Trapped in the Inclusion Illusion? Have you been reflecting during Race Equality Week, too?

I have spent years engaging with leaders on inclusion, psychological safety, innovation and the reality of building workplaces that truly value human dignity. But this Race Equality Week - amidst everything we are witnessing in the UK and across the world - I feel compelled to pause and reflect more deeply than ever. Not on frameworks, models, or strategic initiatives, but on something more fundamental.

Because the truth is, we are still stuck.

We are stuck in an #InclusionIllusion. Too many hold a comforting idea that inclusion is something we can ‘achieve’ rather than a tension we must continually navigate. There's an illusion that psychological safety can be engineered in a universal way, rather than being deeply personal, often contradictory, and requiring constant negotiation. An illusion that progress is linear - that once an organisation declares itself inclusive or anti-racist, the work is done.

This week reminds me that the work is never done.

Reading an analysis in the Financial Times of ‘where woke went wrong,’ I recognised a familiar pattern I see in my conversations with some leaders. A retreat from discomfort. The claim from US business giants that diversity and inclusion efforts were an ‘overreach’ requiring ‘course correction’ is not thoughtful reflection, it’s a sign of how shallow and conditional collective commitment has been. It reveals how quickly principles collapse under pressure.

Yet, I also know that the leaders I most admire are clear: inclusion is not a luxury - it’s a practical, urgent necessity. I see their conviction. But I also see the hesitation of those around them. Not because they oppose inclusion, but because they fear what it might demand of them. It is easier to pledge support than to act, easier to discuss race in safe, intellectual terms than to engage in the kind of self-examination that might reveal unintended complicity.

So, I return to my own practice…

I have argued for years that no one can feel included if they do not first feel psychologically safe. But what I perhaps haven’t said loudly enough is this: psychological safety cannot be built on avoidance, silence, or the selective discomfort of the privileged. If inclusion is to mean anything, it must mean a willingness to meet in discomfort.

And the evidence is clear. The voices of the 1,000,000+ people in my team’s collective work have shown us a hard but essential truth: what makes one person feel safe may make another feel unsafe.

Inclusion does not mean neutralising tensions, it requires us to engage with them, deeply, courageously and continuously. It means rejecting the false middle ground between justice and oppression and instead committing to the continual, perfectly imperfect work of moving forward, together.

So I'm challenging myself this Race Equality Week to get deeper into:

? Where am I retreating from discomfort, even unconsciously?

? Where am I complicit with leaders who hesitate to stand in this space?

? Where am I hoping for change without fully stepping into the discomfort of leading it?

? Where am I still holding onto illusions of inclusion, rather than doing the work to make it real?

This is not about frameworks, policies, or neat solutions.

This is about who I am - and who we are all willing to be.?

When reflecting, I'm clear I don’t have all the answers. I know that my own perspective, shaped by my background, privileges, trauma and lived experiences, has its blind spots. But I remain committed to learning, listening, and staying in the discomfort of this work, because inclusion is not about having all the answers, it’s about staying in the conversation.

How's this week going for you?