Intentional Inclusion with The Diversity Doctor
Intentional Inclusion with The Diversity Doctor
#33 Unlocking Inclusion: The Transformative Power of Language in the Workplace
Could your words be the key to unlocking a truly inclusive work environment? Join me, Dr. Donna de Haan, on this enlightening journey as we explore the transformative power of language in fostering diverse and inclusive spaces.
Inspired by the emotional depth of "Woman of the Hour" with Anna Kendrick, we reflect on how intentional language can shape feelings of safety and value.
Throughout the month of November, I'll be offering insights and a free resource, "Words Matter," to help you navigate the evolving language of diversity and inclusion. Discover how vocal leadership can transcend mere gestures to genuinely embrace the ideals of diversity and inclusion.
Creating an atmosphere where diversity and inclusion are naturally woven into daily conversations can be a game-changer for any organization. We'll discuss how to normalize these discussions, emphasizing the importance of belonging, and learning from inevitable mistakes along the way. With intention and respect towards evolving identities and language, we can build safe spaces through open-hearted dialogue and active listening.
This episode also introduces our new program, "Confident D&I Conversations," designed to empower leaders with the skills to engage in meaningful and impactful conversations about diversity and inclusion. Let’s embrace the power of words and lead the way to a more inclusive future.
Access your FREE Words Matter resource here --- https://www.diversity-doctor.com/words-matter
Find out more about Confident D&I Conversations here --- https://thediversitydoctoracademy.thinkific.com/courses/DiversityandInclusion_Conversations
Follow me on IG here --- https://www.instagram.com/the_diversity_doctor/
Follow me on LinkedIn here --- www.linkedin.com/in/donna-de-haan
Hello and welcome to Intentional Inclusion with the Diversity Doctor, your weekly dose of diversity and inclusion content. With me, your host, dr Donna the Hand. I want to help as many organisations as possible create people-centred businesses, because I know that when your people thrive, so too does your bottom line. I'm here to help you move from professing an interest in D&I to implementing practices that will change the way you do business for the better. So if you're looking to truly make an impact with your D&I efforts, you're in the right place. My friend, every week I will give you the perfect mix of theory and practice to help you create a business where everyone and your bottom line can thrive. Are you ready? Let's dive in.
Speaker 1:You know that childhood saying sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you. Well, that's a load of rubbish. In this episode, I am going to explain why, why words matter. Words have the power to create safe spaces, to make somebody feel seen and valued and heard and appreciated and cared for and loved, and words also have the power to break a person.
Speaker 1:I've just watched the Brilliant Woman of the Hour with Anna Kendrick. It's available on Netflix and there's a lot of talk about it on social media at the moment and it hit home very personally when I was watching the fear in those women. It really resonated with me. I am fortunate enough that I have never been physically attacked, but I have felt that level of fear through the attack of someone else's words and intention and it viscerally affected me watching those scenes. Anna Kendrick is a brilliant, brilliant actress and you can see her picking up on flags and feeling that something is not right in a given moment when she is with not just the lead character but other men in the film and specifically the scene of and I apologize, I don't know the actress's name the brilliant actress that is in a car in one of the scenes. And that visceral effect of feeling unsafe that she experiences by being in the presence of somebody else, by being near somebody else, is real and the words that we use can have a visceral effect. And so maybe it's with intention that some people use language to dismiss somebody else, to belittle somebody else, to criticize somebody else. But maybe it's also unintentional and the title of this podcast is Intentional Inclusion, because for me it's about that light bulb moment of switching from unintentional to intentional, to intentional, so that you have a choice. Do you want your words to chip away at somebody's identity, make them second guess themselves or feel less than or invalidate them in any way? And this is a choice. And so this is why, for the whole of November not only on this podcast, but on my social media platforms, on LinkedIn and Instagram and I'll put the links in the show notes so you can find me there I'm going to be talking about why words matter.
Speaker 1:I remember, as a child, my mum asked me why did I like talking so much? I've always been a talker. Why did I like talking so much? And I said it's because I don't have to tidy up. It's one thing I can do and I don't have to tidy up. I've always been a talker. I've always loved language, I've always loved words, and that led me to be a qualitative researcher. Literally, words are my data, it's what I work with, it's my currency, it's how I make sense of the word world. And so, like I said, for the whole of November, I'm going to be talking about words and why words matter.
