Giving Compass' Take:

• Rajkumary Neogy, a consultant whose Disruptive Diversity framework gives insights as to how individuals can create more inclusive workplaces by relying on effective communication and commitment to hearing all voices within their office. 

• Why is inclusivity a relevant topic for the 2018 workforce? Why are more corporations making commitments to racial equity and strengthening diversity and inclusion practices? 

• Read about the importance of building a diverse and inclusive company. 

It’s one thing to talk about bringing our authentic selves to work; it’s quite another to actually do so, especially in the face of all the potential triggers an average workday holds. Being interrupted, not having one’s contribution valued, not being asked to come to a meeting — these and other common (and often unintentional) slights can add up to a lack of psychological safety.

Being neglected is the most challenging experience for the human neurology,” explains Rajkumary Neogy, a consultant whose Disruptive Diversity framework helps team members rewire their nervous systems to create more cohesion and trust.

Luckily, creating a team culture that fosters inclusion via psychological safety is relatively simple: It just takes practice, intention, and attention.

Though the exact practices will be different for every company and every team, Neogy advises creating pre-discussed “housekeeping rules,” based on shared team values, that can serve as guardrails for fostering inclusive culture.

  1. Designate an advocate to make sure all voices are heard in every meeting. Research from Google’s Artistotle Project has found that conversational turn-taking is one of the key practices for creating psychological safety in a group.
  2. Agree on how to bring up nonverbal cues. In order to facilitate paying attention to the group’s nonverbal communication, discuss and establish norms among the team about how to bring questions and concerns up as they arise.
  3. Commit to checking assumptions instead of reacting to potentially triggering stimuli.“On teams, the number one issue I see is communication,” Neogy says. “People don’t take the time to ask questions about what was just said. They make an assumption, and then they walk away. That assumption is 99 percent of the time incorrect.” I

Read the full article about inclusive workplace from Conscious Company at B the Change