Have you ever found yourself in an echo chamber at work—you look around and everyone thinks like you, talks like you, looks like you, and problem-solves the way you do? While this might make for a very comfortable environment in which to go about your day, it does not create one that is conducive to innovation, creativity, or truly effective problem-solving.
The technology industry is a pretty homogenous world. There is a serious lack of queer folks, women, faces of colour, and gender nonconforming people. This isn’t a big secret. But it’s something that no one really likes to talk about. However, we have to first acknowledge our problems if we want to address them or challenge them. (Remember that life lesson we learned from Harry Potter? The fear of speaking about something out loud only increases our fear of the thing itself.)
It’s easy to get complacent and settle into those comfortable environments. In a homogeneous space, we all more or less understand each other. We all communicate in the same ways about the same things and laugh at the same jokes. But fostering diversity on our teams and in our companies is becoming more and more important. When individuals have the freedom to identify and express themselves authentically, workplace satisfaction improves, creativity flourishes, problem-solving becomes faster, more dynamic, and more productive, and whole teams find that they function and perform better.
That all sounds great, right? It sounds like some beautiful utopia where diversity is celebrated and individuality is encouraged and everything just works better. It may seem like a dream but it is neither fantastical nor unrealistic. Organizations all over the world are implementing changes to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces and they offer lessons for others to follow, pitfalls to avoid, and best practices to emulate. And that means that regular people like you and I can follow in those footsteps and help make our workplaces more inclusive and welcoming of diversity.
Fair warning: It’s going to take work and time and we are going to have to dismantle (or ruthlessly destroy) the comfortable echo chambers that have been built up around us. It’s going to be uncomfortable—change is difficult—but it’s going to be so worth it. It’s going to benefit you, your teams, your projects, your company, and your clients.
So grab that metaphorical sledgehammer and get ready. Because here are some ways you can start creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace right now—a workplace where everyone can feel safe and welcome and valued.
Learn to be uncomfortable
Having a diverse workplace means working with people who are different from you, and that means you will be uncomfortable at times. You will run into people with different communication styles, different upbringings, and different ways of dressing. You will have to learn how to refer to people in the way they identify, not in the way you want to speak about them. You will have to question or challenge some internal beliefs you’ve held for a long time.
I often hear people complain about how challenging it is to refer to others by the pronouns they identify with or how hard it is to avoid making racist or sexist jokes. Listen—these things are not hard. Fighting an autoimmune disorder is hard. Trying to simply exist (let alone thrive) in a world that values other people more than it values you is hard. Being respectful of your teammates and their unique identities is not hard. It may be different and it might be uncomfortable at first, but it is not hard.
Trying to learn any new skill takes practice. This is the same. Try to get better at noticing when you’re making assumptions or judgements. Focus less on what you are comfortable with and try to learn more about others so you can better understand how to help them feel comfortable. Practice communicating without any overtures of gender, race, sexual orientation, or religion. Try letting go of your certainty about some things and challenge yourself to see things from the perspectives of those around you.
With time and practice, you will learn that being uncomfortable isn’t that bad—and you may realize that other people on your team have been uncomfortable all the time. Helping to change that will be more rewarding than you can even realize.
Ask questions and listen
Fostering diversity is about creating space for other voices. So that means you’ll also have to learn how to shut your mouth from time to time and realize that yours is not always the most important voice in the room. Inclusion requires allowing those around you to speak and to accept that the way they choose to speak may not match your own.
This is one of the trickiest parts of creating (and sustaining) a diverse team—learning how to work with people who have different communication styles. It’s easy for us to think: ‘That person is difficult to communicate with and talking to them is uncomfortable and unpleasant.’ But inclusion is about respecting the uniqueness of that person and their unique communication style. And the truth is that learning how to encourage other voices will actually help make you a better communicator as well.
An effective (but often ignored) way of fostering inclusion is simply to ask questions about what your team members need in order to feel valued. Ask how they process stress, how they work through difficult tasks, how they handle conflict. Listen for ways you can support them in those moments. Let them know that they are appreciated. Praise them for the unique value that they bring to the team. And above all, let them speak—they are on your team for a reason and they may very well have valuable experiences or ideas or approaches that others don’t.
