Personally, I had stopped sharing book reviews a few years back because my sense was that people would connect to what was most relevant for them at that very given time, depending on their circumstances, experience and need.

Then, earlier this year, I started getting questions around what inspires me? I have to admit I get my inspiration from many different sources – from reading, observing art, water colouring, traveling, listening to podcasts, writing poems, watching movies, nature! 🙂

We were discussing these inquiries as a team and  decided to share a short list of our ‘best of’ this year.

We hope that these resources bring you inspiration, joy and company over the holidays as they have done to us over this year…

Sesil Pir (on behalf of Whirling Chief Team)

Our Top Read Articles on Whirling Chief

3 Simple Things We Can All Do to Advance Inclusion  by Fateme Banishoeib
Interview with Dave Gartenberg, Slalom Consulting by Sebnem Kabadayi with Dave Gartenberg
Taking ‘Human’ Back in Human Resources (& Business) of 21st Century! by Sesil Pir

 Our Most Favourite Books

Into the Magic Shop by Dr. James Doty
Emotional Agility by Dr. Susan David
The Whisper by Fateme Banishoeib

Our Most Favorite Podcasts

Science of Mindlessness and Mindfulness by Ellen Langer
Why the World is So Beautiful by Frank Wilczek
On Resilience and Emotional Agility by Susan David

Our Most Favorite TedTalks

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown
No One Should Die Because They Live Far From a Doctor by Raj Panjabi

In a series of extensive, longitudinal studies of Fortune 500 firms, we tend to see that executives are working to evolve both the structure and incentive strategies of their organizations as businesses shift strategies toward less diversified portfolios.

Many organizations are known to “flatten” their hierarchy, meaning they reduce the number of management levels, double the size of their executive teams while changing the composition, and substantially push performance-based pay philosophies.

Interestingly though, “delayering” at the higher levels of the pyramid – typically associated with the delegation of authority – is a more complex phenomenon that is more indicative of centralization. More so, in today’s business environment, we need deeper – perhaps more philosophical – conversations around the organization of resources and design.

There used to be a time when the majority of us in business thought of organizational structure as a way to manage individual resources. According to one of the few living management gurus, Henry Mintzberg,

“Every organized human activity – from the making of pottery to the placing of a man on the moon – gives rise to two fundamental and opposing requirements: the division of labour into various tasks to be performed and the coordination of those tasks to accomplish the activity.”

To Mintzberg, an organization is made up of:

• an operating core – individuals who perform the basic work of producing products and providing services (operational staff)
• a strategic apex – management individuals, who oversee the entire system (senior management)
• a middle line – managers of managers
• a techno structure – a group of analysts who plan and control the work of others
• support staff – a group of individuals who provide internal services, such as a mailroom, legal counsel, or public relations office
• an ideology or culture – this encompasses the traditions and beliefs of an organization that distinguish it from other organizations

Except today’s organization structure is no longer there to manage our individual resources; it is there to unleash collective potential. And Mintzberg, along with many other I/O psychologists and organizational theorists recognize that.

You see, in a life cycle of one organization, there are typical phases of growth, just like we humans have.

Organizations start up small. They have a lot of freedom and space for creativity and individualism, and then work their way up to a maturity scale.

For many organizations striving to reach Phase 5 (where collaboration is essential), the driver is a sense of community. Community requires that one cares about their work, colleagues, organization, and even their place in the world. It means when one suffers, others stop to recognize that suffering and pick the person up. Young companies usually exhibit this sense of community naturally. It becomes more and more difficult when things start to slow down, politics build up due to size and variety in intention, etc.

For organizations looking for the right structure, it is first and foremost important for you to understand what stage of growth you are in. Only then can you create the right environment to support flow of information and decision making. One needs to acknowledge that the value creation for 21st century business comes from a holistic approach to organizational health, meaning there needs to be a systems thinking to organizational design integrating structure, processes, and people to support the implementation of strategy and therefore goes beyond the traditional tinkering with “lines and boxes.” Further, an effective individual mind-set shift and collective alignment to future vision give implementation success rates the biggest boost.

