To Make Inclusion Work You Have to Create Habits: The Five Inclusive Habits
“At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.” — Charles Duhigg
To Make Inclusion Work You Have to Create Habits: The 5 Inclusive Habits
In the Power of Habit by Pulitzer Prize winning author Charles Duhigg recounts the story of a man who lost most of his ability to remember due to a stroke. Because of the stroke the man had virtually no short-term memory and had to be reintroduced to family and friends on a regular basis. One day while on his daily walk with his wife the two of them became separated. But, to the astonishment of his family the man was able to find his way back to his home on his own. How could this be? The man literally had no memory. Remember, he had to be constantly reintroduced to his family every day.
“memory and habits reside in different parts of the brain”
Upon further research experts were able to establish what many of them had suspected…that memory and habits reside in different parts of the brain. A habit becomes a habit because it becomes lodged in the basal ganglia portion of the brain and in this way becomes automatic. That’s why most habits we have appear to be unconscious. Ever shown up at work in the morning and not remember quite how you got there? That’s the habit part of your brain that promotes automatic actions to save as much cognitive energy as possible. The man was able to return home despite his poor memory because his walk through his neighborhood had become a deep-seated habit.
The five inclusive habits work much the same way. Our research suggested that a core human motive is to conserve as much cognitive energy as possible. Some brain scientists say our brains are cognitive misers. We try to expend as little energy as possible because thinking actions such as reasoning, analyzing, and decision-making require a substantial amount of cognitive energy.
“One reason it’s so hard to create inclusive environments is because people and organizations don’t want to expend cognitive energy on behaviors they don’t see as adding value to their personal effectiveness.”
Habits are important because they become part of our routines and thereby require little cognitive energy or effort to execute. The best chance to become more inclusive is when people and organizations don’t have to think about it, they just do it. It becomes part of the cultural DNA.
Based on our research review the five inclusive habits below and see if you can incorporate these habits into your routine….
Fairness
“Don’t Play Favorites”
Fairness in the workplace means that arbitrary action, personal favoritism, coercion for partisan political purposes, and prohibited personnel practices are not tolerated. While it seems a no-brainer, fairness dictates that appropriate steps are taken to deal with poor performers who cannot or will not improve, and that differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way. In addition, rewards are provided in a fair manner and are awarded for how well employees perform their jobs, not only for longevity or non- job-related activities.
Openness
“Be open to new ideas, new ways of doing things, and new types of people”
Diversity and inclusion are also fostered by having openness as a way of doing business. In an open work environment, creativity and innovation are rewarded, policies and programs promote diversity in the workplace, and supervisors and team leaders are committed to a workforce representative of all segments of society as they work well with employees of different backgrounds.
Cooperative
“Be willing to help and communicate in a positive way”
In a cooperative work environment, managers promote communication among different work units and support collaboration across work units to accomplish work objectives.
Supportive
“Be friendly, caring, constructive, and flexible with others”
When supervisors are supportive, it means that they understand the need to balance work and other life issues.
Supervisors and team leaders must provide employees with constructive suggestions to improve their job performance and talk with employees about their performance every six months. Successful supervisors and team leaders take time to listen to what employees have to say and treat employees with respect.
Empowerment
“Enable others to succeed by providing needed information, resources, and autonomy”
In an inclusive workplace, employees have enough information to do their job well and will feel encouraged to come up with a new and better way of doing things. In an empowered work setting, employees’ talents are used well, and employees have a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to their work processes.
Next post I will provide some researched based ways to implement what we call “Small Acts of Inclusion.”
