Category Archives: Inclusion

Inclusion’s Ripple Effect

Posted by Judith Katz on July 29, 2011 None comments

A few years ago, when we at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group began thinking through the concept of Inclusion as the HOWSM, we could not have imagined how many dozens of business practices it might impact. Today, we don’t have to imagine it—we are seeing it happen.

Our clients are using Inclusion as the HOWSM in an ever-widening array of applications. Kaizens are incorporating the Inclusion as the HOWSM mindset to enhance the effectiveness of their teamwork. Global R&D functions, for whom communication from site to site can be a major challenge, are building online tools to foster greater awareness of people’s expertise—creating a global community, sparking collaboration, and increasing the speed of knowledge transfer. Manufacturing sites have brought people together to translate corporate strategy to their own specific operations. Supervisors and managers are listening to front-line people in the effort to identify pockets of waste and areas for innovation.

Inclusion as the HOWSM is becoming foundational in many day-to-day interactions—from one-on-ones, staff meetings, and yellow belt projects to tier meetings and town halls.  It is becoming a critical dimension in changing interactions within the organizations with which we work, accelerating results and performance.

Moreover, organizations have adopted Inclusion as the HOWSM to navigate traditional business milestones:

  • Emerging from bankruptcy
  • Merging with or acquiring another company
  • Closing plants and offices
  • Creating new ways of interacting with vendors, suppliers, and customers
  • Managing rapid expansion
  • Breaking through competitive barriers
  • Reinventing brand value propositions

These applications illustrate something we have always believed about inclusion: that, far from being a peripheral or conceptual tool, it is an imperative for how to do business, a new way to interact and lead organizations toward sustained success. Moreover, Inclusion as the HOWSM can serve as a fundamental mindset in nearly every aspect of business, in nearly every corner of the world. Almost any issue or change confronting the organization can be addressed more effectively by including the right people, at the right time, doing the right work.

When organizations approach Inclusion as a HOW to achieve organizational results, extraordinary things happen. Decision makers gain a 360-degree view of the issue at hand—a view necessary for making better decisions. Knowledge and success practices transfer rapidly throughout the organization, allowing good ideas to be shared and applied more quickly and eliminating the waste of reinventing the wheel. People feel safe enough to speak up and share their ideas and perspectives so that problems are solved faster. Individuals and teams are willing to make problems visible more quickly and identify innovative solutions in collaboration within and across business units. The entire organization can begin to perform at unheard-of levels.

Organizations using Inclusion as the HOWSM are experiencing these changes—which is why many of them have committed to driving an inclusion mindset throughout their systems. They stand as evidence of the power of Inclusion as the HOWSM to accelerate results and drive ever higher performance.

Authenticity as an inclusive leadership behavior

Posted by Charles Pfeffer on February 24, 2009 None comments

A star client said something that caught our attention the other day. He said that leading today requires more revealing than it does concealing.             

Here’s what I think that means: in times of great change like we are in today and probably will be forever, people look for ways to gain a foothold, a sense of confidence that things will be all right. They especially look to their leaders for signals of what’s to come. Leaders are often in a position of knowing things about the future that they cannot share or suspecting things that they think they shouldn’t share or fearing things that they have not sorted out for themselves.  

This senior leader was saying that leading in these times requires revealing what you are thinking and feeling. It’s a prerequisite to being seen as an authentic person and, therefore, someone worth listening to. People have become very savvy about deception, especially with the number of scandals we’ve witnessed in business and government lately. Why should anyone believe you?   

Authenticity is honest expression of your candid point of view, even when you are not sure what your point of view is. If things are truly unpredictable, and in these times that is more and more the case, then people need something to hold onto. They will gravitate to the people they trust and these will the ones whom they believe will be candid, open, and authentic about the state of affairs as they see it. In the absence of certainty, authentic connection, created by revealing what you truly think and feel about things, will have to do.

Christmastime is Here, but it’s Not Alone

Posted by Corey Jamison on January 15, 2008 None comments

There is an ongoing controversy brewing in the hearts, minds and faith of millions of people in the United States around the issue of Christmas being driven from the cultural landscape. As one would imagine this is a complicated and sensitive issue.

From the perspective of many Christians, I can understand how the increasing disappearance of Christmas iconography and displays can feel like a war has been declared against Christmas. Yet, there is another side to this conversation that also must be factored into the discussion.

Despite the perception that Christian-related symbols are being ushered from the public landscape, an abundance of Christmas-related images are still on display in many public places, many more than for other religious holidays that occur during the same time of year. From a perspective of someone who is not Christian it can feel like Christmas is everywhere and yet from a Christian’s point of view it may seem that the displays are less frequent and less religiously based. With scant few examples of other publicly recognized religious observances, including Hannukah, Buddhism’s Bodhi day, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice and the celebration by African Americans of Kwanzaa, aside from Christmas, I think it’s important to establish that from the point of view of these other religions, “generic” symbols such as Christmas trees, wreaths, garland, candy canes and sleighs full of presents, Santa at every mall, still appear very Christian.

