, and other metrics to make progress measurable. The goal is to celebrate success along the way—so remember to enjoy the journey!

Test the application to ensure it works in the reality of daily work life. Policy and procedure that cannot be applied are redundant.

This involves actively seeking input from employees from all backgrounds and perspectives, creating a safe and welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and respected. Establish clear policies and procedures that promote inclusivity and prohibit discrimination. Encourage open dialogue and provide opportunities for employees to share their experiences and perspectives. Celebrate diversity through company events, initiatives, and recognition programs. Train leaders and managers on unconscious bias and inclusive practices. Regularly review and update policies and practices to ensure they remain aligned with the company's commitment to inclusivity.