Everybody deserves a chance to work. Everybody also deserves to work equally and fairly. An unfair work environment only breeds hostility not to mention unethical. Black Americans as well as other People of Color have long suffered the unfair work conditions that has been the normal to Corporate America. This Standard Operating Procedures presented more harm than good to the employees and workers. Inequality reigns supreme because of this white inclusivity and systemic racism. The amount of stories about non-white workers being skipped over for promotions and opportunities in favor of less competent people are too enumerable.  In fact, books like American’t by African American author King Bell, tell the story of this nightmarish situation in order to give a spotlight of these problems.

That said, such old practice should be put out of fashion. Each member of the team should be given a chance to be themselves in order to reach their full potential. They should be allowed to express their culture, gender, and identity for it is their right as human beings. Doing so will only yield positive results to the morale of the work force and by extension, the whole company. However, such a task will be impossible without the proper environment and conditions present. One cannot fathom the importance of proper communication in order to set-up such an inclusive environment.

As said above. Creating an inclusive environment will take a lot of communication from everyone in order to be fully functional. Good thing that there exists seven pillars of inclusion in order to make things easier. These seven pillars include access, attitude, choice, partnerships, communication, policy, and opportunities.

Access

Not all of us are created equal. There are some of us who are born with deficiencies, be it physical or attidunal.  As such, it is not such a bad thing to address issues that some team members need. Maybe try putting ramps and other accessibility options for people with disabilities could be a great start.

Attitude

Attitude could be considered as the main reason why inclusivity always fails. A negative attitude makes it hard for people to be confident especially those who are just joining a group. This negative attitude could manifest in the form of prejudice, unwillingness to change, and just overall unfriendliness. A company would do good to encourage its members to get rid of these unhelpful barriers. Promoting a positive attitude goes a long way in helping with the cause of inclusivity.

Choice

Everybody has their own preference and this choice could be different for different people. Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes. Giving people the chance to choose whenever possible would be good for inclusivity and diversity. It also encourages independence and self-confidence which could affect the overall productivity of the group in a good way.

Partnerships

One of the greater problems that people of color find is how uncomfortable they are when organizations call themselves diverse despite just having one or two non-white employees among their ranks. Because of this unbalanced ratio, these POCs often find it hard to socialize. Providing them partners that understand them and that who would mentor them genuinely and properly might help eradicate these problems and could cause these people to open up slowly but surely.

Communication

Everything falls without communication. Just like the story of the Tower of Babel, any organization will fall without proper communication. That said, this communication should be clear and should come from both sides. Proper communication does not mean just one side blaring and giving commands to another. Rather, it involves talking and listening. It is a careful discussion by both sides.

Policy

A company may pat itself in the back for all the efforts for the advancement of inclusivity and diversity. However, without putting proper policy in place, all these efforts could be in the end, be in vain. It takes policy to really cement changes. That said, policy should not be totally strict. Nobody wants a totalitarian organization. A good balance would be a policy that does not tolerate serious infractions but lenient enough to allow for investigations and non-serious violations. Going after every minor infraction would be too costly in the end. Such policies should also be promoted and communicated to all members belonging to the organization.

Opportunities

Lastly, providing good and positive opportunities to the members of the group is a good way to promote inclusivity. Marginalized groups have long been overlooked just because they are different. This thinking limits the overall pool of talent that organization has, in fact, it could lead to a negative to mediocre effect especially when wrong people are given the right opportunities. In fact, working on the opposite side, that is giving the right people with the right opportunities should be promoted. It can only end with everybody happy.

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