CREATING AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE WITHIN YOUR AGENCY

As parks and recreation organizations look to move forward with justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts, leaders often ask what their first steps should be. While there is no right answer to this question, one place to start is with your own organization’s culture, specifically, at how inclusive it is for your staff.

From an individual perspective, inclusion is defined as how welcome a person feels to be their authentic selves at work. According to the Arvana Group, an organization with an inclusive culture fosters a sense of belonging by centering, valuing, and amplifying the voices, perspectives & styles of those who experience more barriers based on their identities. Personal views on an organization’s culture’s inclusiveness are impacted by experiences with leaders, co-workers, and the organization’s norms and standards.

Often people confuse a diverse organization with an inclusive organization. Diversity can be defined merely as the differences between us based on which we experience systemic advantages or encourage systemic barriers to opportunities (Arvana Group). Those differences can include everything from race, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical and intellectual abilities, and socio-economic status to work and life experiences and marital status, to name a few. Organizations become diverse organizations based on whom they hire. To become an inclusive organization requires intentional work on the part of the leadership within the organization.

Multiple studies have shown that more and more employees consider an organization’s inclusiveness as they make career decisions, especially when deciding if they intend to seek out new opportunities. Employees report finding less meaning in their work when they feel that they cannot be their authentic selves.

Creating a diverse and inclusive organization cannot just be a goal of the human resources department; it must be a multi-pronged effort that includes leadership and employees. A 2018 Pew Research Study found that 89% of Americans say business leaders are responsible for creating a safe and respectful workplace.

As you start this work, the first question to ask yourself and others within your organization is, why are we doing this work? Where are we starting from? What do we hope to accomplish? What will our organization look like when we are done? One primary consideration is what real inclusion looks like versus surface inclusion. Surface inclusion could be defined as check the box inclusion, where employees only feel included because they were supposed to be. Real inclusion provides a sense of belonging and acceptance.

To create inclusive cultures within organizations, leaders must demonstrate that they are willing to have tough conversations about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in compassionate ways that respect those involved. Often, this requires leaders to become not only culturally competent but also have cultural humility.

To develop cultural competence and cultural humility, leaders must address their self-identity and experiences, and personal biases. You can find more details on cultural competence, cultural humility, and self-identity exercises on the JEDI Community on the CPRS website.

One of the critical components of an inclusive environment is respect. This includes respect for employee’s backgrounds as well as their work and life experiences. To do this, leaders should take the time to get to know each of their employees individually. Leaders should also provide opportunities for employees to get to know each other as well. This foundational work lays the groundwork for employees to respect and support one another and understand that everyone sees situations differently.

Another critical component of an inclusive environment is inclusive

decision making. Research has demonstrated that the diversity of those at the table for decision-making and the variety of those whose voices are heard and respected throughout the decision-making process directly impacts the organization’s performance. Things to consider as you move your organization toward inclusive decision making are: • Who is invited to the meetings where decisions are made? Who else could be asked? • Are meetings held at times when everyone is available? Or are individual voices left out?

Organizational culture is the bedrock of all organizations. It helps employees understand how to act and behave and includes the beliefs and values of the organization. Many cultural components impact an organization’s inclusive nature, but the following are critical elements to consider.

• Whose voices are heard at the meetings where decisions are made? Are they the same voices at every meeting? Do they include the diversity within your organization? • Whose voices have the most weight during the decision-making process?

Should they? • Do meeting facilitators reward contributions in meetings and demonstrate that they value the input of all voices? Do they encourage conflicting ideas? • Is there a way to encourage all voices safely and inclusively? Can you ask for anonymous feedback before the meeting?

As you work to develop an inclusive culture within your organization, it is essential to help employees understand the benefits of having a diverse workforce and diverse decision-makers while assisting them in creating an inclusive culture. To make this happen, consider implementing training on a variety of topics. It is vital that the training is not a one-off “diversity” style training, but relatively continuous training on issues related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

As managers hire new employees, they often state that they are looking for an employee who will “fit” their culture. One of the problems with looking to hire for “fit” is that those already within the organization often define what “fit” is, indicating that hiring managers are typically looking for someone who has similar training, experiences, and perspectives to their own, making it into a discriminatory practice. This strategy often leads to groupthink problems, and it can inhibit creativity and innovation within the workplace. Instead of just hiring for cultural fit, managers should consider hiring for cultural add. For instance, consider hiring someone whose values are similar and will bring new ideas and potentially differing views.

Holidays form the basis of many of our social gatherings within our organizations. Unfortunately, many of these holidays only recognize a portion of employees within our organizations. Consider what holidays your organization recognizes and celebrates both within your organization and externally. Do the holidays recognized within your organization reflect your organization’s diversity, or are employees left out? If you have taken the time to get to know your employees, you will likely have an idea of what holidays are important to them. Make sure that your organization is celebrating holidays that are inclusive of your employees. Need help understanding what those holidays might be or understanding how to celebrate? There are many online resources available to help educators and other organizations plan culturally responsive holiday events.

Many organization’s dress codes are not inclusive. Most are rooted in male, European/white, ableist culture. As our organizations diversify, managers must consider their current dress codes and the feelings of belonging they might inhibit amongst employees. Some things to consider: • Does the dress code disproportionately affect one gender, ethnicity, or religion more than another? • Could the dress code be genderneutral? For instance, could it focus on articles of clothing instead of the gender wearing the clothing? • Do you have tattoo, piercing, or facial hair requirements that affect employees based on their religious beliefs? • Do you have hair requirements that discriminate against employees based on their ethnicity or religious beliefs? • If your organization requires uniforms, have you considered your employees’ various body types, or are they designed for a particular gender and/or body type?

The key to an inclusive dress code is trust and respect for your employees. Many organizations have moved to less rigid dress codes that ask employees to use their professional judgment to dress in a way that keeps them safe and allows them to complete their work.

The focal points presented in this article are but a drop in the bucket to becoming an inclusive organization. Becoming an inclusive organization is by no means an overnight transformative process. It is a cyclical one that requires constant, often incremental, progress. Making this shift means many current organizational practices will need to change, which will prove to be an uphill battle as our current practices have been developed over many years to be resilient and resistant to change. However, organizational leadership that is “all in” on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion provides a guiding light as it embraces and experiences change. After all, who better to be the leaders in inclusion than a profession committed to improving people’s lives and what better way to do this than by embracing them as part of our organizations.

CPRS is in the process of developing a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion working group.

To become involved with the group, complete the form at this link: https://tinyurl.com/CPRSJEDI

All are welcome; no experience in JEDI work is necessary.

CPRS is also developing a survey on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to guide our profession. Additionally, professional development experiences created around JEDI concepts are offered throughout the year. These experiences range from open conversations at the District and State Level to one-hour workshops to half-day sessions. Each has a different focus and commitment level. For more information, watch for announcements from CPRS. For more information, you can also check out the JEDI Community on the CPRS website (https://www.cprs.org/jedijusticeequitydiversity inclusion/home). This community is a place where you can share resources and work with others from around the state interested in the same work.

Dr. Taylor can be reached at brtaylor@csufresno.edu. Dr. Vilhauer can be reached at heather.vilhauer@csueastbay.edu