Developing an Inclusion Mindset
How to Put an End to Imposter Syndrome
In a video lesson, inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra discusses how workplace messages contribute to imposter syndrome in women, particularly women of color, and offers strategies to foster a more inclusive and equitable environment.
Key Concepts for Understanding the Experiences of Marginalized Groups
In this video lesson, inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra explores how intersecting marginalized identities can compound workplace challenges, emphasizing the need for inclusive cultures to support women of color, who often face both hypervisibility and invisibility, and are frequently underestimated in their career progression.
Become an Inclusive Leader in Every Moment
Inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra emphasizes that true impact in promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) requires humility, purposeful action, and a shift from individual character to addressing systemic biases, urging individuals to embrace discomfort and cultivate a growth mindset.
Become an Inclusive Leader on a Global Scale
Irish author George Bernard Shaw highlighted that patriotism often stems from a belief in the superiority of one's own country, a mindset echoed by inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra, who advocates for cultural humility in leadership to foster inclusivity and learn from diverse global perspectives.
Recognize and Address Unconscious Biases
Code-switching, a natural behavior adjustment based on context, becomes unhealthy when it requires suppressing one's identity to avoid discrimination, as explored by inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra, who highlights its psychological toll and suggests methods to identify unconscious biases.
Rethink the Term “Microaggressions”
In a video lesson, inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra emphasizes the importance of recognizing "exclusionary behaviors," such as mispronouncing names and stereotype-based assumptions, which can significantly impact marginalized individuals' well-being and sense of belonging, and suggests asking for correct name pronunciations as a simple act of inclusion.
Create Equal Opportunities
In this video lesson, inclusion strategist Ruchika Malhotra highlights the unfair distribution of "office housework," which disproportionately burdens women and people of color, and offers strategies for ensuring a fairer division of tasks to support career advancement.
Design Inclusive Meetings in Theory
Ruchika Malhotra emphasizes that meetings should be redesigned to foster inclusivity, ensuring equal opportunities for all participants to share and receive credit for their ideas, thereby enhancing innovation and reducing marginalization.
Design Inclusive Meetings in Practice
Inclusion specialist Ruchika Malhotra emphasizes the importance of fostering inclusivity in meetings by implementing strategies like a "no interruptions" rule and amplifying others' ideas to ensure that all voices are heard and credited appropriately.
Deliver Unbiased Feedback
In this video lesson, inclusion specialist Ruchika Malhotra emphasizes the importance of delivering clear, actionable feedback to women of color by using the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) framework to focus on substance rather than vague comments about style.
Broaden Your Recruitment Efforts
To create a more inclusive work environment, organizations should prioritize hiring for "culture add" by diversifying their candidate pool, rethinking job listings to attract underrepresented demographics, and ensuring at least 50% of candidates are non-male and non-white.
Practice Inclusive Hiring
In this video lesson, inclusion specialist Ruchika Malhotra outlines strategies for standardizing interview processes to enhance inclusivity, including anonymizing resumes, leveling expectations, reducing affinity bias, and customizing questions for diverse candidates.
Few would suggest that cultivating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is easy. But it gets even more complicated once you acknowledge that organizations are made up of individuals, each with a unique intersection of identities and biases. To begin accounting for them, inclusion specialist Ruchika Malhotra urges team members in positions of power to recognize their privilege and use it to create opportunities for people in “underestimated” groups. Ultimately, though, each employee within an organization can help improve its culture if they choose to be inclusive on purpose.
Learning Objectives
- Apply the lens of intersectionality to issues of identity and belonging in the workplace.
- Practice a growth mindset and cultural humility.
- Surface workplace biases.
- Rethink the term “microaggressions” and acknowledge their impact.
- Foster an inclusive meeting culture.