The Society for Human Resource Management reported that “respectful treatment of all employees” was the number-one contributor to job satisfaction, with “trust between employees and senior management” being the second. This shows that treating people with a sense of humanity truly matters to your employee’s feelings of belonging.

Let us look first at what tolerance means. It means putting up with something that you do not agree with or something or someone that you are not comfortable with. We don’t know about you, but we don’t want to be tolerated. Tolerance is not enough and does not create a feeling of belonging. We’re striving for acceptance and valuing people’s differences.

‍

The term “microaggressions” was coined in the 1970s by Harvard University professor Chester Pierce to describe the subtle, everyday ways that people experienced discrimination based on intentional words and/or actions. In creating inclusive work cultures and feelings of belonging, it’s important to understand the effects of these exclusionary, biased words and actions.

In this episode of DISRUPTIVE DISCUSSIONS, D.Z. Swift and Dion Jordan talk about what it means to be an ally. It’s more than identifying discriminatory behaviors in others or wanting to support people when discrimination and oppression occurs. Being an ally is a VERB, which means action.

In this episode of DISRUPTIVE DISCUSSIONS, D.Z. Swift and Dr. Victor Baker have an insightful discussion about Toxic Privilege in Society and the workplace and its impact on company culture and employees feeling of psychological safety and a sense of belonging.

‍

In this DISRUPTIVE DISCUSSION episode we were joined by Jeannine Brown and Dr. Victor Baker. It is an interesting discussion about allyship and sponsorship, misconceptions about what they are, the benefits of each type of program, and how an organization can incorporate both into their DEI efforts.

‍

If you’re stalled in your DEI journey, we’ve explored some hard-hitting, solution-oriented concepts such as:

• Identifying the impacts of people’s experiences on DEI adoption
• Ways to center your employees, as you build your DEI strategy
• The incentives for companies to build DEI into its DNA

‍