How to Make Diversity a Differentiator in Meetings

All right, let's kick things off. Thanks so much to everyone for joining us on this Friday for our April CultureCon community webinar. So today we have Beth Ridley here leading our webinar. Beth was actually a speaker at our mini CultureCon Milwaukee back in October, and we'll also be speaking at CultureCon 2020. Beth believes positive and inclusive workplace cultures inspire us to dream big, learn more, lean in, and become better. These values and behaviors fuel our success in good times and our strength in difficult times. Through her consulting firm, the Brimful Life, Beth helps organizations thrive in all times by putting people and culture first. Beth combines her 25 years of corporate leadership and management consulting experience with expertise in diversity and inclusion and positive psychology. Beth has some global experience and has lived all over the world. Beth has a BA in English Literature from Virginia, an MA in International Relations from Tufts, and an MBA from Columbia University. Beth lives a brimful life by spending time with her husband and three kids and with running, speed skating, and watching cooking competition shows on tv, which is ironic because she really hates to cook. So with that, I will turn it over to Beth. Beth, thanks so much for being here.

Thank you very much, Zach. I appreciate the opportunity. Opportunity to be here and nice to virtually meet everyone. You know, I just want to say, when Zach and I talked about this topic of diversity inclusion, it was like well before the coronavirus and it seemed like a great topic. It's always a good time to talk about diversity inclusion. At that time, a lot of companies were interested in building cultures of inclusion as a way to go from good to great. Then fast forward, we find ourselves in the middle of this page. Pandemic. So my first reaction was, I don't even know if this topic is really that relevant anymore. But I will say, over the past four weeks, I have reached out and talked to at least 40 CEOs and leaders just because I really wanted to understand what are they learning about themselves and their company cultures as they're leading through crisis. And an overall theme that I heard from the people that I talked to is that during crisis, it definitely highlights the strengths and we weaknesses of leadership and culture. And those leaders who had always been investing in building positive and inclusive cultures in their organizations felt that they were in a much stronger position during challenging times. For the reason being that now is the time to really embrace and encourage diverse perspectives, different ideas, because companies have to get creative and innovative with how they're figuring out how to manage and ultimately thrive. Thrive in this new normal. And leaders who had not invested in inclusive cultures are now saying that's one of the things that they want to start investing in going forward so that they can benefit from having more resiliency, more innovation, as everybody's trying to figure out what business looks like in this post pandemic future. So I just wanted to say it turns out that it's always a good time to talk about diversity inclusion, which is what we're going to talk about today. Before we launch into the content, I wanted to share a little bit about me personally since we're going to be spending about 50 minutes or so together. And so Zach talked about my life like pre pandemic. This is my personal life during pandemic. And so I think like many of you, I am trying to basically make lemonade out of lemons. And that means I'm learning new skills and getting creative with how I connect with people. So there's a picture of my dad who turned 85. We had a surprise birthday zoom pop up party for him with the whole family. He only lives 10 minutes away, but of course with social distancing, we couldn't gather in person. The picture in the middle is I do regular segments on leadership and culture for a local TV show here in Milwaukee. And of course I can't go into the studio now, so I am learning how to do live TV via Skype from my living room. And then the other picture is of my daughter. I've got three kids, but my daughter is 14 and she's got a huge head of hair and she likes it braided. And so usually I take her to get it done but I can't do that. So I had to learn how to do box braids on YouTube and I did it. She was happy with did take five hours. So anyways, I hope I don't have to do that again. But you know, like I said, just trying to make the most out of the situation that we all find ourselves in. I just want to spend then a minute on highlighting a couple of things from my professional career because I think it's important that you have appreciation for the perspective and lens that I bring to diversity and inclusion. So I just want to focus on like four key milestones in my career. So the first was when I first started. Early in my career, most of my work experience was international. So I had different leadership roles for different companies in different cities. But I had the opportunity to live and work in Tokyo and London, Johannesburg, South Africa and Bangkok. And what that experience taught me is that I became somewhat attuned to what makes all humans common, even despite some of our differences. When I moved back to the United States, I spent most of my time in New York City. And there I worked as a management consultant for a large management consulting firm. So I had the chance to drop into all sorts of different companies across a whole variety of industries. And through, through that experience, I really got to see some things that were really common about how to bring out the best in people. Despite the workplace. Right. Despite the industry, despite the size or the type of company. Then I eventually moved to Milwaukee, which is where I'm from, when my husband got a job here and it turned out to be a great time and place to have kids and raise a family. But for most of my time here in Milwaukee, I worked at a large financial services company. A lot of different leadership roles. But at one point I led diversity inclusion for the company and really jump started the whole effort to build a culture of