Why Are Some People Against Inclusion? - Work Better Together
Watch This Sp_ce
We guide you on your inclusion journey. Inclusive teams work better together for happiness, ideas, and creativity.
Not everyone is in favour of diversity and inclusion. Any Inclusion Journey will face resistance and detractors. This is largely rooted in fear: fear of change, fear of getting it wrong or finding themselves in the wrong, fear of losing status. Shaming, attacking or blaming these people is never going to get them on board, so, if your Inclusion Journey is going to progress, you need to support them to overcome their fears.?
In this week's newsletter we'll be taking a look at:
?? Life is not a pie
?What's the point of inclusion?
??Top tips for handling negativity
?? Inclusion insights - learnings from the latest news
Quick Wins for Inclusive Cultures - Download the FREE guide
To start the newsletter off today, we want to remind you of our FREE guide that gives you TEN quick and easy steps to take towards an inclusive culture. When starting out on your inclusion journey, you can draw in those staff members who have fears and concerns by generating quick wins and showing them your committment to diversity and inclusion. Click the link below to download the guide ?
Life is not a pie
We tend to think of power, wealth and success as a finite pie. If certain dominant groups have a larger share than other groups, we can see objectively that that’s not fair. Yet, as people from dominant groups, we also don’t want to give up some of our share to give to others - that doesn’t feel fair either.
Luckily, life is not a pie. There is an infinite amount of success and opportunities for everyone. Inclusion is not about taking something away from people from dominant groups, it’s about creating more opportunities for the people who have so far been shut out.
What's the point of inclusion?
When you’re starting from the very beginning on your Inclusion Journey, your staff need to be clear on why you’re doing this work. This helps those who feel apprehensive or dubious about this work to recognise the benefits - not just for the organisation, but for them personally.?
That’s why we designed this introductory “What’s the point of inclusion?” workshop. This is a highly interactive session, which gives everyone the chance to voice any concerns or misgivings around this work so that they can be addressed in a safe and supportive environment. It also helps people to see why inclusion matters, and how it benefits everyone.
If you think a session like this would help your team get off the starting blocks, email [email protected].
Top tips for handling negativity
Here are some ways that you can get your staff on board, particularly those that have fears or concerns around implementing diversity and inclusion. By taking these measures, you are already starting to become more inclusive, as you are making sure everyone feels comfortable from the start and are involving them with the entire process.
Book a free workshop
If you're ready to get to grips with the basics when it comes to inclusion, and put solid foundations in place for your strategy, then book a FREE Inclusion Insights workshop with our team. In this 30-minute session, we'll explore your needs and aims for inclusion, how these relate to your overall business goals and your core values, and what the next steps are that will drive meaningful impact.
Email [email protected] to book.
Inclusion Insights
In each LinkedIn newsletter, we pick out a few of the top diversity and inclusion stories to have made the news recently, and assess what learnings can be taken from them.
If you'd like a shorter round-up of a wider variety of news headlines, you can subscribe to our email newsletter.
Menopause has a white narrative - and it's leading to misdiagnosis in black and south Asian women
If you search 'menopause' on the NHS website, one of the first symptoms listed is hot flushes, but according to women's health expert Dr. Nighat Arif, 20% of women don't complain of this symptom - and this could be down to a cultural divide. Dr. Arif explains that the context of symptoms that we attribute to the menopause is nuanced to the cultural heritage of that individual. Women from South Asian and black communities are more likely to complain of all over body pain, fatigue and feeling exhausted, which ultimately leads to their misdiagnosis.
What can you do differently?
As we can see from this article, the criteria around some diagnoses through the NHS are very white dominated, and are based around the symptoms that white people claim to have. This means that other communities, like South and Asian and black communities, are being excluded from recieving the diagnoses they need. As a leader of an organisation or business, you need to be making sure you educate yourself on the different cultures, ideologies, and belief systems that your staff members individually have. If some staff come from different cultures, they might believe in different ways of doing things, have different ideas, or dissaprove of some of the language used in the workplace. This is why you need to understand your employees on an individual level, or distribute surveys among your team asking for feedback on the day-to-day workings of the business. This is a huge step towards inclusivity in the workplace.
The key learnings to take from this story are:
Children's soft play centre apologises over 'body bag' Halloween decorations
A children’s soft play centre has removed its hanging “body bag” Halloween decorations after concerns were raised by parents. Rugrats and Halfpints in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, has apologised over the objects resembling human corpses covered in black plastic. Many parents were shocked and the soft play centre has responded saying that "it wasn’t to cause distress and we apologise this is how they have felt.” The centre’s website says it is “committed to providing a safe, clean and stimulating environment, with the emphasis on fun”.
What can you do differently?
As a leader, it's important that you are careful and consider how what you are putting out there will affect other people. What you think is a good idea might not come off well to others. This is a huge part of being an inclusive organisation, as it's important to think about those internal and external to the business, as you have a reputation to uphold. Think about your target audience. This soft play centre for example, decided to use body bags as halloween decorations because they thought it was appropriate for the season, but they didn't think about who their prime customers are.... children. Especially if you are putting statements out there about what you are focused on doing and how you want to make others feel, it is important you stick to this and walk your talk! In a world where you encounter many different people, and work with employees who are never the same as each other, you must be inclusive by considering everyone's individual preferences.
The key learnings to take from this story are:
For more Inclusion Insights, sign up to our email newsletter where we share more stories about what we have seen in the news.
If you want a clear map for your Inclusion Journey that you can share with your audiences, our Location Finder tool will help you get started!?https://tinyurl.com/mrx7ezwx?
The Inclusion Journey is out now!
Your practical guide to developing, implementing and measuring a workplace inclusion strategy that drives meaningful results and increases employee engagement.
"a game-changing book" - Tony Robinson
"jam-packed with practical tools and advice" - Nadia Finer
"I love how practical and easy to read this book is." - Matt Phelan
"a masterclass in transforming inclusion from an abstract ideal into actionable, quantifiable progress." - Dan Sodergren
If you buy 5 copies of the book, we are happy to run our interactive workshop for FREE. Email [email protected]
That's it from us for now! If you have any questions on your inclusion journey, you can always reach out to us at [email protected].
Alternatively, you can head to our website https://www.watchthisspace.uk for information on information on everything we have to offer!
After reading this week's newsletter, we hope you will start persuading those who are not so keen on diversity and inclusion, and reassure them that it's a step in the right direction!