For organizations looking to build or rebuild structure to enable agility, you may want to invest in building a sense of community first. From there, you could collaborate to build a vision, align stakeholders, and help everyone else understand how they can be an active support to the transition.

As we have said in many previous Whirling Chief articles, “form follows function” when it comes to organizational design. That form will only serve your business effectively if it is build on the principles of community.

The key to unleash individual and collective potential may just be in the value of  ‘care.’

Wow! When I shared work trends of 2017 last year, I did NOT expect to see as much change as we have witnessed. This massive swell of evolution is expected to continue into the new year and likely, pick up some new steam as well. The boundaries we have known so deeply over centuries will continue to fade away. Business transformation? If you haven’t been paying attention to what’s happening around the world of work and accepting the need to evolve, it is very likely you may fall behind.

Below, we tried to share some trends you can expect to see in 2018 and some ways to prepare for them.

• We are now in an age of experience. Primary rules of engagement no longer apply! In the early years, we focused primarily on building a product to service our clients and more recently, we built dominance of engaging our customers. We would emphasize quality and rely on branding to rationally “appeal” to the customer. In 2018 and beyond, it is all about experience (aka. emotional engagement). In order to be able to master emotional engagement, you need first know your core values (the ones you stand on) to then create shared values. What’s a shared value? “A shared value is a belief that both the brand and consumer have about a brand’s higher purpose or broad philosophy.”
• Co-existing is real. In the age of experience, everyone is a customer – the individual, the business, the non-profit. The way we used to think about ‘competition’ (a term I dislike very much) is evolving for good. It is no surprise that except for a few major multi-nationals, businesses struggle to balance resources to bring about breakthrough innovation, making B2B collaboration not a necessity, but a must for survival.
• Think augmentation vs. artificiality. Video games have been entertaining some of us for nearly 30 years. Computer graphics have become much more sophisticated over the last 20 years. Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of our screens and integrating them into our real-world environments – remember Pokémon? This new technology, called ‘augmented reality’, blurs the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. The fascination is not limited by imagination. Companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft are pushing for applications, where we can exchange our experiences by augmented reality for purchasing, training, relaxing, etc. If you have not already, you may want to start thinking about your augmented reality strategy!

A ‘human’ leadership is key. Yes, people still matter. And in many cases, our employees are incredibly overwhelmed with the changes and ambiguity surrounding them.

The autocratic leadership we have become accustomed to – top down decision making, lack of feedback loops, one-way communication, closed management circles – are all going out of practice fast. Today, workplaces are not only taking a more collaborative and flexible shape, it is becoming more ‘human’, putting spotlight onto those in people management positions to focus on self-first.

There you have it!

The new recipe for success in business is around integration, innovation and inclusion, supported by a moral compass and a new DNA of 21^st century leadership (we will introduce more on these concepts in 2018, stay tuned).

It is all about acceptance and preparation.

We support organizations through conscious grow efforts. To discuss how to plan and/or execute on your organizational transformation journey, please feel free to reach out to me or to one of our key partners.

We are driven by the opportunity to help you build productive and learning organizations that put people at the center.

In Work 4.0, companies hire talent and structure their workforces in a flexible manner to ensure that each business initiative or project is completed by the person(s) with the right skills, expertise and expressed interest, instead of relying on traditional factors such as seniority, office politics or geographic proximity. Opening up the workforce to this level of fluidity not only enables work across borders and time zones, but it is expected to produce more effective and efficient business results. This is because the on-demand employment model benefits both parties: professionals with a specific expertise can work on projects of their choice and interests, while companies can work with the best-fit professionals on an as-needed, on-demand basis without a long-term commitment.

While the on-demand employment model initially began with daily tasks (“gigs”) such as TaskRabbit, Uber and Gigster (hence the term “gig economy”), it is now impacting all levels of employment – even the most strategic decisions are being made and implemented by on-demand professionals!

