How to Support Diversity and Inclusion in Your Team

The case for diversity and inclusion is simple: you get better project results. But delivering diversity and inclusion is a challenge. You need to be very deliberate in making them happen.
Here's how...
First, let’s clarify terms:
Diversity
Welcoming people of the widest possible range of types and origins, available in your society. We usually think in terms of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, cultural or religious background, age, ability or disability, neuro-diversity and anything else. Recognize and celebrate difference.
Creating a diverse team means recruiting people onto your team for what they can contribute - and not excluding them because of what maybe they cannot.
Inclusion
Doing everything you can to make it equally easy for any person to contribute to and benefit from the work environment. Value the differences and make them welcome. So, in short, everyone should be able to feel an equal part of your team. And this must therefore start from a culture and environment of respect.
Creating an inclusive environment takes real effort. It may mean making allowances that cater for the needs of just one person. But, when you do, that can free up their attention to give their very best to your team.
Bias
The first thing you need to think about is bias. And that can be conscious discrimination, but it can also be unconscious bias. We need to:
- Acknowledge it
- Set up processes to overcome it
- Train to defend against it
- Continue to monitor for it
And there are essential steps you, as Project Leader can take to lead on supporting and enhancing diversity and inclusion on your projects:
1. Get yourself training and get training for your team
2. Involve your team in setting standards, establishing good practices, and calling out failings
3. Secure senior level commitment from your peers and from sponsors and Project board members
4. Adopt and adapt the best policies, processes, and good practices from the organizations involved in your project
5. Act as a role model and st the highest standards for respecting and empowering everyone in your team and among your stakeholders
And you can support this with practical everyday practices like:
• Mixing up teams and sub-teams, and creating deliberately diverse workgroups
• Encouraging people to share their experiences to build empathy
• Calling out and tackling disrespectful behavior and language quickly and effectively
• Encouraging and welcoming diverse thinking and experimentation
• Celebrating everyone’s contributions
• Gather data on diversity whenever you carry out surveys, and look for evidence in the results for bias
• Avoid generalization and stereotyping - no matter how well-intentioned. Treat everyone as an individual
There are also a number of logistical and environmental conditions that support diversity and inclusion. You may not have control of these, but you can advocate for:
• Equal pay
• Promotion equality of opportunity
• Respect for cultural and religious holidays and changes to working hours
• Facilities like prayer rooms, nursing rooms, and physical adaptations
• Making translations available
• Using gender, age and culturally neutral language
• Thinking about the food and drink you make available
• Strengthening diversity and inclusion in organizational policies, procedures, and processes.
A while back, I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list.
kit.co/MikeClayton/what-a-pro...
Note that the links are affiliated.
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#Project #ProjectManagement #Diversity&Inclusion

[@Onlinepmcourses]

A diverse team and an inclusive environment in which it can thrive will make your project a delight to work on - and give better results. But it won't happen on its own (not yet). So, you need to work at it. And, in this video, I lay out what you need to do.

[@eepower]

Every respectful company that looks into sustainability and long term success should take this video and make everyone in their company listen and understand this video. Well Made Sir.!

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you very much, Shamekh.

[@kyjo72682]

Unfortunatelly modern "Diversity and Inclusion" initiatives are often not about mitigating unconscious bias but more about promoting conscious bias in the "other" direction. I.e. official policies for hiring people from specific groups, like sex, ethnicity, etc. That is also a form of discrimination, and should be illegal. Regarding facilities - I'm sorry but personal matters like religious practices and child-care have *no place* in the place of business, neither does politics. I agree about use of neutral language in documentation. With regard to "equal pay" it is important to properly define what exactly that means. Sometime it can mean "just pay for the amount of work" and sometime it can literally mean "equal pay no matter what" which is the opposite of just.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Yes, I agree that positive discrimination is a form of discrimination. No one doubts it. But some argue that it has a place in shifting perceptions and reality as a means to a fairer society. Whether it should be illegal is a matter for each jurisdiction and it certainly is, in some places. Regarding facilities for religious practices and childcare. Well, workplaces are places where people work, so it seems reasonable to me to allow people to feel comfortable, safe, and welcome at work. How far employers should go is a matter of judgment. I think most advocates for equal pay would argue that the pay you get for a job should depend only on the job you do and how well you do it. However, there is the issue that some people in a society do not find it easy to access the jobs that would pay higher salaries due to explicit or implicit discrimination. And another issue is the way society attaches relative values to different roles. Why for example, do we seem to value a firefighter, who often places their life at risk to the benefit of society, less than we value a hedge fund manager, who moves money around for the benefit of rich clients? This is a rich and important topic and worthy of careful thought.

[@kyjo72682]

​@@Onlinepmcourses Well, I (personally) feel uncomfortable when people bring their personal matters into the workplace, especially if it incurs additional cost and hinders productivity. So that's also a perspective to consider. ;) I agree, it is a complicated topic. My main point though is that it is not possible to remove discrimination by adding more discrimination in the opposite direction (and whether discrimination is "positive" or not is a matter of opinion), and it is not possible to achieve justice by implementing unjust policies like giving people the same amount of money for different amount of work.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

ok

[@ninjo2k]

I support people who work well in a team and deliver. I dont care about their sex or ethnicity. Its that simple.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

...as it should be!

[@keyboarddancers7751]

If you want really good advice about diversity and inclusion at the very highest levels, ask the Conservative Party.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I really don't know whether you are serious or sarcastic with this remark. But I shan't give my point of view, as I want to keep this channel as clear of partisan politics as I can. I shall leave viewers with knowledge of UK politics to make up their own minds. And be warned: I will block replies readily if they appear party political, whether I happen to agree with them or disagree with them.

[@tolevelup]

Great video! Its great to see more and more people in the project management space cover this topic.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you. I agree.

[@LetsCelebrateTV]

Well done.... Sadly IT operations and management is very male centric, but organizations are doing a better job recruiting and giving educational opportunities to expand inclusiveness.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

That was also true in management consulting when I was at Deloitte. One big challenge is to get at root causes. But that's tough because the causes of gender discrimination are different from those of race discrimination, are different from those of... Maybe we just need to set up processes to circumvent bias, and let the causes become an artifact of history (here's hoping!)

[@kyjo72682]

Also 99% of "dirty jobs" which are required to run our civilization. But you don't hear people complaining about that.. Only about the cushy high income jobs. ;)

[@carolinafine8050]

It’s impressive the burden you must shoulder… to consider that you offer nothing of any actual worth to a company aside from a few baseless platitudes about diversity, inclusion, and equity… as if these were non-factors before 2005. I would feel so uncomfortable if I were you. But you’re able to eschew those concerns. Interacting with people who actually do something meaningful for a company. At time you must feel like a guy who is hired to check the transmission oil on a clipper.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I'm sorry if I've offended you in some way, but I don't get all of what you are saying. Some of your sentences confuse me, I'm afraid. I simply wanted to make a short video introducing project managers to some basic ideas about diversity and inclusion, for those who are unfamiliar with working in a diverse context - and yes, there are some who are. I knew when I made this video that it would attract more than my usual amount of critical comment. But it would help me more if you identified errors or omissions in my content, rather than simply making an ad hominem attack. I am who I am - no apologies. But I am open to discussing the specific content in a civil manner.