Speaker 1:With that in mind, I'm also sharing a free resource with you called words matter. Uh, it'll be available in the show notes and this really is an opportunity to sort of break down the language that we use in diversity and inclusion, because it's complex, it's ever-changing, it's ever-evolving, the lexicon that we use is ever-evolving and it's not a straightforward choice. For example, some people who have a disability may prefer to be addressed person-first, use, person-first language, so a person with a disability. Other people may prefer to have their identity first, a disabled person. It's a personal choice and so I break down these nuances in this guide and I also am giving you in this guide some conversation starters, because I want us to be able to talk more confidently about diversity and inclusion. I want to enable us to have this inclusion confidence because if our words matter, if we can shape reality and experiences with our words, then we need to be confident that we're choosing the right words, and I appreciate that that's not easy. Diversity and inclusion is highly politicized and weaponized in some arenas and it's really important to be able to be confident. And if you follow me for a while, you know that I believe that every day is a school day and therefore this is an opportunity to just to learn something about the language that you may not know, or take an opportunity to look through the guide and feel confident that actually, I did already know that I am using that language in a, in a, in a respectful way. Okay, so either or now.
Speaker 1:According to a 2022 pwc global dni&I Survey, vocal leadership support of D&I sets the tone from the top, and it is critical for success when it comes to D&I initiatives. I'm raising this fact because it's not enough. In previous episodes, I've talked about performative action. It's not enough to have policies about D&I. It's not enough to raise a flag. It's not enough to have policies about D&I. It's not enough to raise a flag. It's not enough to have an event. It's not enough to have a hashtag. It's not enough to have a campaign. It's not enough to have a D&I leader or an employment resource group.
Speaker 1:We all have to embrace diversity and inclusion. We all benefit from a diverse and inclusive culture as individuals and as a business. We all benefit from a diverse and inclusive culture as individuals and as a business. We all benefit from that environment and we all contribute towards it. So having a policy or having these things in place is is one level of action, but to create the impact, we need to enact, embody, live those things that we talk about, and that's where language comes into play, because it brings to life the policies, the values of your organization, whether that's to do with diversity and inclusion or any of any other value that you have. If it's just stuck on a wall, it's flat, it's, it's not brought to life. We have to bring these words, these values that are written on the wall, or the words that are's not brought to life. We have to bring these words, these values that are written on the wall, or the words that are in a policy, to life okay.
Speaker 1:So, even though we know that vocal, so talking about diversity and inclusion from leadership is critically important 89% of business leaders believe that they are communicating frequently on the topic of diversity and inclusion, so when leaders are surveyed, they will report out that, yes, we regularly talk I regularly talk about diversity and inclusion in the organisation. However, only 39% of employees believe that diversity is a value that is a priority within the organization. So we have a gap here. Right, we are doing things and maybe talking about things, but it's not having the impact. So let's break down what it is that we're saying okay and bring it to life, because, as I said, words matter.
Speaker 1:The way we talk about something matters. Words lead to actions and behavioral change. Okay, so it's about bringing it to life. I know my mum would always say it's easy to say I love you. It's the acts and the behaviour that you do that shows it. So, yes, our words, but how are we choosing our words and following through to create that safe space?
Speaker 1:Ok, so how do you start your Monday meeting? How do you greet people in the office? How do you respond when someone asks to work remotely because they're neurodivergent? And you have a neurodiversity policy or a D&I policy, and, as an individual who's neurodivergent, I know the benefits of working in a different environment, in a different space. How do you support an individual that does that? How do you respond when a colleague comes to you and says that they're experiencing microaggressions, that they feel uncomfortable, that those comments that keep being made don't resonate, don't feel right, don't make you feel safe? How do you respond to that? That's why being confident about D&I, being able to have those conversations is so important, because it means that you can lean into these conversations, you can talk about these ways, these issues, in a way that's going to create a safe environment, so that the person that's delivering this message feels seen and heard and you feel confident to receive that information and you feel confident that you know what to do about it.