The changing nature of work is no longer just a trend—it’s a revolution that’s here to stay, and it’s just getting started! In fact, a recent Intuit report predicted that by 2020, 40 percent of American workers will be working on an independent, on-demand basis (either full-time or in some capacity).

WC: What does ‘on-demand talent’ mean? How related is it to the ‘agile talent’ concept?

HK: “On-demand talent” are independent professionals interested in working on a flexible, as-needed basis to solve critical business challenges at a variety of companies. These professionals have a wide-range of profiles –recently retired but active executives, MBA/PhD students, academics, freelancers, stay-at-home moms and even professionals working full-time or part-time. While they each have different motivations, the most common are a passion for forging their own career paths and managing their schedules, the desire to network and develop their skillsets, and in order to supplement their income.

Thus “on-demand talent” are the secret weapons of successful “agile talent management.” Agility is a key requirement for any business to excel in today’s fast-paced, competitive world full of uncertainty. Businesses can no longer rely on yearly talent planning, they must regularly review workforce requirements and be prepared to quickly and nimbly shift strategies to better meet the changing needs of both professionals and the business.

Agile talent management requires ensuring that the best-fit professionals are working on projects that excite and motivate them to outperform, rather than focusing on ways to engage the employee long-term. The rapid pace of technological advances, in particular, make it nearly impossible for companies to keep up using traditional HR methods. Using on-demand talent is an effective option to quickly and effectively fill critical skill gaps without making costly, long-term investments.

WC: What are the drivers behind this concept?

HK: Today’s uncertain, rapidly changing and intense competitive environment is one of the main drivers of the flexible on-demand employment model. Managers have difficulty forecasting business and talent needs accurately and traditional employment models have become too expensive, too slow and at times ineffective in solving today’s needs/ challenges.

Futhermore, the sheer pace of technological advances has made it nearly impossible for companies to keep pace, deeming on-demand talent the smart solution for filling unanticipated, highly-specialized skills gaps and leading transformations that require specific expertise.

Lastly, professionals increasingly value control over their schedules, work-life  balance, a higher meaning and purpose for their work and variety in their careers.

WC: Are companies leveraging the concept already? Can you provide a few examples?

HK: Absolutely! Companies of all types and sizes, all around the world, are now using talent platforms to source talent on an on-demand, project basis, rather than only hiring full time. Our clients at Expertera range from global private equity firms and consultancies to large corporations, SMEs and startups.

These companies mainly use on-demand talent in 6 main areas: to lead key intiatives that require previous first-hand business insights and expertise, to fill unexpected highly-specialized skills gaps, to assist when internal bandwith is low, to take on one-time initiatives, to educate and train staff, and to supplement internal intelligence with un-biased, external perspectives and know-how.

Talent acquisition is the process of accessing and engaging the right labor sources for an organization. As the labor market becomes more fluid and rapidly evolving technology becomes more integrated into our lives, human resources managers will play a key leadership role in creating an environment where innovation thrives. This requires cultivating the right company culture, accessing and engaging the right talent to meet specific goals and utilizing the appropriate processes, metrics and rewards for success.

Research has shown that the ability to access and retain the right talent, in particular, is now one of the biggest differentiating factors in business. And today, the right “talent” may be human or robotic, an internal or external resource, short-term or long-term (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or periodically). While a “blended workforce” brings significant benefits to the business, it also brings about new challenges that only an effective human resource leader can resolve. Examples include cultivating a strong company culture and positive working environment, ensuring employee engagement, and empowering professionals to innovate – especially when teams are not uniform and are in disparate locations. Furthermore, the medical, legal and retirement benefits for different types of labor will be an area that human resources must oversee fairly and effectively.

Thus effective talent acquisition and talent management will only increase in importance in the 21st century. On a positive note, human resources executives will also have numerous analytical tools and vendors at their fingertips that will help them to design, track, and integrate human resources processes.

WC: What’s the impact of digitalization?

HK: Digitalization is forcing companies of all types and sizes become more agile, adaptive and innovative. This requires all functions, especially human resources, the backbone of any company, to change. And the need is imminent, as a recent survey by PwC found that more than 60% of managers believe that a skills gap is currently, and will be in the near future, their most pressing challenge and the biggest deterrent from succeeding in the digital era.