Don’t treat everyone the same—they’re not
Allow people to be different—expect them to be. People exist in different cognitive, cultural, and social spaces. By joking about or shaming things that are different, you may unknowingly affect people on your team who are different. Try to understand and acknowledge individuality. Approach new things or ideas with curiosity rather than derision. Meet people where they are at, validate their experiences, and allow them to focus on their strengths rather than on trying to fit in.
As a black woman in tech, I am staunchly aware of being an “outsider” in this space. And as a project lead, that feeling can be amplified by the relative isolation of my role. Because of my identity and because of my position, I tend to relate to conflict, support, communication, and teamwork differently than other members of my team. For us to be successful, it is important that we are all able to recognize these differences and change our communication styles accordingly. Don’t assume that you can apply the same relationship-building or communication styles or support practices to all members of your team—you probably can’t.
This isn’t about asking for special treatment. It’s about respecting the fact that the people on your team are all different and need to be treated accordingly. Every member of my team has unique experiences and a unique perspective that they bring to the table. We won’t all find the same jokes funny, the same stories interesting, or the same conflict-resolution styles helpful. We’re not all good at the same things—and for good reason! The more we learn about our team members and stakeholders, the better we will be able to interact with them in respectful and productive ways.
Communicate with patience, intentionality, and empathy
Working with people who are different than you requires care and patience. You will need to be intentional about how you are communicating and you will have to learn how to recognize the effects your actions have on others.
You might be an outgoing and talkative “external processor” who finds themselves working with people who process their thoughts internally. You might have a teammate who finds prolonged eye contact uncomfortable (while you see it as an opportunity to build a stronger relationship). Pay attention to those details and be patient. Ask thoughtful, intentional questions. It will take a while to learn about each other and to learn how you can communicate in more respectful and productive ways, but it’s possible. It just takes a little humility and empathy.
Value people as people
Valuing people is not about offering company perks, building a fun corporate culture, or organizing “cool” work outings. It’s about recognizing that the human beings doing the work in your company are, in fact, humans. They need affirmation. They need respect. They need guidance. They have bad days. They get sick. They have families. They have emotions. And they might have histories of trauma. They may have experienced harassment or prejudice.
My point is that the experiences of one person will be very different from the experiences of another. The way I perceive and understand the world will be very different from the way my team members perceive and understand the world. And that doesn’t mean that one perspective is right or wrong or that some experiences deserve any more or less respect than others. It means we should try to value and nurture the people underneath the job titles.
When people see us for who we truly are, maybe — just maybe — they, too, will be inspired to rise to their best possible selves.
For example, one of the most human things we all have to grapple with is our mental health. Too often we skirt around this topic in professional settings, but it is something that affects everyone on your teams. It is something we need to be talking about. Your team members may find themselves dealing with mental health issues that are unrelated to work, or they may develop mental health issues as a result of their work. Either way, we can’t support each other if we don’t know what kind of support is needed—we can’t solve the problem if we don’t know it’s there.
Encourage the members of your team to take care of their mental health. Recognize that doing so will look different for everyone and that no employee deserves better (or more) care than another. An employee with a family does not deserve a personal day any more or any less than an employee who is single. A junior team member doing well is not any less deserving of praise than a senior one. And a project team member should not be more or less responsible for the emotional labour of supporting other team members just because of their gender.
Underneath our different titles and job descriptions, we are all just people. And we all deserve to be recognized and valued as people.
Common decency
This isn’t revolutionary stuff. In many ways, this is simply about common decency. Creating an inclusive workplace is not an issue for members of diverse and marginalized groups to figure out on their own. No one should have to struggle to “find their place” or carve out a niche in an otherwise homogeneous work environment. For the sake of our projects—and for the sake of our industry—we all need to put in the effort to create diverse workplaces and foster more inclusion in the tech sector.
I’m done with the echo chamber. Let’s learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Let’s find new ways of reaching out to those who are different from us. Let’s talk less and listen more. Let’s create workspaces that can tap into all of our unique experiences and ideas and perspectives and turn that dull echo into a vibrant and meaningful conversation where everyone’s voice can be heard.
