How to – Test for Inclusion For organizations that have a genuine culture of inclusion, employees, customers, vendors, stakeholders, and shareholders are not seen as mutually exclusive groups. While the focus is often on the workforce, the impact is also felt by customers, shareholders, and communities. By supporting proactive inclusion, the organization gets the value of different perspectives and cultural contexts in how every aspect of business is approached.

How will you know if proactive inclusion is successfully woven through your organization? Here is an example of some litmus tests to use:

A truly accommodating and inclusive culture can handle:

• Supporting anyone who asks for time each day to pray

• A transgender change

• Someone needing time to care for their children, parents or grandparents

• Work/life benefits for families including younger men who want more of a balance

• Global team members with distinct cultural needs

• “Listening” methods to respond to employees who report discrimination or ethics violations and protocols to show seriousness of action

• Diversity of thought

To embed proactive inclusion with your organization’s culture takes focus, consistency, commitment, patience and perseverance. To limit opportunity based on race, gender, age, lifestyle, ability, experiences, or ethnicity, limits the potential accomplishments of your firm. These limitations can determine the purchase choices of your customers, the ability to attract and retain employees, influence shareholders, and impact communities. When these people to do business, support a business or work for an organization, they want to see them selves reflected in their choice of organization. Like OSHA and Sarbanes-Oxley, proactive inclusion will be woven into the fabric of the future for successful organizations.

Labels: culture, diversity, Inclusion

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