Practicing inclusion is hard
We’re sharing a story today of how we, as a team at THC, unintentionally contributed to someone feeling excluded. It feels risky to share - what impact will sharing have on our reputation? It also feels like a very small story. I think most places would have brushed over it and there have been times when we have wanted to do just that. But actually slowing it right down and looking at this moment frame by frame has been a very interesting process. It’s even enabled me to share a ‘watch out’ to another organisation in a similar situation. So we share here in case it resonates.
‘Unintentional blindness’
We were in an internal meeting at THC that focused on the state of the DEI sector. The discussion was candid, addressing concerns about the perceived stagnation of DEI initiatives. We became aware that our colleague - the only ethnic minority person in the room at that point - felt marginalised and unable to contribute meaningfully. In short, we had unintentionally been blind to her experience until this point.
Reflection and learning
Once we realised this, we engaged in deep reflection. What exactly had happened? What was their experience in the room? What was everyone else's experience? How could this have happened on our watch? More importantly, what learnings could we derive from the moment and how could we clean it up?
After much discussion, we found two small ‘misfires’ in the meeting. Just like a microaggression, these were small, innocuous moments that had a much larger and difficult impact on that one other person.
Firstly, we hadn’t opened up the meeting in our usual way. We normally invite everyone to ‘check in’ at the beginning of a meeting, ensuring that all voices are heard from the start. We hadn’t done this because we were distracted by a different team member having hospital treatment.
The second ‘misfire’ was to focus on the DEI landscape through a purely commercial lens. We are a business after all, and any shifts in perceptions of DEI in organisations affects us materially. AND… we’re all in this work because we believe in its benefit for wider society. Our colleague experiences the impact of an inequitable and often racist world on a daily basis. We didn’t name that in the room. Perhaps we thought it didn’t need to be said. In fact they were struggling with the potential outcome of the French elections at this moment (it was post the first round and before the second round). The result was they felt alone and marginalised.
Transforming insight into action
We put our heads together and came up with these strategies:
Actions within your control
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Scan the room: Be mindful of who is present and who is absent. Take note of the diversity, or lack thereof, and note that some diversity may not be visible.
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Invite in: If someone is quiet but appears to have something to contribute, actively encourage their participation.
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Notice your attention: Stop periodically to pause and assess your own thoughts and actions, especially if you are focusing too much on your agenda.
Lean into your mistakes
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We are all imperfect and we will get it wrong. It feels vulnerable, messy and hard to lean into this, particularly when race is a theme in the misstep. I really admire my colleagues that leant into the messy conversation to understand each other with generosity and kindness. Trust does not need to be a casualty of such moments - in fact it can be deepened through having the conversation.
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Acknowledge the learning. The big one here is that conversations about ‘the stalling of the DEI agenda’ are triggering in themselves which was so useful for me to know when presenting for an hour on the topic to an American organisation the week after. We need to remember all of the perspectives in the room and the different impact we might have. I’m attending a similar discussion this afternoon with a different organisation and have given them a heads up on how this played out for us.
By acknowledging and addressing ‘unintentional blindness’, we can move towards creating environments where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.
We hope it's helpful to hear that we all get it wrong sometimes.
THC x