Speaker 1:Guider shared that 25% of employees describe their D&I plans as reactive rather than proactive. Okay, so I mean the UK? Not everybody even has what everybody organizations. Almost half of UK employees say that they don't have a D&I strategy in place in their organization. If you're one of those, get in touch. I can help you get a strategy in place in no time and it's your roadmap to where you're going.
Speaker 1:But those that do, or those individuals that feel that their organization is doing something about D&I, feel that it's very reactionary. It comes as a reaction to something like Black Lives Matter or a PR incident. A lot of organizations clients that I've worked with start engaging with D&I because something has happened in the organization that they that crossed a line that they need to react to. But here's the thing talking about D&I, having an open and honest conversation, creates psychological safety, which stops these events this thing that you need to react to from happening in the first place. Talking, having open, honest, critical, reflective conversations is critical for psychological safety. Psychological safety means we're less likely to get to a point where there is an incident that we need to be reactive to. So, again, it's so important to be ahead of what's happening here.
Speaker 1:Diversity and inclusion is not coming out of left field. This is not a brand new topic for anybody. Okay, so there is no excuse to say, oh well, we didn't know that this was going to happen, right? No, you know this is happening, and so this is a case of being ahead of the game, really leaning in and again being authentic about what you're trying to achieve. In a Deloitte survey, 80% of respondents said that inclusion is so important when choosing an employer, and 39% said they would leave their current organisation for a more inclusive one.
Speaker 1:Now, if I'm looking where to work, if I'm making that choice, so 80% are saying it's important. The D&I landscape of where I may work is important. As an external individual looking into an organization, making a decision about whether or not I want to work there, I am going to be looking at your website. I'm going to be Googling you as an organization. I'm going to be looking at pictures and images of what your board, your leadership, looks like. I'm going to be googling you as an organization. I'm going to be looking at pictures and images of what your board your leadership looks like. I'm going to be looking if you have a D&I tab on your website. What's in there? But it's all very surface level.
Speaker 1:I would absolutely and I've always done this ask questions, going into an interview about D&I and culture and things like that, but it's not something that is easy to ascertain, that lived experience, until we start working somewhere. And so that's the point where, if I'm in the organization, how do you bring D&I to life? How do I know, how do I feel how diverse and inclusive you are? I can see it to some extent. I can look around and see what my colleagues look like and I can look to see what leadership looks like and and those kinds of things. But that feeling that the diversity side of things more so, but the inclusion and the sense of belonging, the equity, element of diversity and inclusion, comes from our lived experience and we create that through our words and actions.
Speaker 1:So being able to have a conversation all the time about diversity and inclusion, so that it becomes normalized, so it doesn't become the thing that's on the agenda that we have to have training about or we have to discuss because something's happening or somebody's raised something, being able to talk about diversity and inclusion on an everyday aspect, and you don't have to label it overtly as diversity and inclusion. Simply checking in with how somebody is is a form of inclusion. Checking in with how they're feeling what's happening. Does somebody need any sort of adaptive working environment? If somebody isn't speaking up in meetings, why is that? Do they not feel included? Do they not feel safe enough to voice an opinion? All these nuances are there from the moment you start your work until I don't know whatever time you switch off um, your emails or your your, the working part of your, your part of your brain that's not working part of your brain your brain hopefully never stops, but the part of your brain that's focused on work, it's there all the time.
Speaker 1:Inclusion, creating a sense of belonging, connections it's in everything that we do. D and I needs to be in the D and A of your organisation. Culture is the way we do things around here. If you want an inclusive culture, talk about it. Talk about diversity and inclusion all the time, not in a way that is an agenda item or something that has been raised by HR. I understand how hard it can feel to talk about these things when you don't feel necessarily educated, trained, supported in these topics, and that's what this resource is for. That's what I'm here for to help you practice these things in a safe environment so that if something comes up in a conversation, you are already ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1:It can be politicized, you can feel a fear of saying the wrong thing. The research that I've done with organizations and with leaders that's one of the main things that stops people talking about diversity and inclusion is the fear of causing offence, of getting it wrong. And I understand, I absolutely understand that. And here's the thing, here's the spoiler alert you will do, you will get it wrong and you will unintentionally cause offence at some point within the topic of diversity and inclusion. I know that for a fact because I know I still do that there are times and I've been working in this field for 20 something years there are still times when I get it wrong, when I unintentionally, of course, cause, maybe unintentionally, identify somebody wrong or use the language wrong, or I haven't realized that.