While implementing the right technical infrastructure is critical to digitalization, access to the right talent to resolve the skills gap is really a company’s secret weapon and their sole option for long-term success. This is where on-demand talent platforms such as Expertera are particularly effective. Rather than taking the time to educate and train employees on each up-and-coming technology or specific topic (which may or may not be relevant in a years time) or hiring permanent employees for each requirement, companies can instead work with experienced subject matter experts on an on-demand, project basis. This not only saves time and effort, but it also brings in an unbiased, independent perspective that will help advance their digitalization strategies without delay.

Thus employing external, on-demand talent and adopting a “blended workforce” mindset will benefit and also be escalated by digitalization.

WC: There is so much hype around new technology when it comes to talent sourcing and selection; as a talent hub, how do you internalize innovative ideas around automation, artificial intelligence, etc.?

HK: Great question, we practice what we preach! As a fast-growing start-up in an industry ripe for evolution, we face budget constraints as well as the need to be agile and innovative. We’ve minimized these challenges by working with highly skilled, external on-demand talent in several areas such as establishing our digital marketing strategy, implementing artificial intelligence into our matching processes (via algorithms that assist in our superior expertise matching), automating some of our sales processes, etc.

WC: For organizations evolving structure and processes into 21st century, do you have any recommendations around how to think of bringing in the right talent?

HK: Establishing a flexible, “blended workforce” will not only multiply their access to talent manifold, but it will also improve strategic planning, as companies can more easily budget for specific assignments and projects, rather than long-term headcount and hiring.

An added bonus is that cultivating an environment where expertise is the most valuable asset and internal and external talent work together seamlessly provides the right incentives for all professionals to continuously improve upon their own skillsets.

In addition to bringing in the right talent, forming winning teams that nurture collaboration and innovation is also an important element to success.

DisruptHR is an information exchange designed to energise, inform and empower people in the HR field and those interested in people management practices with new and/or evolving ideas.

Last week, we shared an article by our Founder, Sesil Pir, who summarized observations on the event and the context behind.

In this official DisruptHR Zurich video, we share with you the story as to why it is even more important now for organisations to focus on people first with the dynamics of globalization, digitalization and democratization in the 21st century!

Please do feel free to share if the story resonates with you. Thank you! 🙂

Last week, I shared the debut stage of Disrupt HR in Zurich with my most valuable colleagues, Reto B. Ruegger, Hari Abburi, Pierre Olivier Botteron, Judith Oldekop, Leandra Amsler, Sandro Pisaneschi, Mirjam Schaffner, Angelo Ciaramella, Leo Marty.

What a great organization and by the virtue of this article, let me publicly pass my thanks to our hosts, Lena Schwerzmann and Timo Plattner again.

There were several topics we covered from career transitions, to culture fit to agile HR modeling to artificial intelligence to generations – all equally interesting.

My topic? Taking ‘human’ back in 21st century business & HR, of course! 🙂

What does that mean? Let me try to explain…

We undoubtedly live in an age of uncertainty and change. Everything around us evolving with the dynamics of globalization, digitalization, and democratization. The definitions we cling to dearly as a society – from political to psychological – are all evolving… The concept of work is no different. How we think about work, work places and organizations is also evolving. And yet, when we look at the global workplace statistics, we see not a lot has evolved in terms of our work experience in the last 20 years.

In fact, some of the current data would tell us, for example, ~48% of people feeling ‘unsatisfied’ at work and 13% of is engaged globally. Or, that 40% of workers reported their job as being very or extremely stressful and 25% have feel like screaming or shouting. Or, WEF reports gender pay gap is projected to close by 2186.

It seems we have long forgotten about the value of business. It seems that we have created beautiful structures – big massive organizations, corporations – that can produce goods and generate services and money and yet, at the same time, slowly diminish our collective resources and soul.

