As employees, we spend important years of our lives in work environments. That means that our time is significantly divided between professional, personal, and social spaces. We bring our individuality and uniqueness to the workforce, which influences how we interact and engage with others.
What is an Inclusive Organization?
Work environments provide the spaces to develop work cultures that are inclusive and offer opportunities to build connections and a sense of belonging. However, different experiences within any workplace can unintentionally create barriers for employees to feel included. Therefore, organizations like Extension are charged with the responsibility to continuously aim to build and promote a culture of inclusion.
An inclusive organization is a place where people of all social identities feel valued. People can experience belongingness and are entitled to participate in organizational decision-making (Ortlieb et al., 2021). While organizational leadership is instrumental in cultivating a culture of inclusion and belonging, all staff members are involved in processes that create an organization’s culture. With this in mind, Miranda-Wolffe (2022) provides a framework for ways workplaces can intentionally and deliberately link organizational behaviors to their established values. These behaviors may be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, and ongoing.
Strategies to Promote Inclusion
Since inclusivity is one of Illinois Extension’s core values, what if we applied Miranda-Wolff’s framework? What are some behaviors we can build on or develop that link to this value? In your teams and office, consider using this framework in a team-building exercise to create your shared behaviors. These should not be static, but adaptable to meet team goals and needs. Here are a few questions to consider for developing inclusive behaviors.
- Daily behaviors: How do we manage daily communications such as emails and Teams chat? How do we include or demonstrate appreciation daily?
- Weekly behaviors: Do you have weekly team check-ins? What techniques do you use to support and engage with team members throughout the week?
- Monthly behaviors: At monthly staff meetings, is there room to highlight opportunities and share different ideas? For our programming staff, at your programs throughout the month, what do you do as a practice to help your audience feel welcome and valued for their time and participation?
- Quarterly behaviors: Do you attend quarterly training and professional development opportunities? When planning training and other activities, what core inclusion practices are included in your approaches?
- Annual behaviors: For leaders with administrative duties, what yearly or annual expectations do you have of your staff, and do they have the space or opportunities throughout the year to share vulnerabilities or challenges? What are some specific inclusion goals do you set annually?
- Ongoing behaviors: Do you ensure that our partners and audiences know we do not discriminate? Do we have our statements in our public notification and promotion documents (e.g., flyers, press releases, employment advertisements?
As our workplace and workspaces change, we must make more intentional efforts to build work cultures that thrive on the belief that all employees are valued for their uniqueness and their contributions to the organization. The questions above serve as examples for ways we can continue to integrate inclusivity in our workplace here at Illinois Extension.
References
- Miranda-Wolff, A. (2022). Culture of belonging: Building inclusive organizations that last. HarperCollins Focus LLC.
- Ortlieb, R., Glauninger, E., Weis, S. (2021). Organizational inclusion and identity regulation: How inclusive organizations form ‘Good’, ‘Glorious’, and ‘Grateful’ refugees. Organization, 28(2), 266-288.
Image Credit
- Unsplash | Annie Spratt