An even more sensitive, and what may be the key, issue involves nativity scenes on display in public places, and especially on government property. The privately owned local mall may be fine for such a display, especially if it provides space for other religious displays. Conversely, government and municipal buildings, including schools, would not be appropriate places, as our laws continue to support a separation of church and state.

Ultimately, I think the issue comes down to an established privilege reinforced by a one-up and one-down public mindset. The group in the one-up position, in this case Christians, see their symbols as the rule and not the exception. However, when there becomes an increase of exceptions, the one-up group thinks the rules are changing when in reality what is occurring is a leveling of the playing field. When it comes to the public display of religious symbols during the December holidays we should be looking to create an “And” not an “Either” and to treat each others as allies instead of adversaries. Only then can members of all religions, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu, be recognized, respected and appreciated for their unique beliefs. buy cialisbuy cialisbuy levitrabuy levitrabuy propeciabuy propeciabuy somabuy somabuy levitrabuy cialisbuy propeciabuy levitrabuy somabuy cialisbuy propeciabuy levitrabuy somabuy cialisbuy levitrabuy propeciabuy soma

Seven Things Organizations can do to Enable Women’s Success

Posted by Judith Katz on October 16, 2007 None comments

katz_judith.jpgRecently while reading an e-newsletter from a professional organization, I came across yet another article about a mentoring program for women in the workplace. Although the article itself—about an approach to mentoring women in the workplace—was useful, I found myself upset, not by the content, but by the underlying mindset and approach.

For over 20 years, organizations have been implementing mentoring programs to support women’s and people of color’s ability to succeed in the workplace. Yet it is still quite clear that women of color, white women and men of color have not attained the level of success of their white male counterparts. With all the effort, you’d think we would be doing better by now – and although women and people of color have had some success moving into more senior leadership roles, we are far from having equity in the workplace.

The real issue is that we continue to misdiagnose the problem, leading us to use programs and approaches that only address a small part of the challenge. You can’t stop a boulder with a pea shooter and in many ways that is what we have been doing as organizations have worked to address the “women” and “people of color” “problem.” Although this blog is focused specifically on the question of systemic barriers for white women and women of color much of the same could be said about the barriers that men of color experience as well.

I was pleased to see a recent Harvard Business Review article that spoke to this very issue. ”Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership” discussed the fact that calling the barriers that women experience a “glass ceiling” actually is a misnomer; that the real experience is a labyrinth—a maze in which every twist and turn presents challenges and obstacles to success. By mislabeling or misdiagnosing the issue, we have been formulating simplistic approaches to a much more complex set of challenges. Many of the approaches focus more on tactics organizations and individual women can use rather than addressing the systemic issues of organizational policies, practices and structures just don’t work to enable and foster women’s success. Combine that with biases about women’s leadership styles, the lack of flexibility in many organizations and a lack of recognizing the real barriers that still exist for women and a maintenance of systems that are mired in the past without much hope of real change.

While mentoring is important, mentoring is only a small part of the solution. Women’s roles, styles and leadership are still often relegated to second-class status in the workplace and mentoring simply will not change the systemic structures that perpetuate this disadvantage. While organizations do need to consider how they can allow, support and have the flexibility to value and recognize differences, the real question for organizations is “Are you really committed to having a more diverse workforce and making the structural changes needed to support women and people of color to succeed?” If so, it will take radical change and a very different set of assumptions about flexibility, what constitutes a career, leadership styles and contribution.

Here are seven things an organization needs to do if it really wants to enable and support women’s success

1. Focus on output and added value rather than on fitting in and face time. Evaluating individuals based on contribution rather than how well they fit or how much face time they can offer can provide the needed flexibility to enable women to excel and succeed.

2. Assure that policies and practices in place create flexibility. Flexibility can be increased through support for on and off ramps in one’s career; part time and job sharing positions while staying on a career track. Create policies that enable women to contribute while recognizing that, at different stages of their career and life, they may need a career track that enables them to address both work and life responsibilities.

3. Develop competent managers who know how to coach and mentor a diverse workforce. Ensure all managers have the skill set to coach, mentor and develop women in the workforce. This includes their ability to manage flexible work arrangements and to support individuals’ career growth in career paths that are cutting edge in the 21st century.

4. Make sure women are working with colleagues and leaders who actively support them. You know who your supportive of a more diverse workplace leaders are—make sure women in the organization are not teamed or paired with leaders who will not actively support them.

