What does a diverse and inclusive team actually look like?

Diversity and inclusion isn’t a side project. It’s not a tickbox exercise. It needs to be the bedrock of your team structure and culture. 

But what can you do to make that happen, and show your team that you’re genuinely committed to celebrating diversity and fostering inclusion?

As a diverse team of disabled and neurodiverse people, who have been helping individuals and organisations create inclusive spaces for over a decade, here are some of our top tips for how you can transform your team culture and ensure everyone is included.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

Nothing good happens in your comfort zone. Being prepared to get things wrong, and having a mindset where you recognise what you don’t know, but should, is just good business practice. But even more importantly, it’s also the only mindset that creates the space for productive conversations about inclusion. 

The only way you can progress towards a more inclusive team space is by recognising where you’ve fallen short in the past, and who you’ve excluded by doing so. As your first step, ask your team: 

What have I been doing wrong? 

What could I be doing more of? 

What do you need from me that I’m not providing you? 

What would you do differently if you were me?

These conversations will feel vulnerable for all of you, so create multiple avenues for feedback and take your time; have meetings, send surveys, ask questions in 1-to-1 settings, and give people space to formulate their responses. But over time, you’ll create a feeling of mutual trust and respect, a culture where 360-degree feedback is celebrated, and an environment that your team knows is inclusive of everyone.

Centre lived experience

Adam Hyland, one of our founders and our Director of Accessibility and Inclusion, says that we should really be talking about inclusion and diversity rather than diversity and inclusion.

“Diversity isn’t something we can create. Diversity is already here. What we’ve not always got is inclusion. But if you put inclusion first, diversity will naturally follow.”

Your team may even be more diverse than you realise, but unless you make it clear that you recognise diversity is something to be celebrated, they may not feel safe sharing their diversity with you. 

To create this culture shift, enable environments that centre lived experience. At D&A, we build bespoke workshops led by our inclusion specialists, all of whom have lived experience of disablement, so you know you’re amplifying the voices that matter most in conversations about disability, diversity and inclusion. 

But remember that those voices will also exist within your team. As well as bringing in external experts to share their knowledge and experience, give your team members the opportunity to bring something of themselves to this environment. We’ve worked with groups of all sizes – from local charities to global humanitarian organisations – to support them in developing ways to recognise, amplify and celebrate the lived experiences within their team. A series of ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions, facilitated by experts but led by team members themselves, won’t just give individuals a space to feel heard and represented, but also their peers a space to listen and improve. We always prioritise this internally, with members of the D&A community delivering sessions on topics like chronic pain, gender identity, experiences of mental ill-health, and many more. Not only does this demonstrate to our team that they can safely bring as much of themselves to work as they want to, but it also enables each of us to become better colleagues, friends and allies. 

Don’t just think about what you say, but when and how you say it

A vital aspect of creating a team that’s inclusive and diverse is ensuring that all of your communications – both internal and external – don’t exclude anyone. 

For internal communications, you can take advantage of the rich resource of communication methods we now have at our disposal. You probably noticed how communication within your team shifted and changed as you all adapted to home working. Perhaps those who were usually vocal in face-to-face meetings seemed withdrawn, or quieter members of the team seemed more comfortable speaking up. Maybe you noticed how different people used written communication methods, with some flourishing and others struggling. No matter what your specific observations were, we all know now just how many ways there are to communicate with our team.

This knowledge gives you an opportunity. If you employ diverse communication methods, you give everyone the chance to engage and feel heard. Make sure you’re making the most of asynchronous communications, such as messaging platforms and emails, as well as synchronous communications like phone calls and meetings. Demonstrate good practice yourself by being open about what communication you prefer and asking the same of your team members. For example, you could add a line to your email signature stating that you prefer phone communication and encouraging people to call or text you, or include in your phone’s voicemail that you prefer email and people will receive a richer and quicker response that way.

External communications are just as important and give you the opportunity to shout from the rooftops that you value and prioritise inclusion in all your business practices. There are so many incredibly important changes you can make to your external communications to make them more accessible, and a lot of them are simple shifts. Quick fixes like including image descriptions or alternative text, and using images that represent a diverse range of people, will make a difference. But to really get you started consider a personalised, interactive workshop on inclusive communications from our team who have both the comms knowledge, and lived experience of disability and neurodiversity to give you all the answers you need. 

Realise that diversity genuinely does make things better

Before you create a diverse and inclusive environment for your team, you need to understand why you’re doing it. 

Yes, there’s a legal requirement and a moral imperative to create a culture where everyone feels safe, welcomed and valued. But beyond this, an inclusive team will see greater success. More and more, research is showing that inclusive and diverse companies have higher employee retention, a better reputation, and greater profits (for example McKinsey, 2018, findcourses.com, 2019 and Deloitte, 2018). 

So keep in mind that inclusion and diversity is a win-win situation, let that be your motivation for committing to fostering an inclusive culture for your team, and reap the rewards!

About the author

Diversity and Ability is a social enterprise led by and for disabled people. We champion intersectional neurodiversity and disability inclusion, creating positive and lasting culture shifts through bespoke workshops, consultancy and support. Inclusion should be woven into the very fabric of your organisation’s environment; we’ll help you get there. And we’re offering SBT readers the opportunity of a free half-hour consultation to discuss your priorities, challenges and vision for your team, and how you can make that vision a reality. Just get in touch with us at workplace@diversityandability.com to find out more.

As Senior Communications Officer at Diversity and Ability, Ellie Thompson uses D&A’s communications channels to help progress towards intersectional inclusion, share lived experience and advocate for a future that celebrates diversity. You can join D&A’s conversations on Twitter (@DandA_Inclusion), LinkedIn (diversity-and-ability) and Instagram (@diversity-and-ability) as well as taking advantage of free guides, support and insight on our YouTube (Diversity and Ability). To find out more, head to our website at diversityandability.com.