Whether we accept it or not, it seems OUR work places are full of people who are confused and/or frustrated. It seems either they can’t work flexibly, leverage technology, dress their preferred way, communicate in their natural voice, catch a good balance, receive support from their managers and/or simply are not presented the right opportunities. For one reason or another, it seems they struggle to bring their best selves forward.

But it doesn’t have to be this way…  We know there’s a better way. We know, for example, investing in employee experience advances organizational effectiveness AND profitability.

We also know organizations that thrive, thrive at an individual and team level first.

Yet, when we consider most corporations, despite the mobile technologies in our hands, we are still leveraging leadership and management practices from the Industrial Era.

The irony of all this is those very same corporations, all around the world look at a handful of others and wonder how they are so successful? How are they driving innovation? How are they generating growing revenue YOY?

Well, all studies show us that those organizations we collectively admire are NOT driven by the need to prove their capability. Instead, they are driven by the need to advance human lives. On the inside, they care about employee experience; and on the outside, they work to advance customer experience. They are focused on people first!

So, as future leaders of HR and business, it is time we ask ourselves: What do we stand for?!

We speak so much about consolidation, outsourcing, automatization, future of jobs, but do we have the right to claim to be ‘strategic’ when so many people are suffering at work day to day? What is the real value of business? What does the future of work look and feel for us? What is the minimum quality of life we are willing to settle for?

There are many aspects of business we believe requires innovation. A few I included in my keynote last week included:

It is time we redefine our leadership philosophies. It is NOT okay for the business to say, ‘let’s get rid of HR’ while continuing to exercise leadership in elevated circles as it is NOT okay for HR to say, ‘it is difficult to influence business’. We carry a mutual responsibility in the creation of work experience, and we need to jointly redefine what that means for business 4.0, 5.0, 6.0.

It is time to strip ourselves of this epidemic process-orientation. We have built beautiful machines very successfully that no longer do any good for anyone. Traditional hierarchies – for the majority – no longer work. Dangling carrots from sticks doesn’t motivate 21^st century worker. There is no innovation without collaboration; no integration without inclusion. We need to take time to introduce science – evidence based science – into our business & people practices and innovate!

It is time we truly integrate data & technology into our ways of working. Complex environments require simple ways of working. We must first understand our own organization data – not just HR, also business data (what drives people, what unifies them, what enables/disables them) to tell a story; to then utilize technologies and drive employee engagement & productivity through it. Introducing technology and data on top of our day to day only makes things only more complex. We must integrate and adopt simplicity as a key principle.

It is time we build not good, GREAT managers. It is NOT okay to hire/promote just anyone into people management roles and/or expect people to learn by doing (when it comes to people management). Would we let our children be taken care of by an untrained nanny? Why do we turn a blind eye to ill management practices? Do we not care about our adult well being? We need to make it relevant, we need to make it personal, and yes, we need to invest in every single person, one at a time.

Finally, building cell phones, shoes, driverless cars or selling life insurance services, the baseline is all the same: We are all in the business of people.

I am inviting us to remember the true value of business: to bring additional value to our humanity (through service and/or goods).

I am inviting my HR & business colleagues to claim ‘human’ back in our businesses!

We find many companies and professionals are confused when it comes to organizational development. What is it? What it does? Is it a good thing, do I have to invest in it? Does it support our strategy or is it a stand alone exercise? These are questions we encounter often and try to clarify.

In today’s video, we tried to shortly summarize what organizational development means and how it may be best realized inside an organization.

Remember any development activity – individual or collective – requires change at multiple levels.

To lead change effectively across an organization, applied behavioral science knowledge is key. When choosing your organizational development specialist, always inquire about past intervention and measurable success factors. When building your OD program, make sure to apply tips shared in our video!

We tend to think of career development as a linear thing and only one that happens early in career – wrong!

You’d be surprised to know how many executive leaders we coach through transitions. When it comes to managing careers, the key to success is planning. Remember the idea of linear management is long gone; you better fold up that career ladder and hop on the career jungle gym!

