20 INCLUSION

Nudges

01
What does BELONGING
mean to you?
Do these suggestions align to your
thinking?
• For me it is a feeling of connection to
others and a connection to place.
• It means feeling welcomed and
accepted.
• It means feeling safe enough to
be me; to show up and contribute!
• When everyone in a team
experiences this sense of belonging,
there is a natural shift toward an
attitude of taking care of one
another.
20 INCLUSION Nudges
02
The impact of EXCLUSION
A good way to understand INCLUSION – is
to focus on EXCLUSION.
Remember a time when you felt excluded –
at any time in your life?
Most exclusion is unintentional and is not
overt. What examples of unintended/ non
overt exclusion occurring in your
organization can you think of?
What’s the impact on the organization of
exclusion?
03
Seeing EXCLUSION
How does subtle exclusion show up
in your organisation?
• Who gets invited?
• Who gets access to information?
• Who’s in the ‘ingroup’?
• Who feels they need to change to
‘fit’?
• Access to opportunity
• Involvement in informal
discussions
• Not being heard
• Who you know and who you have
access to
05
04
The impact of
not feeling like
you belong
In addition to impaired brain
Discuss EXCLUSION function, an employee who
The impact of multiple subtle acts of exclusion can build feels a threat to their sense
up. of belonging will expend
When you experience it regularly …..its like the cold that time and energy trying to
satisfy this powerful need,
you can never shake.
frequently resulting in toxic
YOU NEVER FEEL QUITE RIGHT. YOU NEVER FEEL LIKE behaviours.
YOU BELONG. YOU NEVER FEEL LIKE YOU FIT.
You watch your back.
Think about it – get deep and real, have a conversation
with your team – how does subtle exclusion happens –
remove any feeling of guilt – its most likely completely
unintentional – but if you can have the courage to
identify it, you can rectify it!

06
How does EXCLUSION
impact on YOU?
Have you experienced some of these
seemingly minor acts of exclusion?
• A colleague regularly ignores your
greeting in the morning
• An experience of someone looking
at their phone when you are
speaking to them
• You are aware that you haven’t
been invited to a social gathering,
a bite to eat at lunch, a drink after
work
• You have felt the awkward silence
when seeking to join a
conversation
• You hear about a training program
that you know nothing about and
that hasn’t been offered to you
20 INCLUSION Nudges
07
Creating the
inclusion habit
If INCLUSION has such a big impact
on team and organisational
performance – why isn’t it the norm?
The problem is HABIT. The way we
have always done things is deeply
embedded. Unless we are intentional
and planned with our inclusive
leadership endeavours, its easy to
revert to habit. The risk increases
when you are busy, have deadlines and
extra stress. What will you do to
embed this as a habit?
08
The impact of NOT
belonging
Think about what it feels like when you
don’t feel like you belong. How does it
impact the way you behave, how you
contribute, what you say?
The aim of being inclusive is for you to
understand EACH member of your team
so well that you know what you need to
do to make them feel like they belong –
not a blanket approach or a one size fits
all – making a big effort to make EACH
INDIVIDUAL feel like they belong
And that can be hard – because what
works for one may not work for another.
10
09
INCLUSION is a
habit
If you want to be successful
in becoming an inclusive
leader – you need to get
intentional about repetition
and practice
One off actions wont cut it.
The need to belong is hard wired. You need to repeat and
embed until it becomes
Even if an individual tries to ignore it or brush it off – you automatic – the good news
can’t remove it.
is that once it becomes
automatic it requires way
Humans will go to great lengths to adapt to fit in.
less energy.
So if you are not type and you don’t feel like you fit – you
will generally either self select to leave because of the The reason why most
discomfort – or you will start to adapt slowly to become organisations and leaders
don’t succeed at becoming
just like everyone else.
inclusive is that they don’t
If I don’t feel like I belong I will leave or I will adapt to fit take this approach – being
inclusive is one off training
– so you don’t meet the goal of different thinking
or one off random acts.
because I am not bringing my difference to the table –
so what’s the point!

