Big 'I', Little 'd' Approach

Welcome to the 6th edition of our LinkedIn Newsletter, "Inclusion and Diversity Learning Circle" and our final newsletter for 2022! Created by Diversity Inclusion, the I&D Learning Circle provides you and your organisation with best-practice tools, resources, and information, which can be directly applied to your workplace’s I&D program, affecting real and transformational change.

Big ‘I’, Little ‘d’ Approach

In this edition of our newsletter, we are excited to share Diversity Inclusion’s next Learning Lab video with you, “Big ‘I’, Little ‘d’”. In our Learning Lab video, CEO, Lucinda Hewitson, introduces Diversity Inclusion’s approach to creating genuinely inclusive and diverse organisations.

The term, ‘D&I’, short for ‘Diversity and Inclusion’, has become a buzz phrase for People & Culture practitioners and leaders, alike. Some of the organisations we partner with, have switched the words around to be ‘Inclusion and Diversity’ or ‘I&D’. More recently, we have also seen the insertion of ‘E’ for equity, and sometimes now ‘B’ for belonging, into the mix i.e. ‘Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging’ or ‘DEIB’.

Ten years ago, ‘D&I’, for many people, was code for ‘gender’ and, in particular, ‘women’. Today, we are seeing the discussion, thankfully, broaden to other kinds of differences between people at work, such as race, age, culture, LGBTIQA+, disability and neurodiversity. Even the topic of gender has progressed, to an acknowledgement of gender diverse people and a greater awareness of the use of pronouns and the ways in which these can include or exclude at work.

Awareness of intersectionality has also increased as we understand that, not only do people not like being ‘put in a box’ based on one characteristic, but they also rarely identify with just one category. We also understand that those most disadvantaged in our community, and our workplaces, often face discrimination based on a range of factors such as race, English as a second language, age, disability and LGBTIQA+.

Within the Learning Lab video we are releasing here, as part of our I&D Learning Circle, CEO of Diversity Inclusion, Lucinda Hewitson shares the approach we take, called “Big ‘I’, Little ‘d’”. The recommendation is that organisations should prioritise the ‘I’, for ‘Inclusion’, which, in turn, will foster the retention and attraction of diverse talent. This contrasts with a strategy which is ‘diversity’ centric, focusing on representation of different groups. In these instances what is often overlooked, or taken for granted, is whether these groups feel included within the organisation. Without this sense of belonging and inclusion, it is unlikely that diverse talent will be retained.

Instead, we recommend the priority for workplaces should be creating a genuinely inclusive workplace for everyone. This inclusive culture will not only attract diverse talent, but, more importantly, will retain it. It will also benefit those who are in the majority in your organisation, as workplace inclusion has been shown to be associated with a range of benefits for all people. So, how do you create genuine inclusion? Here are some tips included in our video;

·??????Go beyond targets – targets can be an important part of your diversity and inclusion strategy, but on their own they will do little to foster an inclusive culture.

·??????Consider intersectionality – the traditional siloed approach to creating greater diversity offers less value when we consider that, for many workers, their identity will transcend many areas of difference.

·??????Measure inclusion – the saying “what gets measured; gets done” applies to inclusion as well. Baselining levels of inclusion, as well as diversity, will be crucial to understanding how inclusive your organisation is today, and where you may need to invest to make improvement.

Inclusion Baseline Measure

Diversity Inclusion has worked with many organisations in Australia to baseline their level of inclusion and diversity since 2014 using our Inclusion Baseline Measure. We have built a large database of Australian workers across many industries, which we use for benchmarking. We also provide our clients who complete our Inclusion Baseline with an infographic report ,that quickly and effectively communicates their results and highlights priority areas.

Once an organisation understands their current levels of diversity and inclusion, and their opportunities for action, we can support them to develop an Inclusion and Diversity Strategy, and implement identified actions.

You can find out more about our approach to creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces at our website ?https://www.diversityinclusion.com.au/diversity-program

Sharing More about Sponsorship from our Live Event

Diversity Inclusion hosted a live event on the topic of Sponsorship, and its connection with inclusion and diversity, on Friday 21st October, 2022. Those who attended had a great chance to learn more about sponsorship, and how it can benefit the diversity and inclusion goals in your organisation.

We’ve included the following video especially for our I&D Learning Circle community, which is a clip from our Live Event hosted by Georgia Brown, Senior Advisor at Diversity Inclusion. In this video Georgia shares our definition of Sponsorship and explains how it differs from mentoring.

If you are keen to learn more about Sponsorship, Edition #3 of our I&D Learning Circle Newsletter, and related Learning Lab video, also explores the topic of sponsorship. You can also find out more about our Sponsorship Program on our website www.diversityinclusion.com.au/careeradvancement

All our Learning Lab content – blog articles, videos and other resources – is available on our website (diversityinclusion.com.au), with new content released via our I&D Learning Circle Newsletter. While blog articles and other resources are freely available, Learning Lab videos are available exclusively for our I&D Learning Circle Newsletter subscribers. The following password will allow you to access our video content.

?Password: LearningCircle

As we continue to develop future Learning Lab content, we would love to hear from you, our D&I community, as to what D&I topics and issues interest you most. You can share your thoughts, questions, and ideas in the comments section here.

Please join our diversity and inclusion community by subscribing to this newsletter, which includes our latest Learning Lab content and videos, and the details of upcoming virtual events. Please also share this newsletter with others in your network that you know are interested in learning more in the diversity and inclusion space.?