The Eight Elements of Lean In Seattle's Inclusion Strategy

Earlier today I shared an article about Lean In Seattle's commitment to #MoveWomenForward and two of the organization's recent milestones. Lean In Seattle has over 6,000 members, 100 Circles, and has been globally recognized as the most strategically inclusive Lean In organization in the world.

At our August CONNECT event which I co-led with Di Whitman we transformed the diversity and inclusion framework that I launched in 2016, which the team (and members of the team who have moved on since then) has iterated into practice and provided feedback on for two years into a #SocialGood.

The purpose of this post is to spread the word about the Eight Elements of our Inclusion Strategy. Our team has been implementing this strategy for two years, we'd like to share this social good with Lean In Networks and Circles locally and around the globe. We will continue to innovate for innovation, if you are a member who has ideas that you'd like heard, please reach out!

We consistently focus on eliminating exclusions and barriers. We speak openly about inequalities and exclusions as a team and within our network and deliver D&I training to our network, circle moderators and members.

Our organizational standards include Airtime, Attribution, Amplification, and Accessibility, which are practiced internally and externally. 50%+ of the airtime at our events is given to speakers from underrepresented groups. People feel safe sharing their ideas because they know our network will amplify them and give them credit. All our events are free to attend, are hosted in ADA accessible venues, and provide gender-neutral restroom access.

We request and respond to feedback on how we can be more inclusive. Our network lets us know when they see opportunities for improvements in inclusion. When people share feedback with us, we incorporate their feedback in our operational standards.

We create opportunities for underrepresented leaders and ongoing mentorship. We expanded the size of the leadership team from 8 to 35 this year with a very specific goal: provide as many opportunities for leaders from underrepresented groups on the team as possible. Our team is a minority-majority, and we provide mentorship to support each leader's advancement.

We constructed opportunities for agency in decision-making. Our team is comprised of people from 20+ different countries and cultures. Each culture has different approaches to brainstorming, presenting ideas, decision making, conflict, receiving feedback, and disagreeing with ideas. We separate Divergent/Convergent thinking in our strategic planning sessions to make sure everyone can express their ideas for consideration before moving to tactical implementation.

We are intentional about representation in every touch point with our network. The Seattle Network is incredibly diverse. The images that we use in our event marketing are captured by our official photographer Nadezda Zavitaeva from our events, and transformed into marketing images by Emily Denis. They reflect the true diversity of our community. There is buy-in for the value of diverse speakers and panelists from every level of the organization, and new members are drawn to our organization because they see their communities reflected.

We create programming that serves a spectrum of needs in the community. Each quarter we host a CONNECT: Circles Support and Resources event that is crafted with the diversity of the needs of our community. This series of events engages with members, provides a spectrum or resources for creating inclusive and diverse Circles and teams, and motivates people to connect with people across differences.

We encourage all people to Be Heard. People in our community speak over 150 languages with varying levels of English proficiency and more than 50% of our team speaks English as a second language. We noticed that people who had low English proficiency were not speaking up in Circle and event settings and that their unique ideas were not being heard. We designed an original series called Be Heard + a Masterclass event focused on Finding Your Voice that focus on the value of people with different language skills on a team, and how to build confidence in impromptu speaking settings.

These are the Eight Elements of our Inclusion Strategy!

Co-Leading this organization with Alicia Redmond, engaging with the entire leadership team and membership of Lean In Seattle, and being part of a global network of Lean In organizations committed to gender equality has been the opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this community - past and present, small contributions and large. We are creating a legacy of inclusion together!

If your Lean In organization, Circle, or outside organization applies any of these approaches and they have a positive impact, please let me know. I'd love to know how these approaches are working outside of our ecosystem.