Inclusion is not a "Program" and Other Considerations for 2024

Issue 06

Editor’s Note:?

I will be the first to admit: I'm no inclusion expert, so when Amber and I first began discussing our theme for this month, I asked her what she thought about discussing how she approaches crafting stellar DEI programs for her clients. She quickly informed me that inclusion goes far beyond a program or programming - it is a lens you embed over your approach to working with one another, managing conflict, giving feedback, apologizing, and more.

I continue to be blown away by the nuances in this space and all we continue to learn from Amber - she is clearly in her genius!

Speaking of genius, we'll be launching a few select 1:1 coaching and mentoring opportunities directly with Amber in 2024. Knowing her personally and professionally, I'll tell you this is a tremendous opportunity. If you've seen her present, been present for one of her mindset-shifting talks, or read one of her thought-provoking books and wanted a little more individualized guidance on your professional inclusion work OR your personal approach to speaking up, I highly recommend reaching out to determine whether a session with Amber makes sense for you.

I hope you're keeping calm and safe as we ramp up to the holiday season and wind down the year. -?Amanda Miller Littlejohn

How to Bring Inclusion to Life

Amanda: How can one begin to think about bringing their inclusion program to life?

Amber: First, recognize that inclusion is not a program. It's a lens.

Inclusion is everybody's work, every single person. I always ask folks, are you a diverse individual? And anybody you ask is going to say yes. Anybody you ask is going to say yes because we all have our own uniqueness. And so if that is the case, if you are bringing your identity along with you as you navigate the world, then inclusion and equity are also your jobs because they are how you get access to it. People have to give it to you. You have to give it to others.

So we all have to be responsible for it instead of seeing it as a program.

Amanda: When it comes to the lens of inclusion and bringing it to life, how do you approach an organization?

Amber: What I typically recommend folks do is pay attention and listen first. Before you even get to the point of asking any questions, pay attention and really listen to what you hear. Train your ear to listen for certain things, which will, in some cases, invite you to ask some questions. But focus on paying attention.

Let's imagine there is a job opportunity for me to join an organization. I'm very thoughtful about what I see when I go out and type their name into a search bar.

• What kind of news is being reported?
• What's popping up on Reddit?
• What are people saying?

We have all of these opportunities to get a glimpse into an organization's culture, and I think we should take advantage of that and listen. And if you're already at a company, the same thing is still true. Go out and look at the company's website.

What do you receive when you take a look at it? How do you feel when you read through a job description? And if you're inside an organization, pay attention to how meetings are run:

• Is there a lot of structure?
• Is it very hierarchical?
• Is there a system by which people adhere to some specific norms when they're meeting?

And these aren't, you know, necessarily going to be indicators of bad things. Sometimes they're indicators of great things.

But it's really taking the time to pay attention to that and tuning into how you feel navigating this space. Do you have moments where you catch yourself and you think: I really want to say something right there, but I don't think that I'm the right person to do that... That's an indication of an organization's culture.

And so the first thing I think everyone should be doing is tapping into what you are seeing and hearing and how it connects to equity. And you can ask yourself that question directly.

• How does what I'm looking at connect to what equity might feel like at this company?
• How does what I'm reading connect to the experience of inclusion that folks might have?

You know, what about this sends the message that this is going to be a place where I'll have an opportunity to share my ideas? I'm looking for that.

And even if you're new to the role, especially if you're new to the role, because when you're new you get the benefit of the newness, so you can kind of hover and hang around and not say anything for a little while, because people expect you to be learning. But I pay attention to that. And I capture by, you know, literally considering, hmm,

• Does this feel like a place where I can raise my ideas?
• Does this feel like a place where conversations, challenges, or questions are welcome?
• Does this feel like a place that has a lot of structure and rules?
• Do the structure and rules work for the benefit of the folks who work here, or do I feel like it doesn't?

It's getting clear about just that. That is the very first thing that I think everyone can do, whether you're a practitioner of the work or just working in an organization.

Amanda: How can you tell when the culture is off in an organization?

Amber: So one of the things I pay attention to first immediately is the type of language that's used. Words and phrases that lean too heavily on history and tradition indicate to me there's not an opportunity to grow, there's not an opportunity to share new and bold and potentially innovative ideas. And so I make note of that.

It'll show up in the way that an organization describes itself online. It'll show up in the kinds of articles that you will find about that particular organization. It will show up in the way people discuss working there when you go look at sites like Glassdoor or Reddit.

Now, one of the things I want to discourage as well is when you are potentially joining an organization when you go out and you check out your Glassdoor, your Reddit sites, and you see something that's not so favorable, be very mindful that everybody has the opportunity to comment in these spaces. So you really want to accumulate more than just that evidence.

Just be careful about not just outliers, but that you get more information from more than one source. But when I hear language like that, I ask some very specific questions. And those questions might sound like,

• What does it look like for me if I'm an employee and I want to have an opportunity to innovate here?
• I want to share some really exciting, you know, opportunities that we may be able to, you know, shift our direction or make an impact on the way we're growing - how does that come across in this organization?

