IWD - creating a culture of inclusion..
Requires courageous conversations
This year’s IWD day theme is inspiring inclusion. Let's talk about the role of psychological safety in building a culture of inclusion. As this applies to all genders. As it can’t just be women speaking up about issues.
The role of psychological safety is acknowledged in building high-performing teams. However, I still think there is a lot of work to do within corporate and community spaces. Psychological safety is essential to foster inclusive environments. As we risk perpetuating homogenous teams that all share the same characteristics.
It takes courage to do the following:
Speak up at work
To share feedback
Calling out poor behaviour
Raise issues of concern within communities
The above scenarios need a culture where people feel safe to raise issues. Cultures where people don’t feel safe to raise concerns lead to whistleblowing.
But we still often miss a key ingredient within DEI initiatives. The personal and professional behaviour change required to enable more courageous conversations. So to inspire inclusion requires a feedback culture change. And this is something everyone in society can get behind.
Building psychological safety
Debate, discussion, constructive challenge, and healthy conflict are all vital ingredients to foster innovation. Yet to grow both as people and businesses we forget that growth comes with growing pains.
As we tackle challenges like climate change and DE&I we get conflicting perspectives. To collaborate and innovate these environments need psychological safety. We need to cultivate cultures where feedback can channelled to drive change.
Psychological safety is not the following;
- Cherry picking what feedback you choose to engage with
- Cherry picking who you ask for feedback from
- A leader being able to disagree but other members of team being challenged when they disagree with the leader
- Stifling debate or feedback loops
- Gaslighting
- asking how someone wants to receive feedback & then disregarding it entirely
- Excluding or removing people when you don’t like their feedback
Characteristics required to build a psychologically safe culture
Honesty
Humility
Empathy
Respect
Self-reflection
While there will be plenty of IWD events, panels and social posts. There is a growing sentiment that the day is becoming devoid of role modelling true inclusion.
To create an inclusive environment we need to hone and develop the above qualities. What training & development support do you provide to build capability to handle courageous conversations?
Creating a feedback culture
It’s important to be clear on the feedback culture an organisation or team wants to cultivate. It takes time to build up trust within a group of people.
In service design we think about the opportunities for feedback loops within a service. Designing for endings and capturing insight is something we can all consider. The traditional exit interview is too late to address employee grumbles. Or at the end of the sales process when the customer raises issues about how you promoted the product!
Often you need to regularly reassert what it is you want feedback on. For example; if you share a development area you’re working on, this shows the team you are open to learning and improving.
Do you know what the feedback culture is in your company or community group?
How do you build feedback loops into your product or service?
Who role models giving feedback in your organisation?
When you interview, have you asked the manager about how they have responded to constructive feedback?
What was the last piece of constructive feedback you gave to someone?
Opportunities for inviting feedback
To invite feedback you need to be clear on what it is you want feedback on. For example; if you share a development area you’re working on, this shows the team you are open to learning. So in future they are more likely to provide helpful feedback on a talk for example.
It’s also important to be clear with colleagues how you like to receive feedback. At the start of a project share how team members prefer to receive feedback. I did this on several discovery teams at Co-op. Setting the expectation early on how you best process feedback builds trust.
Remember not everyone is comfortable with a random call/comment out the blue. Understanding how you can best deliver feedback is key to how it will be received by the recipient. Think about folks with anxiety . Giving them the time to process written feedback can make a follow up chat less stressful. Thus leading to a more constructive conversation.
Prompt questions
Where are the micro-moments or natural opportunities to seek feedback? Where & when are you setting feedback expectations with the colleagues around you?
Where in your induction process do you clarify how team members like to receive feedback?
When did you last receive feedback from a colleague?
Who do you avoid raising feedback with? What is it about your interactions with that person that make it harder to share feedback?
Do you only gather feedback once a year for your annual review? Do you only seek positive feedback from peers you get along well with?
How often do you have 1:1 catch-ups with team members to get feedback?
Tips for how to take difficult feedback.
I’ve experienced blowback in response to me sharing challenging feedback. These situations have changed my career and the communities I associate with. So I wanted to share some reminders on how to handle responding to difficult feedback.
Remember we all have an ego. This is what drives your initial reaction to be defensive. Your ego wants to push against comments that make you question your choices. Your ego doesn’t like it when its choices are challenged.
Practice humility
This is where we need to hone a vital skill in life. Humility. As once the sting has gone you need to be objective. Take 24 hours to process the feedback. Allow your ego to calm down.
Take time to be reflective. Ask yourself these questions:
What was the person trying to get across with their feedback?
What can I learn from this experience?
If you never look at your role in a situation you will miss the opportunity to learn & grow.
Focus on tangible action
Feedback is constructive when it is shared as a tangible action for improvement. I learned this from Radical Candour. Which is a must read book on the topic of feedback. Especially courageous feedback conversations.
For example, I was disappointed with how you showed up in a workshop is not feedback. This is someone else’s expectation.
Here's another scenario.
Someone wants to build confidence in facilitation. Constructive feedback might sound like this. Try holding silence for 1 minute and see how this helps the group open up.
Constructive feedback
helps improve career development
helps improve responses to situations
ensures standards are upheld
Often feedback is used as a mask for people giving you their opinion. Such as I don't like x or your engagement was poor. It’s helpful to recognise when an opinion is being weaponised as feedback! If there isn’t something you can action then its not feedback.
Clarification is key
It's also ok to ask for clarity. To try and understand what someone might be trying to convey. For example, there's an unmet expectation, establish what outcome they wanted to achieve?
If the feedback supports the desired outcome then it's constructive. This is where taking a step away to reflect helps. If you’re not clear on how to move forward from the feedback its ok to ask. This is where feedback can become a constructive conversation. Both parties need to understand the other's perspective.
Note. If you deliver feedback in a disrespectful manner then you will have damaged the message. Create & role model a culture where feedback is given in a considered and respectful way.
I hope these examples and prompts give you something tangible to reflect on?
If we truly want to live and work in an inclusive society then we have to get comfortable with having courageous conversations. We can only inspire inclusion if we create the right conditions for voices to be heard and respected. While also ensuring those who are listening have the humility to ask challenging questions about their own responses.