The field of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is such that unless you are actively working for it, you take a big risk not-knowingly working against it.
We are all privileged in different ways, myself included. I'm a white man born in a wealthy country. That in itself has contributed massively to me having a solid health, career and outlook on life. It was not my doing, it was the lottery of life. It's important to be aware of what privilege you have and how you can put it to good use for the many. I'm on a learning journey myself in this field, and I have in no way figured it out. That said, I want to continuously share here some of the things I'm learning during the journey. I'll keep updating as I keep learning.
My most important learning to date in this field is to put yourself in a position of privilege and get to know people very different from yourself. It takes a lot of effort to do this, but it's so worth it. Only by experiencing being part of a minority and truly getting to know people very different from yourself will you develop the empathy for this field to really make it a top priority.
Diversity always wins in the long run, but it costs more in the short run. This is very important to understand. For example, it costs more to make the effort to build a diverse recruiting pipeline, both in terms of effort and time. That said, it's worth it as you build a more diverse team that will deliver better results. In the same way, it takes more effort to take your children to a playground that is in a different socioeconomic area than what you live in, but it's worth it with the connections you can make that can enrich your life and others.
You can be privileged in many different ways, for example by being white, by being a man, by living in a well off country, by being neuro-typical, by having a fully functioning body or by having stable parents. Some privilege is visible, some is not. There are many bucket lists out there for where to travel and what to see, but this bucket list aims to further the field of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The people with the most privilege should do the most work for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, but unfortunately it's often the opposite, where people with the least privilege work the hardest to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. It doesn't matter what privileges we have, but we can always do two things: 1) Make the best of here and now, 2) Work to improve structures for the future.
This will never be a complete bucket list, but please let me know if you have things that you believe should be added/changed/removed via the Feedback tab. We are all on a lifelong learning journey together. Thank you.
With love for everyone,
Johan
It’s one thing to hear from others about their experiences of being less privileged. It’s another thing altogether to experience it for yourself. A couple of examples of what you can do:
Travel/work abroad - A Swedish friend of mine traveled to Japan, and when returning home he reflected upon the feeling of not belonging in the culture. You can take that experience one step further by traveling and work in another country for a bit longer time.
Try out functional variation safari - One experience that a management team of a company did was to have the entire management team go for a 2 hour long wheelchair safari in the middle of a city to experience it as a minority, guided by a wheelchair pro. The stated that it was truly eye-opening in terms of what struggles they faced. In the same way you can go for a blind or deaf safari.
Join a different community - If you for example like boxing, you can join a boxing club in an area of people different from yourself so you become the outsider. If you like soccer, join a less obvious soccer team. If you have a small child, go to a playground where everyone else is different from yourself and in majority.
By putting yourself in a situation where you are the minority, you will easier internalize and emphathize with less privileged people in other situations where you are the majorit
Getting to know people very different from yourself is what I've found to be one of the most important things to progress diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. In fact, I believe it's one of the big enablers in the world that will help us move towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Once you get to know people very different from yourself, you will develop the empathy to work for their inclusion and belonging. You will increase the likelihood that you make it a top priority.
Think about the 10 people you met privately most during the last month. How different are they with regards to socioeconomics, gender, race, sexual orientation, culture, age, functionality, criminal records, media consumption etc? For most people the answer will be that they are very much like yourself. Per default, we tend to hang out with people who are a bit as we are. As such, getting to know people very different from yourself requires more effort. The effort to make contact with NGOs or the public sector to get to work with less socioeconomic privileged people and have the chance to get to know them. The effort to go to a playground further away than your closest playground.
If you struggle to identify people very different to you in your close surroundings, the more you need this exercise. You can for example:
Schedule a monthly lunch and listening session with someone very different from yourself.
Mentor someone very different from yourself.
Get a mentor very different from yourself.
Start hanging in communities very different from yourself.
Get in contact with an NGO working with people very different from yourself.
So take a look amongst your friends and colleagues and ask yourself "Who's missing?", and get started in fostering new relationships. It's super fun and an amazing journey.
As you get opportunities coming your way, consider if you are best placed to take on the opportunity or if there is someone less privileged who may benefit more from the opportunity. This can be an opportunity to be part of a panel, a public speaking opportunity, being part of a think tank, a training, a lunch invitation or something else. For every single request coming your way, ask yourself "Who's missing?". By doing this you give equity to someone less privileged, and it creates a positive snowball effect.
In a workplace when tasks are being delegated to people, it often happens based on the "path of least resistance". Person X has done it 17 times, it will go smooth also the 18th time. Instead of delegating based on path of least resistance, delgate based on "Path of maximum growth", by asking yourself the question who would grow the most from doing this? This way of delegating will benefit less privileged people.
It's important to continuously educate yourself more on diversity, equity and inclusion. This is a big and important area, so it will take time and effort to do so, but it's the right thing to do.
