Ian Dodds Consulting - “Delivering added value and superior performance by building an inclusive climate and addressing unc

Last month I asserted that transforming masculine cultures to be more inclusive was an assured route to delivering high performance. Moreover, it is one which is often a blindspot and unaddressed by organisations. Research by Gallop in the UK (2006) showed that those companies that had employee engagement scores in the top quartile averaged 18% higher productivity and 12% higher profitability than others in the survey. Building a truly inclusive work climate and fostering a meritocracy by addressing unconscious bias are about engaging everyone in the workforce to their full potential in helping deliver exceptional business success. IDC offers a highly successful workshop designed to help participants have the awareness, capabilities, best practices and motivation that will enable their organisations to capitalise on inclusion and meritocracy as a key driver of success for the future. Its delivery involves: compliance with legal mandates; leadership being in touch with the diversity of its customers, markets and communities in which it operates; engaging its entire workforce in striving for business success.

This workshop enables participants to: experience and understand the barriers to fostering meritocracy and engaging everyone inclusively; have the knowhow and tools to leverage, lead and drive the changes needed to deliver the business gains this offers. The key concepts and practices covered in the workshop are complemented with a toolkit that will be available to participants for continuous reinforcement, follow-up and learning.

The workshop begins by looking at D&I from the broad lens of individual early messages and the unconscious biases they can create and the resulting impact on internal organisational dynamics, culture and behaviours. The emphasis is on the wider concept of inclusion, rather than any specific diversity strand. It raises awareness about unconscious bias and the behaviours that support building an inclusive work environment. In this way, it encapsulates the inclusive concept of layers of diversity, e.g. personality differences, gender, race, sexual orientation, generational diversity, physical and mental ability, thinking, communication and working styles, work history differences, etc. It provides clarity on the business rationale for inclusion and meritocracy and highlights other drivers, e.g. ethical and legal. In addition, it provides interventions and tools to deal effectively with building capability to drive the transformation to a work climate which is inclusive and meritocratic for everyone. Interactive theatre and case study examples bring the issues to life and small group work and expert facilitator input, enhance the learning experience.

Participants develop an action plan with 2-3 specific actions they will personally undertake to foster inclusion and meritocracy in the delivery of their D&I action plans.We strongly recommend that to enhance the bottom-line benefits delivered by the training clients ensure that it is reinforced by follow-up activities such as:

d. What specific results benefits they have obtained after the training? The findings from the questionnaire are analysed and communicated to participants to offer them insights into learning and applications from the training they might not have considered or tried.