Chances are, inclusion is already in your organization’s core values. Core values are how organizations commonly articulate the expected behaviors of team members. Examples include behaviors such as integrity, respect, responsibility, compassion, honesty, fairness, learning, teamwork, adaptability and innovation.
How to Map Inclusion to Your Values
If inclusion is likely already in your organization’s core values, how do you map inclusion to your values? Most organizations have three to five core values. Review your core values and see where inclusion might be already present. Half the most commonly used core values— integrity, respect, compassion, fairness and teamwork—are highly aligned with inclusion. If values like this are not already present, perhaps it is time to update the values or add one for inclusion.
The challenge with core values is that people don’t know how to align their day-to-day behaviors with them. That is why it’s critical that companies map their values to specific expectations of behavior. Mapping core values to behaviors means identifying specific actions and attitudes that demonstrate a company’s or an individual’s stated values, essentially translating abstract principles into concrete behaviors that can be observed and measured in daily practice. It helps ensure that values are not just words but are actively lived out through actions. Holding team members accountable for core values in performance management and hiring for core values are also common ways to live them.
Once you’ve decided which core value inclusion is tied to, it’s time to map that core value to expected behaviors. This is helpful for the senior leadership team to brainstorm: What does inclusion look like in action? How would I know if someone is behaving inclusively or not? Here are some examples:
- Actively listening to diverse perspectives.
- Using inclusive language.
- Celebrating cultural differences.
- Adapting communication styles to different individuals.
- Challenging non-inclusive or microaggressions.
- Being a part of Employee Resource Group programming.
- Offering support to historically marginalized groups.
- Creating a safe space for open dialogue where everyone feels valued and heard.
- Working well with or leading a diverse group of people.
- Educating yourself on inclusive practices.
Case Study
In my interview with Shawn Nelson, CEO of LoveSac, he said, “One of our core values is ‘love matters.’ Love is a part of our brand, and we try to live up to the expectation of the word ‘love.’ It holds us accountable because we cannot lead in a hypocritical way. It is unnatural to behave in a way that is not in the spirit of love. As we change policies or work on innovations, love is a part of that.”
To live love as a culture, LoveSac operationalizes inclusion through:
- Their Women in Business group engages men as allies.
- DEI hangouts where people have an open forum facilitated by the DEI leader.
- Quarterly review of values where leaders are rated on active listening, acknowledging privilege and advocating for inclusive policy.
- Tuesday rallies— weekly meetings for all 400 employees that start with good news, and everyone can participate and share professional or personal successes.
“DEI has gone through a pendulum swing. It swung very hard in one direction, and I feel like it has landed in a good place here, focusing on having an inclusive culture. Inclusion is the least controversial part of the DEI acronym,” Nelson said.
If love, respect or inclusion are your core values, make it clear that inclusion is an expectation for all team members and hold them accountable for the behaviors that demonstrate inclusion. Toxic, non-inclusive cultures tend to prioritize performance at all costs, even if the behavior is problematic.
Exclusion is Costly
Toxic workplace culture is the number one reason high-performing employees leave organizations. According to Donald Sull, Charles Sull, and Ben Zweig, authors of “Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation,” they found that “A toxic corporate culture is by far the strongest predictor of industry-adjusted attrition and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover. Our analysis found that the leading elements contributing to toxic cultures include failure to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, workers feeling disrespected and unethical behavior.”
Inclusion is often already embedded in an organization’s core values, such as integrity, respect, and teamwork. Mapping inclusion to specific expected behaviors helps ensure that values are actively lived out through actions rather than just words.