diversity and inclusion. But I also served in leadership other leadership roles outside of diversity inclusion. So I have a balance between being a D and I practitioner, but also being a leader who has to figure out how do you take these D and I concepts and best practices and integrate them into your day to day. And then finally last year I started my own consulting practice that really combines all of my work experience. And I really help companies bring out the best in their leaders, teams and organizations. And I do everything from executive coaching. I help improve dysfunctional teams, full blown organizational culture transformation work, and of course diversity and inclusion. But I will say that even if I'm not hiring for a specific D and I engagement, to me, DI is always woven into all of the work that I do because it is really at the end of the day about bringing out the best in people. So I just want to mention a little bit about my own philosophy around company culture, culture transformation, because the webinar content is very much rooted in my philosophy and beliefs around culture. So the first is that the culture of the organization really does start at the top. It takes its tone from leadership. I don't think, you know, that's revolutionary. I'm sure many of you agree with that. But the second point is maybe where I start to differ a little bit. I do not believe that you need big, huge, grand strategies or to invest a lot of money in big initiatives in order to transform the culture of the organization to be more inclusive, for example. And this is a belief that I draw from my own experience having worked for a very large management consulting firm. And I do know that some consultants, err, on the side of big complex strategies that look amazing in PowerPoint. But then also having been a leader who has accountability for driving that strategy forward, I know how daunting and challeng it can be to have to take something else on top of all of your daily responsibilities. So my approach really is to look for small ways that leaders can make big impact by influencing the things that they do on a day to day basis anyway. And so I do believe that transformational change around culture can come from doing small things that have a big impact as long as those things are done consistent, consistently, and as long as there's alignment between the words that people say and their actions. So a lot of the stuff that we're going to be talking about in this webinar are really rooted in small things that you can do, but they can ultimately add up to transformational impact. So the takeaways from this webinar we're going to be I'll be sharing three Steps to Make Diversity a differentiator in meetings as a way to start to drive and build a comprehensive inclusive culture across the organization is First, I just want to really simplify and demystify what it takes to drive a culture of inclusion. I want to talk a little bit more about these micro moments, the small things, the day to day things that add up to the overall employee experience and how important and essential they are to driving a culture of inclusion. And then I want to make sure that I leave you with some really practical, actionable steps that you can apply at your work on Monday in terms of DI best practices and also inclusive communication skills that you can integrate into meetings. And these are actions that you can take whether the meetings are in person or virtual as well. Okay, so a question for everyone Before I dive into the content, I just want to sort of gauge where folks are in your organizations on the D and I Journey continuum. So I know these categories are very oversimplified, but I want to just sort of get a sense. So if you could respond in the questions section, just type a 1, 2, or 3 that best reflects where you think your organization is. If you're a one, that means you're starting about or thinking to start about how to drive a culture of inclusion in your organization. But maybe you haven't taken actions yet. Type 2 if you've taken some steps in terms of engaging leadership and employees around D and I conversations, or maybe even training. And then type 3 if you feel that you're far more advanced. You know you're really people in the Organization have embraced a D and I mindset, or maybe you've got programs that are fully integrated into the operations of the business. So if folks could chime in, I at least want to get a gauge of the audience. Sue, I see some twos, some ones, some threes, some twos, 2.5 ones. 2. Yeah, I figured this is a mixed audience and so what I want to do is just first level set around terminology. So when I talk about diversity and inclusion, for me, diversity is the mix. The mix. And we'll talk about what we mean by that mix. But it could be anything from diversity that you can see in front of you, gender, age, ethnicity, to diversity that's hidden. Life experiences, leadership style preferences, and inclusion is just how we get that mix to work well together. The two absolutely have to go hand in hand. Diversity and inclusion. If companies are going to benefit from having a diverse workforce, diversity without inclusion can lead to discord, misalignment, and in fact, when I work with dysfunctional teams, the primary root cause of of dysfunction is that there is diversity without inclusion. So it's very important that the two go together. In fact, a lot of companies are now, instead of talking about their DNI initiatives, they're talking about their IND initiatives. Inclusion and diversity. Just to underscore how important the inclusion piece is, otherwise you're not really benefiting from the value of having diversity in your workforce. I won't drain this slide, but, you know, I think we are all aware of there are very quantifiable benefits of having a diverse and inclusive organizational culture that everything from, you know, diverse and inclusive teams make better decisions. Companies with diverse and inclusive cultures outperform from a financial standpoint and certainly from a talent recruiting and retention standpoint. In the modern workplace, a diverse and inclusive workforce really, really matters to employees. All right, so the concept of diversity, inclusion, the