I have been thinking more and more about how inclusion is defined in the field of diversity management, thanks to great discussion in our learning community of the Advancing Inclusion course at the Cape Cod Institute. One class discussion led me to make the statement “inclusion isn’t a feeling that someone has…if that were true then we would never achieve the goal since inclusion would be so subjective.” I can still see the hands of the participants flying in the air eager to respond. Our discussion led to further insights on the nature of inclusion.
I have often used the example that inclusion is like being at home in someone else’s home rather than just being a guest. As a guest in someone’s home the standard is to be treated respectfully. Being given an invitation to “make yourself at home” gives you a piece of the ownership. You can open the refrigerator door and get your own drink, and as one focus group participant told me, you can feel free “to do a number two in their bathroom.”
Although people understand this inclusion analogy of “being at home in someone else’s home” it still is a bit too subjective. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “house guests, like fish, seem to smell after three days.” Inclusion extends way beyond a three-day invitation.
Inclusion is creating conditions that leverage differences—race, gender, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, class, religion, health, stature, educational level, physical and mental ability, job level and function, personality traits, thought and expression, and other human and social differences.
In the workplace we leverage our differences in order to drive business outcomes, spur innovation, and achieve the mission of the organization. In our communities, we leverage our differences to create peaceful environments and transform our society for the good of all. This is a very difficult and challenging process and measured not by whether or not someone feels that they are included. Feeling included is a by-product of an inclusive culture.
As a psychologist, I know that there are a number of variables that load into someone’s feeling state and it is possible for someone to not feel included despite inclusive practices and policies. The reverse of that is also true. It is possible for someone to feel included despite discriminatory policies and inequitable practices. We evidenced this phenomenon in the past election cycle where an astounding number of women did not feel or experience sexism and a number of people of color did not feel or experience any racist behaviors or practices. Inclusion is more than a feeling.
Through my research with colleagues at University of Massachusetts Medical School, I’ve laid out eight inclusion factors:
- Common Purpose: individual experiences a connection to the mission, vision and values of the organization
- Trust: individual has confidence that the policies, practices and procedures of the organization will allow them to bring their best and full self to work
- Appreciation of Individual Attributes: individual is valued and can successfully navigate the organizational structure in their expressed group identities
- Sense of Belonging: individual experiences their social group identities being connected and accepted in the organization
- Access to Opportunity: individual is able to find and utilize support for their professional development and advancement
- Equitable Reward and Recognition: individual perceives the organization as having equitable compensation practices and non-financial incentives
- Cultural Competence (of the institution): individual believes the institution has the capacity to make creative use of its diverse workforce in a way that meets business goals, enhances performance and achieves the mission
- Respect: individual experiences a culture of civility and positive regard for diverse perspectives, ways of knowing and expression
These factors are focused on organizational settings but can easily be applied to communities. The factors are interdependent and should be considered in aggregate. When these factors are in place, inclusion can then be defined (from my friend and colleague C. Greer Jordan’s dissertation) as a set of social processes where an individual experiences the following:
- access to information and social support,
- the ability to influence and shape accepted norms and behaviors,
- security within their identity group or in a position within the organization,
- access to and ability to exercise formal and informal power.
At the organizational level, inclusion dynamics are reinforced and embedded in an organization’s culture through its:
- Mission, Vision, Values: uses inclusive language and specifically references diversity
- Strategy, Structure, Systems: organization is structured to allow for diverse ways of knowing, limits bureaucracy and information and resources are accessible
- Policies, Practices, Procedures: open, transparent and consistently applied
At a societal level, inclusion has to be more than making all groups feel valued and important. Focusing on feelings has resulted in a more divided, hostile and separate America. Social identity groups who have historically been excluded are now being considered the no-longer-welcomed house guests who smell like fish. Many Americans profess that they’ve had enough of diversity and this “diversity thing” has gone too far.
No one social identity group has the upper hand on feeling included or excluded. Getting to We demands a laser-like focus on inclusive policies and strategies. The feeling of inclusion will follow. Inclusion is a lot more than a feeling.
Key Words: inclusion, diversity, social group identities