Diversity And Inclusion: Are We There Yet?
The nascent journey of Diversity and Inclusion in India is definitely something we should all be proud of, though the more important part now is to lead the journey in the right direction. While most organisations are now keen to take monumental steps and dovetail the concept under their organization culture journey, the key challenges seem to be pervasive. The most fundamental amongst them is the inability to clearly define the concept in context of their own organisation culture. Ironically, while the definition finds its way out of the board rooms, the possible quick wins are also taking the hit.
While the debate on defining D&I continues, everyone would agree to the fact that it is all about giving a ‘physiological safety’ to people around us. And if we are all clear about this concept, then there is nothing that should stop us from taking immediate actions leading to some tangible outcomes. Let’s start from the most basic one of giving everyone equal power to take decisions which we hypothetically do, but not in reality. Maybe in a few evolved organizations, females, differently-abled or members of LQBTQ community are given a seat at the decision-making table, but how many times are we willing to accept their thought process? The reason lies within the flawed mindset that makes us constantly question their ability to think right or challenge the status quo.
There is a greater need to drive the mindset of acceptance vs plastering the premises with encouraging posters on equality. It’s fairly common to hear leaders stressing on what all they are doing for their ‘female employees’ in terms of policies and other tangible benefits. While these are all welcome steps, the way they are exhibited puts the female employees in a weaker spot anyway. Hence ‘doing’ becomes more important than ‘saying’ in the D&I journey for any organisation.
(The views expressed in the article have been curated by Parul Mathur, SVP - HR & of TrainingTradeindia.com solely for BW people publication.)
