Hope your week or weeks have gone well. Doctor e here is your resident diversity, equity and inclusion specialist. Hope all is well. Most organizations think they are practicing inclusion when there are just different or diverse perspectives that are present at the table in conversation.
Hello Cadre community. Happy Friday. Hope your week or weeks have gone well. Doctor e here is your resident diversity, equity and inclusion specialist. Hope all is well.
Most organizations think they are practicing inclusion when there are just different or diverse perspectives that are present at the table in conversation. But constructive inclusion is when those ideas are being lifted up and able to shape, form, and contribute in really substantive kinds of ways.
Hello Cadre community. Happy Friday. Hope your week or weeks have gone well. Doctor e here your resident diversity, equity and inclusion specialist, conversationist slash friend and happy Friday. Hope all is well. Wanted to chat a little bit today about the inclusion illusion. Inclusion illusion? What do I mean by that? Well, most folks, most organizations think they are practicing inclusion when there are just different or diverse perspectives that are present at the table in conversation. Being able to connect and share ideas and perspectives is really what is missing.
And so for me, inclusion isn't really happening if the individual or if the groups do not have the opportunity to inform, to influence, the ability to share. Hello on a happy Friday. I hope you're doing well. And therein lies the difference between why inclusion is tangible and when and why it is not tangible. If persons or individuals are not allowed to raise their voices, to utilize their experiences and perspectives to impact and to affect decision making, policy change, process evaluation, all of those kinds of things that really drive systems and organizations and structures, you, you're can not really practicing inclusion.
Think about it this way. If you are sitting at a table, if you are in an office and someone is just talking at you, but never invites you to participate, never invites you to share, never invites you to provide feedback or input, are you really a part of that conversation? Is a dialogue really happening or is it just a monologue? My stance is it's just a monologue and not a dialogue because you've never been invited to inform or to contribute. And that's what inclusion is. That's why inclusion is so, so, so important, because that's how you allow folks to see themselves in what you're doing, participate in where you're going, share ideas, contribute, because you're allowing them to utilize their voices in ways that impact what you're doing as a team, as an organization, as an entity.
So when you want to really practice inclusion, think about ways and opportunities that you are inviting folks to share, where you are inviting folks into a process, where you are inviting folks in to contribute. Because if and when you're doing that, that is inclusion in a really constructive way. So if voices are not being allowed to be lifted up, perspectives aren't allowed to be shared, even dissenting perspectives or dissenting opinions can really, really be contributive, because it's allowing you to think more robustly and to think more broadly.
If you are in a team, if you are on a team, if you are in an organization where everyone thinks alike, your organization is headed for problems. And so you want to be able to provide spaces and places where dissenting viewpoints and opinions can be shared, because that will make one your decision making process more robust and engaging, but also a little bit more expanded and broad in a way that monolithic kinds of mindsets can't and don't do. So that's the illusion. Or, excuse me, that's the inclusion illusion, when folks are not allowed to share or to provide input, or to impact or influence or inform decisions that are being made.
But constructive inclusion is when those folks, when those ideas, when those experiences are being lifted up and able to shape, form, and contribute in really substantive kinds of ways. So I'm Doctor E. Great seeing you. Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend. It.