Briefly about what Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is:
Diversity - Diversity is all the ways people are different. For example gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, gender identity, religion, language, age, marital status, veteran status, mental ability, physical ability etc. The list can go on. What is considered a privileged difference can vary from situation to situation. That said, from an overall perspective there are clear general trends to draw upon. For example, on average being a man is a privilege, being white is a privilege, being wealthy is a privilege etc. It's important that we work hard in order to ensure a diverse representation of people in all circumstances. For example in a management team of a company, or amongst teachers in a school. Diversity is a superpower and generates on average better results.
Equity - Equity is fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for all people. It differs from equality in that equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. When you have equity, ones identity cannot predict the outcome.
Inclusion - Inclusion is the active work to ensure that all people are included. Just because you for example have a diverse workforce in an organization, it doesn't follow that they automatically will be included in all the work. You need to actively work with inclusion, such as for example educating everyone on unconscious biases that we all have, and ways to mitigate those biases. Other examples are working with active listening, activating the voice of others, and creating clear norms for how to run inclusive meetings. The starting point to foster inclusion is mutual respect for each other.
Belonging - This is the outcome of efforts in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It's when people truly feel in their heart that they belong in for example a team, at a workplace, or in a neighbourhood.
There are many places to learn more about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. If you're not sure where to start I suggest for example:
Reading books on the topic, where some of my favorite ones are The Art of Active Allyship and White Fragility.
Browsing and reading at Google's website diversity.google.com which contains lots of great material in this space.
Watch a TED-talk on the topic, there are many great ones.
The most important thing is to start learning so you can move from not knowing what you don't know, to knowing what you don't know, to the further your knowledge. Learning about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is like putting on a pair of glasses that you will not be able to take off. It gives a new outlook on the world around you. Do it.
Values are all about direction, and goals are all about destination. Together they become a powerful steering mechanism for an individual and organization. What explicit values do you have personally linked to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging? What goals do you have? If you work as part of an organization such as a company, public sector or non-profit, the same questions should be asked to the broader organization. What goals do you have linked to these values that you report on regularly to the public and your owners?
With regards to values they can take many shapes and forms. Examples of values can be:
I/we believe that Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is right for society, our organization and the individuals within it, so we will invest in this space for the long run.
My friends / our organization should mirror the cultural diversity of our society.
Everyone in my family / our organization should actively work for increased Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
Linked to your values, encourage everyone at your workplace to set clear goals for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. It can be goals linked to people learning about the topic, or goals of diverse representation, or goals about results in employee surveys. Here are a couple of examples in case you struggle to identify suitable goals for your organization:
100% of employees answers yes to the question "I feel like I truly belong in our organization" in the quarterly employee pulse check.
100% of employees takes 4 trainings on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging every year.
Equal gender representation amongst senior management.
So ensure that you and your organization has a clear set of values and goals linked to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging that goes beyond being a paper product. Values are only values if you stick to them when it costs to do so. Get started and learn along the way.
Engage in a project working for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. It's important that we don't let our engagement in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging stay at a knowledge level only, but that we actually invest energy in making a real difference. There is so much work to be done in this space, and it will take a long time, so please help out. Some of many examples of what you could be engaging in:
Train others: Become a facilitator for a training on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and train everyone in your community/workplace.
Help a startup: There are many startups within diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. For example in the space of making recruiting processes more inclusive. Do a desk research on which startups there are and pick one that you volunteer your time and knowledge to help out.
Share existing resources: There are many great resources linked to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, for example Google's All-In initiative to make marketing more inclusive. Help by sharing relevant resources with people and organizations who may benefit from them.
In the beginning it doesn't matter what type of work you engage in, what's important is to start working. As you do that you will quickly learn about where you can make the biggest positive difference so you can pivot towards that. So don't think too long about what to do, but get started already today.
If you have the privilege of hiring/promoting people, before you start interviewing for a role, ensure that the candidate pipeline is truly diverse. If you claim it's impossible to build a diverse recruiting pipeline for any type of role, you simply haven't tried hard enough. Don't settle for less than a truly diverse recruiting pipeline from as many diversity parameters as possible.
Gender, race and age are obvious ones. That said, one area that is often forgotten is functional variations, such as people who are blind, deaf, suffering from Cerebral Palsy or being non neuro-typical. Google has gathered a lot of material around working for more inclusion of functional variations on their diversity site.
Retaining underrepresented people in your organization is all about equity and inclusion. If they get the tools they need, are truly included, and feel respected chances for retention goes up.
One powerful way of retaining underrepresented people is to create so called Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for them. ERGs could be for example a group for Black+ people in a company to educate, inspire and help the company enable that specific group of people to belong.
Another powerful way at an individual level is to ensure that every person from an underrepresented group has an ambitious individual development plan. This plan can include everything from trainings, to senior mentors/sponsors and transformative work experiences.
Teaching someone about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging has a dual benefit. First, it will enable you to accelerate your personal learning since if you're going to teach people about this topic you need to know it well. Second, it will help spread the knowledge.
So sign up in 3 months from now to teach your family, working group or class about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
Ask someone with very different perspectives than you to give feedback on something you work on instead of just asking the regular suspects. It will give you new insights and perspectives. Again, it requires a bit more effort, but it's worth it.