mix, getting the mix to work well together is simple enough. There's ample research out there that supports the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive culture. So why is it that companies feel stuck either just getting started or even making advancements. It really doesn't seem like it should be all that hard. So some of the reasons that leads clients to me when they're struggling with how to start with trying to build a more inclusive culture ranges from, we don't have diversity in the organization, so how do we even begin if we don't really have much to work with? Sometimes I hear, well, we just don't have any budget or resources to put behind this. You know, we cannot afford a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. We don't have money to put towards D and I initiatives. And what I often hear a lot from leaders is love, love it conceptually. But I am not equipped to lead in this space. I don't want to put my foot in my mouth, say something wrong, offend people, and that is enough to, you know, to be a barrier from getting started. So again, if you could share in the questions box, what is a barrier that might be preventing your company from either getting started on the journey of building a culture of inclusion or advancing further than what you are? I'd like to hear what other people are experiencing as barriers to this. And I know some of you are consultants and not necessarily with the company, but maybe you could share with some of the barriers that you hear from your clients as well. Yeah, I see. Lack of psychological safety is a big one. And that can definitely challenge even getting started. Because obviously doing things to work on our culture of inclusion requires a certain degree of comfort, transparency, vulnerability. So if you don't even have that in the first place, it can definitely be a barrier. Let's see. Yeah, you're already great. Why do we have to create more problems? Yep. Don't want to policy this and make it feel forced. Yes. It doesn't feel organic if it can feel too forced and top down. Leadership acting versus just saying it's important. Yes. Misalignment between the words and actions. People are just not even sure where to start. Exactly. That's why I want to demystify some of this and give you an easy place to start. Limited time and resources. Great. Yeah, So I think, you know, very common themes here in terms of the barriers and hopefully this webinar will help to chip away with some of that. All right, so let's start to chip away with some of those, I guess I would call them myths or misconceptions about what it really takes to get started with building a culture of inclusion. So the first one around, we don't have any diversity or you know, what we're like, good where we are. We're not necessarily seeking more diversity. So I would say for organizations, honestly, if you have like more than one employee, you have diversity. I think a lot of times what intimidates people and becomes a barrier to moving forward is that they really only think of diversity in terms of superficial differences. Right. The things that you can see, gender, race, age and visible diversity certainly matters, but where the real benefit in terms of better decision making, better business outcomes, really comes from thought diversity. Now, certainly the package that you come in influences your life experiences, which influences your thinking. But unfortunately, I don't think a lot of organizations really invest in getting under the covers to really understand what is that thought diversity and really tapping into it. So even for organizations who say, you know what, we're good, we're good with the diversity that you have, have you really mined the difference in thinking, analytical processes, leadership styles, life experiences that could be better harnessed to even make better decisions? So I would challenge organizations to really think beyond those primary dimensions of diversity and start to get into things that really influence thought diversity that you can bring forward into the organization to make better decision making. And in fact, a lot of potential clients might say, you know what? We don't have diversity, so should we start first with recruiting more diversity? And I say, no, no, no, no. You do have diversity. Let's work with the diversity that you have and practice building a culture of inclusion around that first. Because one of the worst things that you could do is start bringing in people who look different than what you have in the organization, and they feel alone. And if you don't have a stronger culture of inclusion, it may not go well. They may not feel welcomed or included. So there is always diversity. Start practicing building a culture of inclusion with what you have and mine deeper to get into and really extract the benefits of thought diversity. All right, another misconception. We don't have money, we don't have any resources to put towards this. So why? How are we going to get started? So the single most important thing that you can do to build a culture of inclusion is to lead with the D and I mindset, to approach all of your work with a D and I mindset. And mindset is 100% absolutely free. I just interviewed a senior leader at Baird, which is a global financial services company, and they said that they made a very conscious decision to not hire a chief diversity inclusion officer and to not invest in programs and initiatives, because it needs to be everyone's accountability to approach their work with a D and I mindset. When everyone in your organization does that, you are really pretty much like the gold star of a diverse and inclusive organization, and you may not have had to pay a dime. So what is a D and I mindset? It's really all about leading into this space with curiosity. So a genuine interest in learning about people and the courage to do so. So the courage to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself so that you can broaden your appreciation and understanding of different perspectives and different life experiences and so that is where a lot of leaders are challenged. Like, oh, I don't want to put my foot in my mouth. You what if I say something that's offensive and I would just say to that that's.