11/11/2022 0 Comments The awakening summaryOne study found that taking the perspective of others “may have a lasting positive effect on diversity-related outcomes by increasing individuals’ internal motivation to respond without prejudice.” It’s a drastically underutilized inclusion tool. Stories invite perspective-taking: the concept of standing in someone else’s shoes and imagining what it’s like to be them. When people hear stories that feel representative, it creates a vehicle for nuanced conversations, which are what truly drive change. A principal at the company called it the most raw, honest dialogue they’d experienced in years, thanks to the unfiltered stories and voices of employees. We then facilitated a session with leaders and employees, presenting themes from their interviews. After dozens of one-on-one interviews, we found that women had been raising their hands - and were continually being passed over and dismissed. One of our clients at a consumer goods company called us because women weren’t “raising their hands” for opportunities at the same rate as men. Failure to do so leaves employees, especially women and people of color, feeling unrepresented. It’s up to leaders to facilitate that sharing. One study published in the journal Academy of Management revealed that newcomers prefer to hear stories from their peers rather than leaders. If that’s true, why do most inclusion programs leave so little space for peers to share their lived experiences? So now you might be thinking: If we’re going to tell more stories, it makes sense to start with leaders, right? We can make actual progress on inclusion by implementing a story-based approach where employees are encouraged to tell their stories, own them, and consider how they impact their day-to-day experiences at work. With our corporate clients, it’s the exchange of human experiences via stories, focus groups, and listening sessions that tend to inspire lasting change for people on a personal level. In our attempts to create more awake and aware environments, we’re forgetting that numbers typically don’t inspire us to change our behavior - people and stories do. In fact, an overly mathematical approach actually deemphasizes the very thing we hope to build in inclusive workplaces: awareness, connection, empathy, and mutual respect. While those measures have their place, we’ve found that they’re insufficient to create inclusion on their own. After all, what matters gets measured, right? These programs track things like workforce demographics, diversity hiring, retention, promotion rates, and utilization of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) resources. But is this reinvigorated conversation translating to results? What’s the actual impact?Īs inclusion consultants, we see more and more companies doubling down on diversity metrics like business cases, scorecards, and targets. Converging events like the Covid-19 pandemic the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery hate crimes against Asian and Jewish communities and stalled progress among working women are creating an awakening in many organizations. Conversations around inclusion are on the rise in 2021 following an intense and unprecedented two years.
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