Being Inclusive

Organisational development and organisational behaviour is difficult. How do you get hundreds or thousands of people to look, act and work in the same direction.

For me the first step to allow for inclusiveness is to acknowledge that everyone is different. I once sat next to some one for few times whilst hot desking and I made an attempt to give a half smile or say hello to acknowledge this person. It was never my intention to be super chummy with this person but I could tell that the person was not interested in small talk. Anyway, this is fine … not all people want to bond, and we shouldn’t expect everyone to exhibit certain behaviours to be part of the team. Respect that some people are naturally warm and ooze positive energy and some people are naturally withdrawn.

One day there was one of those floor gatherings when everyone had a social, I didn’t join because as an introvert I do not get energy from big crowds. The next day the person who I sometimes sit next to asked me” how was the gathering” I said I don’t know because I didn’t join. At that moment the person spoke to me in a warmer way, even a a bit of small talk. This isn’t an example of inclusivity but it is an example of how 2 people recognise that they had something in common. Both being non party attenders. Being inclusive means that we respect peoples choices, not attending gatherings and team socials can have a knock on effect because sometimes a person becomes subconsciously excluded. This person opened up because we had something in common and that made the person let their guard down. Some organisations love to say the culture is we work hard and play hard but what if some one wants to be productive and miss out on the playing time?

Once you find the right level of inclusiveness even the coldest freeze block will melt eventually. It might just take some extra time and effort!