Lessons in exclusion, and how leaders can do better

The organisations that conceptualise diversity and inclusion as an opportunity rather than a compliance exercise will position themselves and their workers for a sustainable and positive future, according to one workplace lawyer.

At the launch of her book, Rise Up: A Guide to Leading with Inclusion, Fay Calderone, partner at national law firm Hall & Wilcox, spoke with Natasha de Silva, human rights expert and founder of Intersection; Professor Nareen Young, leadership and engagement associate dean at the UTS Business School and professor of Indigenous policy at the Jumbunna Institute; and Dean Barton-Smith AM, disability, accessibility and inclusion leader, to discuss the practice and benefit of diversity as it relates to contemporary workplaces.

Calderone started the panel by raising the issue that inclusion as an idea and practice is increasingly being challenged, and asked de Silva how employers can address the growing backlash.

De Silva identified accountability and transparency as the missing factors in current leadership, which, she said, stems from the overwhelming majority of leaders that come from one, very dominant group that do not have lived experience of exclusion.

“That’s not to say white men can’t be inclusive leaders, but I think it’s just really hard if you don’t have the lived experience to have it at the forefront of your mind as a leader,” she said.

“We haven’t heard leaders step into that space, and that happens for a range of reasons. One is actually, at its most base level, around protecting reputation, whether that’s individual reputation, organisational, institutional reputation – there is a propensity to seek advice from crisis-comms people and to then go down that path.”

“That doesn’t benefit anyone.”

Thinking about how those might be impacted by harmful behaviours, believing people’s experience, and starting from a place of empathy, de Silva continued, is the most powerful and impactful path.

This advice rings especially true on the back of the recent and ongoing investigation into the alleged misconduct of Sydney Swans players – of which the team’s response generated criticism for failing to initially acknowledge the impact on the actual victims.

Calderone cited some of the 10 truths created from the Gari Yala 2 survey into the experience of racism by Indigenous Australians in the workplaces, originally conducted and authored by Professor Young, Joshua Gilbert and Jane O’Leary of the Centre for Indigenous People and Work (CIPW).

Commenced in 2020, it was the first survey to ask Indigenous people about their workplace experiences.

“They challenge organisations to stop asking Indigenous workers to adapt to workplaces, and instead ask workplaces to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves,” Calderone said, asking Young what the hardest truth for Australian employers to confront is.

Young said: “It’s taken a really, really long time, and it’s ongoing for us to convince Australia that we can speak for ourselves.”

“I get that you’re sick of it … can you imagine how sick of it we are? Of simply seeking recognition as to our basic humanity and capacity to self-determine?”

The 10 truths, Young explained, were entirely self-determined and designed, and mirrored the necessity for ongoing self-determination and truth-telling, no matter how uncomfortable it is for employers.

“I think our 10 truths provide an opportunity,” Young said.

Calderone highlighted that leaders must exercise courageous leadership and avoid performative inclusion.

Barton-Smith noted that debates around diversity, equity, and inclusion can easily focus on the principle rather than the personal impact, fuelling criticism from sceptics – but more importantly, having a devastating impact on individuals.

In this way, he explained effective inclusion is not just recognising value when it’s beneficial, but when it is being tested – and that is when real leaders should step forward.

“What are we not doing right here? Are we excluding someone inadvertently? Raise those questions to say, have we unintentionally let someone out … that’s a challenge for leaders,” he said.

“It’s all about trust … it needs to come from the top down”.

Barton-Smith quoted what is now his mantra: “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”

The common themes of intersectional inclusion, embracing diversity as the strength that it is, and exercising bold leadership are also core to Calderone’s book and her call for leaders to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organisations.

Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make HR Leader a preferred news source on Google.