Speaker 1:You know that a particular part of the language is changing and evolving. It happens. I still have my own biases and blind spots. However, I am aware enough to use that as an opportunity for growth, to learn something new. I'm quite comfortable in apologizing and owning what I've done, because it will be on me and not on the other person, and that that's that's okay, and I'm confident enough to deal with that situation, to learn from it and not make the same mistake again. Like I say you, you may unintentionally cause harm or offense or but not repeatedly you can't. There's no, I'm not giving you a get out of jail card, but keep sucking it up and keep saying them over and over again.
Speaker 1:It is about being mindful that the language is always evolving and that it's an, even though I can tell you all the words to use and all the definitions of what those words mean, we are talking about individuals, lived experience and identity, and so somebody else might choose something completely different for them. They may identify with something that's not known to you yet, and that's okay, because that's their life, it's their identity. It's not my place to say well, I thought we were using these pronouns this year Doesn't matter If someone tells me who they are. If someone doesn't matter If someone tells me who they are. If someone shows me who they are, tells me who they are, I'm grateful for that. I will take it on board. I will never question it, I will respect it, I will learn from it and I will work on having a professional relationship or personal relationship with that person. We have to take away the fear of getting it wrong, because we may do. It's about intention. Right, we are intentionally being inclusive and so there is a difference between just like what's the word I was going to say balling through. I'm thinking of like the wrecking ball, and I've got an image of Miley Cyrus and that's a whole other path to go down. But that sort of wrecking ball of oh, I didn't mean to cause offense, you're taking it too personally and it's just words and this is just. You know the way I'm. That sort of bulldozing your way through things 's not okay, right, remember, words create spaces, safe spaces or unsafe spaces, and that bulldozer approach that we can use when we feel we are being judged or we're getting something wrong. It can be a defensive mechanism. That bulldozer approach isn't creating a safe space. Space and grace and an open heart and open mind, active listening these are the things that create safe spaces. As I said all this month, which is november, when I'm recording this you might be listening to it in another month, but all this month, in November 2024, I am going to be talking about words. I'm going to be using words to talk about words and the impact that they have from a diversity and inclusion perspective. Like I said, there is a free resource waiting for you in the show notes. I'll put a link there. It's yours. There's exercises in there you can do with your teams conversation starters. You can have and I'm also sharing my brand new program with you confident D&I conversations. So if you want to take it to the next step, if you want to engage in a little bit more training to build your confidence, it's's an online course. It has bite-sized content for busy leaders. You can dip in and out of it whenever you like. It's got loads of resources in there, from five-minute icebreaker conversation starters you can use at the start of a meeting to a 40-minute workshop that you can do with your team conversation starters talking about D&I lots of different topics, examples that can come up. So I'll put the link in the show notes to that. Have a look and see if you fancy it and please talk about it. Like, talk to me about it. Find me on one of my social media platforms LinkedIn or Instagram. I'll put a link in the show notes. Drop me a comment. We can have a conversation about it. Let me know the things that you feel most confident talking about and maybe the things that you don't feel so confident about. Ask me a question. I don't know. I don't understand what this means. I'd love to know more, more about that. We can co-create this together. Okay, let's talk about it. It's good to talk. Who was that? That was some sort of bt advert from the 80s, I think and this is context if you were raised in the united kingdom. Right, I'm going to wrap it up now before I wobble on on wander down another rabbit hole. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this podcast today and please talk about this, share it with a colleague, with a friend, follow me on a social media platform, drop me a message, let's talk about it. And, yeah, come back next week where I'll be talking more about the importance of talking about diversity and inclusion. I will speak to you then, my friend. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this episode useful, please hit subscribe so you never miss an episode, and please share with someone who you think may benefit from the content discussed today. Remember there's always useful links included in the show notes that will take you directly to additional relevant, value-packed resources, so please take a moment to check them out. That's it for this week. Again, thank you for being intentionally inclusive. Until next week, my friend.