5. Broaden the perspective of an effective leadership style to include styles that foster teamwork, engagement and collaboration. Leadership styles need to recognize and reward the different style and approach that women bring.

6. Understand and address that women of color and white women have a differentiated experience. Assure that approaches to women’s success examine and address the differentiated barriers that women of color experience from those of white women.

7. Remove barriers and biases that impact women differentially than men. Some actions to overcome these barriers include ensuring that women receive “stretch” assignments at the same rate as their male counterparts; aggressively auditing women’s and men’s career paths to see if men are progressing more rapidly through the organization; and, auditing compensation to ensure women are receiving equitable salaries. Make sure there are no overt or covert biases impacting women’s success. For example, are women penalized for taking time off for maternity leave or family time?

The conversation about women’s success in organizations has been going on for over 30 years. Many organizations are moving along the path with respect to their desire to retain and promote women, but it’s time to both diagnose the challenges appropriately and to create comprehensive approaches to achieve real and sustainable change.

The Signs of Change: Small Actions Make A Difference

Posted by Judith Katz on September 5, 2007 None comments

katz_judith.jpgKJCG’s definition of inclusion is: A sense of belonging. A feeling of being respected, valued and seen for who we are as individuals; there is a level of supportive energy and commitment from leaders, colleagues and others so that we — individually and collectively — can do our best work.

Organizations that embark on specific efforts to build inclusive workplaces that embody the above definition often struggle to keep people engaged during the delay between the initial “talk” of the Inclusion Effort and when new inclusive culture, mindsets and behaviors begin to reach people in their day to day lives. Since the transformation of an organization cannot happen over night, demonstrating even the smallest inclusive behaviors on a daily basis can make all the difference.

For many people in an organization engaged in an Inclusion Effort, Inclusion may seem like an abstract term that holds little or no meaning. “What does it look like?” or “How do we measure it?” are questions that are commonly asked. However, the answer is simple “you know inclusion when you experience it!” This is why small actions make a big difference. By taking even the smallest inclusive actions, organizational leaders model the necessary behaviors that become a part of the competencies needed to create a culture of inclusion

Some of the small actions that can make a big difference are addressed in our 11 Inclusive Behaviors, such as greeting people authentically and saying “hello” and speaking up when people are being excluded. But what does this look on a day-in and day-out basis? Recently, we surveyed the Core Inclusion Partners (a cross-organizational group of people who have participated in in-depth education regarding inclusion concepts and assisted in building a peer-to-peer network for communicating these concepts throughout the company) in a current client about what they were seeing with respect to any new behaviors leaders and managers were demonstrating that could be attributed to the organization’s Inclusion Effort. Some of the responses were great examples of the small actions that managers and senior leaders in any organization can do every day to make inclusion more and more of a reality as the organization shifts its culture and mindsets to inclusion as a way of life.

1) Including Hellos at every meeting – One of the most powerful actions that leaders and managers began to implement was consciously beginning all meetings with simple hellos. This enabled everyone in the meeting to greet others–and to set the stage for more inclusive conversations and interactions in meetings. Saying hello lets people know that they are seen, and feeling seen is a first step to feeling included.

2) Senior Leaders schedule one-on-one meetings to get to know the members of their staff as individuals – Some of the leaders started scheduling one-on-one meetings with each member of their staffs to hear what was important to each person—their values, what they needed to do their best work—and to better understand each person’s frame of reference, At the same time it provided each person an opportunity to see the leader as a human being and more than a “title.”

3) Valuing people’s knowledge and abilities over rank and tenure – By genuinely knowing the people in their organization, leaders began utilizing a wider range of people for special projects, basing their actions and decisions more on people’s capabilities and knowledge rather than going to the same people over and over again, particularly people that are relied on primarily because of rank and tenure.

4) Leaders make themselves accessible to their people – In this particular organization, one leader blocked out time on her calendar once a week and communicated it to everyone to ensure that she would be in her office and accessible to her team. This is a far cry from a leader saying that she is available to her people, but never actually being in the office when someone knocks on the door.

5) Be open and receptive to new ideas and suggestions – Another individual described a leader who would always create obstacles that actually prevented projects from being completed. After an inclusion workshop, the leader became more receptive to suggestions and began calling this individual on a daily basis for updates and to offer assistance in completing the project.

The journey along the Path to an Inclusive Organization is one that may seem difficult to achieve, but demonstrating even seemingly small Inclusive behaviors on a daily basis, can make all the difference in ensuring that an organization continues to move toward this vision. Although Inclusion is the BIG idea, it cannot be achieved without the small actions. What are you doing today to demonstrate your commitment to creating an inclusive environment in your organization? What actions would you recommend to others to shorten the delay between the initial Inclusion Efforts and the realizations of a new culture and mindsets?