This article is the third in a series. Read the first, second, and fourth articles.

One question I am often asked by organizations is “how much diversity should we be aiming for?” When I hear this, I know that people are grasping for a number or ratio to target their efforts. Although it’s reasonable to want to measure success against a clear goal, we need to think more broadly. Think back to the first two steps to getting started on your DEI journeys: 1) determine “why” DEI is important to our work, and 2) connect it deeply to organizational mission, vision and values. When we identify our purpose in this way, ratios and percentages simply become indicators of our progress and not the goal itself.

While I do believe it’s important to track such indicators, there is a caveat to keep in mind: these figures give us insight into organizational diversity, but not necessarily inclusion. For example, the proportion of staff who self-identify as being persons with disabilities might reveal a certain level of representation within an organization, but this number is not sufficient to tell us whether this is because of long-term retention or ongoing recruitment. The figures do not show us the cause, only the effect.

When taking a sustainable approach to DEI, we must think about how the cause drives the effect. We need to ask ourselves, “how does inclusion fuel diversity?” Step 3 will help us do just that.

Step 3: Think, “Inclusion First”

To build diversity in a meaningful way, we need to start by fostering inclusion. Here are 5 questions I encourage organizations to reflect upon when starting on the path to greater inclusivity.

1) What does inclusion look like?

To help us better understand inclusion and familiarize ourselves with key indicators, I often refer to a 2013 report by Deloitte Australia and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

In it, the Deloitte Inclusion Maturity Model describes inclusion as being comprised of 1) perceptions of how a person is being treated within an organization, as indicated by fairness and respect, and 2) perceptions of how a person is seen within the organization, as indicated by value and belonging. While fairness and respect are rooted in basic equity and non-discrimination, value and belonging speak to how a person’s unique experiences, perspectives and talents contribute to the larger whole and strengthen their connection to the organization. As you can see, both lie on a spectrum, with the latter representing a higher order version of inclusion than the former.

It is important for organizations to reflect on where they are in their DEI journeys and determine what inclusion should look like within their contexts in order to build a steady foundation for this work.

2) Are people feeling included?

Here, I recommend going directly to your stakeholders to learn about their experiences and perceptions of inclusion, keeping in mind the indicators we have just identified. A cultural audit can give you the temperature of the organization, revealing how staff, clients and volunteers might be feeling about their sense of inclusion. If feedback is positive, that’s typically a good sign that people are feeling seen and heard. If feedback shows that more work is required, the findings can point to potential priorities and directions to anchor next steps.

What is critical here is the assurance of stakeholders’ safety and anonymity when sharing their feedback. If they do not feel secure, the insights they share will reflect this uncertainty.

3) How do we foster an inclusive environment?

In addition to helping organizations gauge stakeholder experiences and perceptions, audits can also uncover their needs and expectations. In this light, the easiest way to begin fostering an inclusive environment is to build upon lessons learned and develop a plan for implementation, based on best practice. Simply put, we need to listen to our stakeholders!

The process isn’t always cut and dry. At times, organizations will need additional training to respond to complex systemic and interpersonal oppressions (eg. unconscious bias, microaggressions, etc.) and embed learnings into practice. Other times, organizations will face issues of competing rights, which happens when the rights and freedoms of one individual or group substantially impacts those of another. Organizations can take proactive steps to address this by creating policies and procedures to follow when faced with these situations, and seeking the advice of their province’s Human Rights Commission for additional resources when needed.

4) How can we build an inclusive culture?

The easy answer is that inclusion—like any culture—must be lived. This means examining day-to-day practices to assess whether they make stakeholders feel valued and that they belong, and by pre-emptively removing barriers so that all stakeholders are included. Consider for example, are organizational decisions made top-down, or are staff consulted? Are clients treated like service recipients, or service users? Whose voice gets heard, and why?

Reflect on how such dynamics can contribute to or hinder an inclusive culture, then consider the tangible steps needed to move the dial forward. Organizations need to model inclusion so that stakeholders can experience it and know what they are striving for.

5) Are we on the right track?

Earlier, we discussed how quantitative data typically provides a snapshot of organizational diversity. In order to understand the causal relationship between diversity and inclusion, it’s crucial that we are collect and analyse data with both in mind. To do this, I suggest tracking the following measures:

• Multi-year trends to track representation of diverse communities,
• Percentage representation relative to local or regional demographics,
• Disaggregated data to reveal differences in experiences, and
• Inclusion indicators to provide insight into how inclusion shapes diversity

What results is a thorough data set that reveals shifts in representation of diverse groups of communities, while highlighting any under/over representation. As well, the ability to analyse disaggregated data provides rich information about how diverse community members might have different experiences due to multiple and overlapping oppressions — for instance, while white women might report gender-based discrimination in the workplace, the oppressions faced by Indigenous women are influenced both by gender and Indigeneity, and therefore they look and feel different and can have a greater impact. Measuring for inclusion ties everything together by capturing nuances, providing context, and highlighting potential opportunities for further DEI development.

In this article, we’ve reflected on inclusion as the engine that powers diversity. Next month, we will build this out further by thinking through an organizational approach to DEI. Please drop me a line at christina@boldlyinclusive.co if you would like to get in touch. Until then, Happy Holidays!

Christina Sackeyfio is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Boldly Inclusive. She is a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional, who worked for over a decade on social impact and innovation projects as a non-profit leader, capacity builder, community engagement specialist. She sees inclusion as a lens for everything from strategy to program design and delivery, and believes that if we stretch our thinking about DEI, it can be a way of doing rather than a thing we do.