Inclusive. me. you. them. all.

It’s been over a month since I wrote my last piece, been busy wrapping up my previous desk. Joining Microsoft has been more of a dream to me and the initial days have been so inspiring and motivating even with being fully remote and working from home. People working here are full of energy. Everyone is committed to making an impact. It’s beautiful. I am lucky to be part of something so big. So impactful.

I picked up “inclusion” in workplace culture as it fits perfectly to my situation now as I embark on a new journey at Microsoft. And while diversity and inclusion go hand in hand, I feel inclusion is even a higher priority as only an inclusive culture invites diversity. Lack of diversity means an organizations thought process is limited. A limited thought process produces only finite results.

As a leader it is important to recognize a biased culture as the impacts of such culture can have a long lasting negative impact and it is not easy to change the unconscious beliefs of a single person, let alone the organization. A valid culture is not unbiased. Realizing is already a step to being an inclusive leader, and before you can bring a change to your organization, change has to start from you. Change needs to be authentic. Bing (Microsoft, guys) an implicit association test and explore yourself. There is nothing wrong in realizing that you have associations too. We all do. We prefer to take sides with and are comfortable with people, situations and decisions which are easy and we have had experience with. It will even make you angry and emotional even. It’s okay!

You need to do this yourself. Do not delegate this cultural change please. It’s about people and you cannot take chances. You have to invest yourself in it. Make it your personal priority. Obviously, this requires a very in depth plan and very careful execution. However, few top of minds and simple steps to start being inclusive are:

• Before taking any decision about anyone, as yourself why not? When your first thought is “that person cannot do it”, just ask, “but why not?”.
• Hire people who value people. Such people will figure out a way to build a support structure around themselves.
• Train your existing people, raise awareness
• Embed it formally in your statements, make it part of your strategic objectives
• Work with your HR to make inclusive culture a mandate organization wide and bring accountability for it across the board
• And above all, value output of employees, not their backgrounds or associations

We have a finite life. Let’s realize our privilege and put it to use. Let’s not leave anyone behind. In the end, we all are in this together.