Diversity vs Inclusion

Photo by Ivan Samkov

Diversity

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Diversity is the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. Diversity refers to ‘what’, focusing on the representation of the workforce consisting of gender, age, cultural background, geography, religion, as well as different abilities and physical disabilities.

Inclusion

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Inclusion is the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. Inclusion refers to the ‘how’ to create an environment where all employees feel accepted and valued for themselves, their skills, and experience, and provide them with equal access and opportunities to participate and develop.

According to Verna Myres’ saying, Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. In practice, embracing diversity and being inclusive is quite difficult. Therefore, in order to make real progress, every individual – and the organizational culture they live in – must change. There are four actions that can help create a culture of diversity and inclusion, which are:

Build trust

The first thing to do is to build trust by creating an environment where one feels safe to express oneself freely. For leaders, it can start with providing opportunities to start compassionate conversations and space for employees to talk about their experiences.

Actively working to challenge discrimination

The next action that can be taken is to respond to actions that refer to injustice in the workplace, such as discrimination that hinders employees’ ability to develop. Leaders have an important role to play in challenging discrimination in the workplace. Changes like this should be done top-down so there is no confusion, able to reduce risk, and maintained a commitment to the larger team.

The first step for leaders is learning about how diversity and inclusion systems and policies operate. Leaders also need to examine the assumptions and stereotypes that are formed in the work environment. These steps must be followed up with sustainability attention, analysis of each change and its impact, and adjustments if any steps are unsuccessful.

Provide an equal opportunity to express opinions and receive feedback

Each individual actively seeks to provide opportunities for his colleagues to express opinions or provide their ideas in forums and meeting rooms. Meanwhile, companies need a performance management system that provides feedback based on performance, not based on gender, race, religion, and so on.

Make differences as a learning resource

Understand the difference between open discussion about how a group shapes the experience of employees inside and outside the organization. The leader’s role in this step is to frame the experience as a source of ideas for improving organizational performance and culture.

Organizations with a diversity and inclusive culture give employees the space to run their ideas, see more points of view on a problem, provide more diverse solutions, and be able to see potential biases that may exist. Organizations that truly embrace diversity and inclusion are likely to enjoy the following benefits:

• Having good financial results
• Be more innovative
• Attract a more diverse pool of candidates
• Having happier and loyal employees
• Demonstrates better performance and productivity

References:

Dictionary. 2023. Oxford Languages website. Taken on 25 April 2023, from https://languages.oup.com/dictionaries/

Getting serious about diversity: Enough already with the business case. (2020, November 1). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/11/getting-serious-about-diversity-enough-already-with-the-business-case

25 April 2023 | Tiara Tri Hapsari