Our new contributor Andrea Cole does just that; she helps leaders find their new paths…

My leadership development career has always been on the school cycle, rather than the calendar year. So to me, Autumn is the start of a new year and it’s only natural to see this as the beginning of new things.

With Summer now firmly behind us, it’s time to do something about that nagging thought about how to grow your career in the coming year. Admit it, you’ve heard that little voice all year long, but have been pushing it aside as you focus on other things. Well, the end of 2017 is less than 3 month away now. It’s time to start putting some thought and effort into planning. So whether your year begins in September, like mine, or January with the calendar, now is the time to get to work.
Here are some questions to ask to see how ready you are:

•  What is it you want to achieve in your career in the coming year?
•  How about the next 5 years?
•  Do you even know what you want to be doing? Has the current career lost its appeal?
•  Are you looking for a new job?
• Are you thinking about taking a sabbatical and wondering how to make the most of it to ensure a smooth re-entry?
•  Did you recently graduate from college, took the Summer off and now ready to start your career?

All of these are typical questions people come to me with as they seek guidance in advancing their careers. And they are good questions; questions you SHOULD be asking yourself. There are many places to go for help:

• If you’re employed and seeking advancement, talk to your manager. Establish a development plan with a goal in mind so you both can be calibrating against the plan regularly.
• If you’re ready for a new career, you’ll need to do some work assessing your skills, interests and passions. What is it you were meant to do in life? There are many places you can go for this work. You can do your own self-assessment like I did when I made a career change years ago. You can buy a good book like Designing Your Life and work your way through it. Or you can work with a career coach. I love helping people along on the discovery of the work they’ll truly love and making that a reality.
• If you’re looking for a new job. Read up on current trends in career searching. It’s a brave new world full of new tools and techniques. Resumes are no longer laundry lists of responsibilities. LinkedIn is critical to your job search, and Networking is the golden ticket to your next job. Again, there are lots of online resources and books you can use to self-navigate this process. Or you can work with a career coach. One of the key elements of my work with job seekers is providing support. As a former job seeker who made every mistake possible, and now a cheerleader and confidence booster, I help my clients reclaim their lost confidence and through my personal coaching, help you stay upbeat and positive throughout the very difficult, and sometimes disheartening, process of seeking a new job.
• If you recently graduated from college, well, you have a lot to learn about the professional world. It’s not all about you! Too many young people that I work with approach the job search with only their own needs and goals in mind. They forget why companies hire them. Learn to ask questions about the company, show interest in working with them and contributing to their goals. There’s much to learn about professional dress and communication. You can’t speak to a prospective boss the way you speak to your college buddies. Again, there is online information and books galore on this topic. Getting from College to Career is one example. Or seek out someone you know who is a seasoned professional. Maybe a parent, aunt or uncle, or family friend. And, yes, this is something a career coach will help you with as well. One of my favorite aspects of the work I do is helping prepare young people for the job search and watching them accelerate their career launch.
• Something that has become a passion of mine is helping people plan proactively for taking a sabbatical. There currently isn’t a lot of help ‘out there’ in this area, but I’ve seen what happens when planning isn’t a part of the process. Too many people take the career pause without keeping in mind the fact that they plan to re-enter the workplace later. Let’s work together to put a strategy in place to ensure when you’re ready to re-enter the workplace, you are not viewed as either ‘stale’ or ‘overqualified’ and you keep your mojo so you’re psychologically prepared as well.

​So, as you continue to enjoy your last days of Autumn, before winter sets in, and your mind begins to occasionally look ahead, start planning. Don’t wait. Now is a great time to land new work. Everyone’s back from Summer vacation, the kids are back in school, and recruiters are eager to fill those open positions before the busy Winter holiday season. My advice is to start now, even if you start slowly, so you can have all the prep work done before the hiring starts.  So, go out now. Buy a book, find online resources, or contact a career coach to see how they can help.

Talk to any HR professional and they’ll invariably say, “Oh, I simply cannot get my leaders to do X.” Then talk to any leader with people management responsibilities and you’re bound to hear, “Oh, I simply cannot get my HR to deliver X.” On any topic related to an employee’s life cycle and experience, you can find tension between these two parties.