And people will give you the answer.

Amanda: When people don't feel their organization is space and the culture needs some work - how do they begin to operationalize new culture changes within the organization, especially if they don't consider themselves "leaders" by virtue of their title or role?

Amber: What you can do is you can start apologizing. What if you're not the leader? You will notice that what happens is people start to imitate people they like. People start to imitate people they respect. And so when you are doing your job, and let me be very clear: If you are in a hostile, abusive work environment, this will not be effective for you.

But if you work in a typical organization that just isn't really great at some of these things, one of the things that you can start doing is the behavior that you know will help to shape what it feels like to be there.

You do it.

When you do something that doesn't quite feel right, you apologize.

When you are in a situation where you need to tell someone that something they did was absolutely amazing, you give them the feedback.

You make the smart decision on how to do it. And what happens is people copy it. That's why we've gotten to the point where you can find memes online that about "per my last email," all of this corporate jargony nonsense that we hang on to. If we did more of the good stuff, people would hang on to that and duplicate it as well.

Amanda: Any predictions for 2024?

Amber: I really think folks spent a lot of time in 2023 talking about how diversity, equity, and inclusion were dead and they weren't a thing, yet they are a continuing ongoing conversation.

And basically all the issues that we are seeing right now in the media, even what's happening over in the Middle East are still things that have to do with equity and identity and the complexities that we have to navigate when we are engaging with folks who don't believe like us.

So I'm going to go ahead and say 2024 is going to be a resurgence of what it will look like to be doing inclusion and equity work. And there will be an evolution because the conversation is going to move past 'who are you and how do I treat you respectfully?', and towards 'how can we be more thoughtful about what it means to be considerate of how people experience equity as a whole?'

It's a big, bold prediction, but that's what I think.

Join the conversation by leaving us your comment, or sending in your new questions and scenarios for Amber.

She may respond with a relevant script just for you. You can?submit your specific question or scenario here.

See you in the next issue!

[Submit your question to receive Amber's inclusive communications guidance in an upcoming issue of this newsletter.]

A few wins ????

Cabral Co. welcomed some great new clients this fall.

We did some training work for Ancestry, Grey Group - a division of WPP, and iRobot.

We continued partnering with our longtime client Gap.

I also led a ??standing-room-only?? talk at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. I talked about why speaking up is important and impactful.

And…I was named to Essence Magazine’s Power 40 List. ??????

The fall fire is here! ??????

And truth be told, I’m grateful. 2023 has been a crazy year for me personally. I had a major family loss and a major surgery that both sidelined me considerably. That along with the changes in the DEI industry that ABSOLUTELY impacted the business.

At one point, I began questioning if I even wanted to still be IN business.

Luckily for me, I have friends like Sherrell , TaKiyah , and Amanda who champion me and remind me why my work is so needed in this world.

Consider this your annual reminder:

The going WILL get tough.

But you’re tougher.

Keep going.

- Amber

Fresh New Episodes of ?Guilty Privilege?

Listen to the new podcast Guilty Privilege or watch the video interviews on YouTube.

We asked LinkedIn...

How often have you heard someone say:

“I'm sorry, I'm gonna need to take a day off.”

But sorry for what? You need what you need.

Why is it that we are taught to be APOLOGETIC about our wellness, safety, and basic personal needs...but we are not at all taught to be apologetic for exhausting ourselves?

We asked LinkedIn: Do you feel the need to APOLOGIZE when you take time off?

72% of respondents said no - they do not feel the need to apologize.

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Amber Cabral?is an award-winning inclusion strategist, certified coach, speaker, and author of two books,?Allies and Advocates (Wiley, 2020) ?and?Say More About That (Wiley, 2022) . Through training, coaching, and speaking, she helps organizations, diversity and inclusion leaders, and high achievers appropriately disrupt the status quo to invite the innovation, momentum, and diversity of thought necessary to achieve their inclusion goals.

A people-passionate, idea-generating, strategist, Amber develops inclusive leaders and cultivates diverse and equitable cultures for Fortune 500 Organizations with $50B in sales and small 5-person organizations alike.

By applying new and existing knowledge and using her knack for creating vulnerable spaces, Amber leads a team of strategists at?Cabral Co ?to bring safety, authenticity, and honesty to difficult topics.

Amber is best known for sharing respectful, authentic, and no-nonsense training, strategies, and content. Her delivery is rich with simple tools, impactful steps, and eye-opening insights that inspire behavior change.

Amanda Miller Littlejohn ?is a thought leadership brand strategist, executive coach, and writer. With a career spanning 15 years across journalism, public relations, and coaching she has been a pioneering voice on personal branding - teaching her students and clients across the globe to package their genius ideas, strategies, and services so they can contribute their most impactful work.?She works as?an executive coach and executive storyteller ?helping senior leaders build powerful thought leadership platforms to increase their revenue, relevance, and recognition. Follow Agency Thought Partners for more on thought leadership, and Package Your Genius Academy for more on personal branding.

A lifelong writer, Amanda wrote the foreword to Say More About That.