11
When there is difference we
hesitate.
When someone is very different from
you and you're not quite sure what to
do, what to say or how to say it then
you may possibly hesitate in giving
feedback.
Often this hesitancy comes from a
very good place – We do not want to
offend the other person and when we
are not sure as to how they will react
to the feedback - that hesitation is
natural.
How important has sometimes
uncomfortable feedback been to your
growth and your own career
trajectory?
20 INCLUSION Nudges
12
When in doubt –
own up!
Be honest with the other person. Let
them know that you're not quite sure
how to deliver the feedback…… get a
little bit vulnerable and explain that
you're not trying to offend in anyway
and that you may make mistakes but
you know how valuable feedback is
and you want to make sure that they
are the recipient of it because it is a
gift….and it is the best way for them to
learn.
13
14
We choose comfort zone
If in doubt – we revert to what we know –
it’s no one’s fault. Are you a bad person for
taking the safe approach? No – of course
not. We are human – and I know you are a
human with huge responsibility and
accountability, who lives day in day out with
crisis and urgent issues – without thinking
too much – the idea of a ‘safe’ is appealing
and easy. It’s easy to ‘go with the flow’ and
do the popular thing – isn’t it?
But is this going to get YOU and your
organisation to where you need to go? Is
being exceptional about same old? Creating
organisations, divisions and teams that have
a balance of different thinking are way more
successful than those that don’t.
15
Distrust in difference
It’s human nature to have a degree of distrust
towards someone who is different. Why?
Because there is more unknown: how will this
person perform? Will she let me down? Will he
get the result I’m after within the time frame?
Our mind battles the risk of taking a chance
on ‘difference’ – and where the stakes are
high, we are more likely to opt for the less
risky option – the ‘known quantity’. Changing
this habit is hard because its hardwired.
Difference can
be harder to trust
Where difference exists – its
often much harder to build
mutual trust – you have to work
at it.
You have to work at the
suspicion which naturally
comes from difference. Its
human nature to be suspicious
or unsure of something that’s
different – and the only way to
break that down is to make the
effort to really and truly
understand the difference –
AND the individual.
Building mutual trust can
therefore take more time and
effort where difference exists.

16
Courageous Curiosity
Leaders get nervous about GOING THERE:
• This is what I sometimes here
• I don’t feel comfortable asking
people personal questions
• Work is work and it doesn’t
encroach the personal
• I don’t want to ask too many
personal questions because that’s
intruding on someone’s life and its
rude.
What if you had the courage to put
yourself out of your comfort zone and ask
some questions? How could it impact the
individual?
20 INCLUSION Nudges
17
How can you be more
curious today?
Curiosity in leadership helps to move us away
from our biases. It helps to provide context
and understanding and builds connection
and trust.
Ask more curious questions. It’s about
seeking to explore possibilities in a non-
judgmental, non-fault finding manner.
Have more conversations. Share your
thinking and seek to understand other
perspectives.
Make more connections. Try and elicit new
ideas, make sure others are included, and
generate enthusiasm and energy around
shared goals and opportunities.
18
Sometimes our
privilege is hard to
understand.
How are you disadvantaged because
of the way society treats aspects of
your identity? Are you a woman? Are
you disabled? Does your sexuality fall
under the queer umbrella? Are you
poor? Do you have a mental illness or a
learning disability? Does the colour of
your skin or the way you look make you
disadvantaged where you live and work
right now? Are you transgender and
people stare at you but don’t ask
questions?
But what about the people
society doesn’t disenfranchise? What
about the people society empowers at
our expense? We call that privilege.
20
19
Being vulnerable
When we’re vulnerable and
when we lead there aren’t
any guarantees that we will
succeed. Many of us shy
away from vulnerability and
feel that vulnerability is a
Be Intentional in Challenging the weakness. We often see
Status Quo vulnerability as courageous
and strong in others but as a
How could you challenge the formula? We have weakness in ourselves. An
so many rules in organisations that are applied unhelpful double standard
in a blanket approach. But we all know that these which prevents leaders from
rules should not apply to EVERY situation. By reaping the reward
challenging the formula you create a level vulnerability brings to the
playing field, you create greater efficiency and workplace. What is the
you empower your people to bring out the best reward? Far greater creativity
of themselves. But challenging the formula or
and innovation.
the way things are done around here takes
courage!
 emberin in a nutshell
Mentored 35,000 people worldwide. Trained over
10,000 leaders. Invited to conferences to speak on Global D&I thought leaders
every continent. Global D&I Awards won.

Delivered over 50 ELT and CEO sessions assisting them Elevating the conversation to
design their story for an inclusive culture. Coaching
and supporting CEO’s and ELT members. CEO and ELT
$8 Billion globally spent on D&I with little return. We
challenge this approach and focus on measuring ROI focused
impacts and actions.

Mentoring and sponsorship for minorities. Inclusive

leadership habit building for leaders – the HOW. Simplify: PUSH & PULL

Developed the 6 HABITS OF BEING INCLUSIVE + THE EVIDENCE: Changing habits

INCLUSION ENABLEMENT WHEEL. Leadership accountability
through experiments and measuring action. and behaviour
 Organisations we
have had the
privilege to support
emberin