AOG Diversity & Inclusion Breakfast – Bringing Our Whole Selves To Work

The #AOG2020 Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) breakfast was an interesting discussion that finally broadened out from only really having a focus on gender. The keynote speakers did an amazing job, they were engaging, thoughtful, shared real life vulnerabilities, personal examples. Two speakers were unable to attend and Ryan Beccarelli of Woodside stepped in at the last minute for one of his colleagues, however the final panel worked well. The hosting and contributions by Tim McMillan were on point and the result was a thought provoking discussion.

Key take aways included:

· What are companies missing out on by not making individuals feel comfortable enough to bring their whole self to work, they need the ‘all of everybody’ to solve problems

·  Leaders and staff alike need to drop their 'work' persona, pull their walls down and be themselves, it makes everyone more comfortable

·  Diverse teams, with individuals assigned to them that allow and encourage everyone, regardless of confidence, the opportunity to express their opinions and thoughts provide better results

·  You may think you are not diverse, you might feel you do not fit into a gender, cultural, parent, LGBTIQ or other group, however everyone is diverse in their own way, age, backgrounds, personal circumstances and beliefs make everyone diverse but when this is hidden and you feel you have to become the ‘same’ as your colleagues or act in a way you think your colleagues or management think you should act, diversity is lost

·  Someone that doesn’t necessarily feel adversity needs to be aware that others do, and it can be hard for others to be who they really are. We need to be encouraging, accepting and educate others that are not so accepting when someone does bring their whole self to work.

·  The mental impact of NOT being able to be your whole self at work can be detrimental, particularly where companies have preconceived ideas of how their employees should be, act or look in their workplace or in their industry

·  Leaders need to set bold goals and bold vision around diversity and inclusion

·  Find the right role models; they may not be your usual ‘go-to’ people

·  Measuring company D&I success should be twofold, these should include statistics and information gathered through HR and employee surveys…..however it is important to also measure and monitor daily discussions, the day an employee fills a survey out could be a good day, or it could be a bad day

·        We need to learn from each other, what has worked, what hasn’t worked, companies are not competing where D&I is concerned, share the knowledge

·        Companies shouldn’t just apply strategies that they think are right; these solutions may not be the right ones. They need to work with everyone, engage them, get their input and go on the journey with them. You wont meet everyone's expectations but at least there has been engagement and informed decisions can be made

And finally, in Ryan’s words, D&I should be like a flywheel of power, we should expect and demand the same D&I across all companies, in all industries, no questions asked.