The truth of the matter is work experience is a creation that is co-owned.

Our HR Management 101 video series continues with a video on how to form and sustain mutual accountability between management and HR inside an organization – for any of the business and people processes. We hope you enjoy and, in return, share some of your own observations!

By Fateme Banishoeib

Inclusion is a passion for me and not just what I do for a living. The recent news around the software engineer’s 10-page screed against Google’s diversity initiatives going viral inside the company, sparked action and heated debate.

In the memo, “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” the author argues that women are underrepresented in tech not because they face bias and discrimination in the workplace, but because of inherent psychological differences between men and women. There has been a lot of talking on this memo, with many dissenting as cheering voices. What it shows us is that ultimately dialogue is needed more than ever.

We cannot neglect the impact of stereotypes, biases and century of social conditioning on the life of all of us. It is very tempting to point fingers against this memo and neglecting that we are constantly bombarded with the publicised use of negative stereotypes in mass media and social media.

It requires us to turn the mirror back and ask ourselves where the process has failed. This isn’t a failure of a single person or a lack of acknowledgment of all the good works that has been done. Yet, we have to admit that if we think of how to bring more diversity in the workplace and in society only by looking at the numbers of women on a team or on C level for example, we are neglecting an entire world that is under water and that has much bigger impact. I am talking about inclusion.

If for a moment we assume we have achieved in a team equal representation of diverse gender, ethnicity, age, etc., it does not mean that the “diverse” employee is not being marginalise. Moreover, what would happen in face of a challenge or a conflict? Can diversity alone bring true benefit?

Diversity becomes a burden when not paired with inclusion. Only when combined they become a competitive advantage.

My answer is that is going to be challenging and a recipe for disaster as diversity when not authentically included will result in people falling even far behind and anchoring in old stereotypes.

If you and your organisation truly want to work towards inclusiveness, part of your personal strategy and your organisational strategy needs to have a willingness and openness to discuss, to educate and understand the impact of actions and behaviours. At times it feels like there is a persistent cloud around us making difficult to move pass the gap of inclusion. The real work is in the clearing of the “cloud” through building awareness and recognising behaviours and practices that are set with good intentions in the mind and eye of the beholder, but do nothing to move toward equity.

We all have an individual responsibility to inclusion. An organisation can put into place procedures, policies all well intended to be inclusive. But we cannot neglect that this procedures and policies come alive and are lived by the individuals in the organisation. They, we are the ones who are either aligned with the goals and practices or not. How we act, speak and behave are the evidences of our beliefs and biases.

Here are three things we all can do in the workplace to move forward our (because they are ours they are not the company’s) inclusion programs:

• Ask yourself if your beliefs are aligned with the companies value around diversity and inclusion. If they are not talk with others to gather different perspectives and educate yourself. Everyone has a choice. The choice to be part of the problem (of the lack of inclusion) or you can be part of the solution that supports creating an inclusive environment where everyone is treated fairly and can have the opportunity to succeed regardless of age, gender, background, etc.
• Practise inclusion not only integration. What that means? Let’s go back to the definitions. Integration is: incorporation as equals into society or an organisation of individuals of different groups. Which is the case when organisations create a dedicated group to address minorities, e.g. women dedicated groups, etc. Inclusion means that a person with a disability, women, whoever, has the same rights, access and choices as everyone else in a community.  In this short video I provide with a visualisation of this concept and ask you some provoking questions: Inclusion is a universal human right. Do your policies advance inclusion or integration? If you answer is integration, it is time to look at those policies and revise them.
• Measure whether the “diverse” employee (I should probably say all employee) is heard and valued rather than simply measuring their presence in the organisation. This is not as simple as reflecting their presence. Here some tips to start measuring the right indicators; include compensation, promotion trending and hierarchy.

These three steps support us to remain open and attentive of diversity and our capacity to include. Investing on the three is crucial to have a bigger impact on the entire society not only in the workplace.