This article is written by Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Ph.D Director of Social Inclusion at the Organization of American States. Opinions are personal. They do not represent those of the Organization of American States.

  • The problem: Implementing strategies and measures to ensure inclusion in workplaces can be haphazard.
  • Why it matters: Learning how best to ensure inclusion in our workplace matters because it is the best way to improve results while respecting everyone’s dignity.
  • The solution: The basis of all solutions starts with the political will to re-learn how we operate in our workplaces.

Language matters because it can perpetuate or challenge unequal power relations.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace mean valuing and making the best of the various experiences, knowledge, and perspective all of us bring to the public sector.

Ensuring diversity and inclusion in the workplace has become a must in the private and public sector. Motivating teams to transform realities for the better and achieve results rests on guaranteeing fairness, compassion and equal opportunity.

Examples of this abound throughout the world. The Australian government, for instance, has set a target of increasing the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to 3% in the senior executive services. In the United States, more than 30 US cities have established city equity offices since 2014, with the purpose of evaluating local government processes and recommending how to eliminate institutional inequities and discrimination.

Since 2013, Uruguay has implemented a quota of no less than 8% representation of Afro-descendants in public sector jobs. And, in 2020, Argentina approved a quota law of 1% for the inclusion of Trans people in public administration.

But beyond policies and legal affirmative actions, ensuring diversity and inclusion in the public sector requires redefining leadership. How should we lead for inclusion and diversity? Here are eight do’s and don’ts.

Build your teams striving to achieve gender equality, and promote the leadership of women in your team.

Language is power, so use inclusive language

Language matters because it can perpetuate or challenge unequal power relations. At its most destructive, it can generate sentiments of exclusion in the teams you lead. This matters because language sets the tone in which all members of a team will feel valued and respected. Language can also ensure ownership of a team’s work, and definitely its motivation to produce results. Using inclusive language means avoiding expressions or comments based on biases, slang, or that discriminate against groups of people based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status.

People must be the centre

When designing projects or collectively solving problems, people have to be at the centre. This doesn’t just mean the beneficiaries of a service, but also each member of your team. Focusing on who they are, not just their profile, background, condition or disability, is essential to your role as their leader. Acknowledging their differences so as to make the best use of their talents should be your goal.

Compose diverse teams

Surround yourself with a team that reflects human diversity. You will symbolically convey the importance of inclusion, and you will also improve the proposals and solutions you are responsible for delivering, because they will be enriched with the different visions and experiences of that diversity that your team offers.

Normalise the presence of women in your teams

Build your teams striving to achieve gender equality, and promote the leadership of women in your team. This will consolidate your leadership as transformational, in the sense that you will be acknowledging the voice and inputs of a group that has traditionally been excluded from political conversations and action. Try to achieve a 30% representation of women at a minimum, considered a critical mass, when recruiting for your team, or even better if you go for 50-50 parity.

Avoid articulating your messages on the basis of stereotypes

Pay attention to your own biases, prejudices and preconceptions, then correct those errors in your planning and proposals. Stereotypes are learned so they can also be unlearned and that requires awareness and effort. Pay attention to where your biases are, acknowledge them and correct them.

Co-create

Generate legitimacy in your leadership for inclusion by co-creation processes that consider the inputs of historically excluded groups. Generate conversations with them about their history of exclusion, and use their experiences and stories to rethink your proposals.

Be accessible

Listen to the people in your team, and in particular to those who are part of groups in situations of vulnerability or historically excluded. Relevant leadership is that which is accessible. In other words, don't act like the untouchable, or the only important one. The more down to earth and accessible you are to your team, the easier it will be to persuade them to achieve the results that are expected from you and your team.

Be careful not to overdo it

Over-sensitivity to historically excluded groups, and their stories, can also be perceived by them as discrimination. They don’t want to be treated as ‘special’. They only want to be treated as everyone else. So exaggerated consideration can also be seen as patronising and detrimental to a good work environment. Treat all people with the same respect, and for particular social groups, acknowledge their history of exclusion without exaggerating.

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