5 Tips To Create A More Inclusive Team Environment
Building an inclusive ecosystem is critical for the success of any organization. An inclusive workplace is where all employees have an equal opportunity to grow irrespective of their visible and invisible differences and disabilities. An organization should work towards making its employees feel welcomed and valued in the organization to build an inclusive team environment.
According to research by Deloitte, an inclusive workplace drives employee engagement as 83% of millennial employees are actively engaged at work at companies that build an inclusive work ecosystem.
As the legendary management consultant Peter Drucker once said - Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Organizations should make a conscious effort to ensure that an inclusive culture is built in the organization, rather than just relying on the efficacy of the strategic plan.
Here are the five tips for creating a more inclusive team environment in your organization:
1. Build diversity
It is essential to have a diverse workforce that includes people of all ages, religions, races and world views. Building a diverse team helps get a better overview of the various challenges and opportunities in the market. A diverse workplace allows for more ideas and better cultural awareness. The diverse cultural perspectives help drive innovation and creativity in the organization.
2. Discourage discussions on politics and religion
It is a good practice not to allow discussions on politics and religion in the workplace. While you cannot completely stop informal employee discussions, these discussions should be discouraged to avoid workforce polarisation. The organization's focus should be to ensure that all employees are treated equally, irrespective of gender, age and religion.
3. Celebrate differences
An organization should make an effort to celebrate the differences that exist in the workplace. For instance, the organization should celebrate Women's Day and Men's Day with equal enthusiasm. Similarly, an organization should identify occasions that allow a team to celebrate differences and help build engagement within the group.
4. Communicate, measure and achieve
An organization should follow the roadmap of communication, measurement and achievement. The management should be able to communicate clear goals to the team. The second step in this roadmap is to measure the performance on the set goals rather than traditional indicators like time spent in the office etc. The final step in the roadmap is to help everyone in the team achieve the set goals. An organization's performance is a sum of parts. As teams accomplish the set goals, the organization continues to grow.
5. Build a responsive feedback mechanism
Building a two-way responsive feedback mechanism in the organization is essential to achieving an inclusive ecosystem for the workforce. This exercise is not limited to
the employees working at the headquarters but all branch offices. It is critical that employees feel that their feedback is vital for decision-making at the organization and not feel left out.
These are some of the measures that can help an organization build an inclusive team environment. It is a long journey to achieve and maintain an inclusive workforce. An organization should commit to the cause of building a truly inclusive workforce at the start of the process to achieve the desired results.
