DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR ORGANISATION IS REALLY INCLUSIVE? ― Well-meaning but ineffective diversity practices can be counterproductive. Track your organisational journey with insights from behavioural science. Run it past this nine-point rubric captured by the acronym INCLUSION. By Lutfey Siddiqi, Visiting Professor-in-Practice, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE IDEAS), and Co-investigator & Advisory board member, The Inclusion Initiative (TII)
Corporate policies of diversity and inclusion (D&I) run the risk of generating apathy. Not as a set of values but as a set of practices that may fail to engender their desired outcomes. Ineffective practices can be counterproductive. This is particularly true for multinational companies that roll out global policies without capitalizing on the cultural diversity inherent in their operations across time zones, and in hubs such as Singapore. On that backdrop, Dr. Grace Lordan, Director of the Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics, and I conducted a study around two related questions: Are there insights from behavioural science that can enhance the effectiveness of inclusion practices in financial services? Second, are there lessons from Singapore that may apply to other multi-cultural hubs? We suggest a framework represented by the convenient acronym of INCLUSION. Every letter of INCLUSION signifies a marker for organizational culture. This rubric can also form a template for workshops within firms about their inclusion journeys. Let me elaborate on each of these markers as a set of first-person questions that leaders may want to ask of themselves.
I
INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP
N
NORMS IN HIRING
C
CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
L
LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE
U
UNDERSTAND THE BENEFITS TO INCLUSION
S
SALIENT SOCIAL IMPACT
I
INCENTIVES
O
OPPORTUNITIES
N
NARRATIVES
Issue 95 / November 2023
