If you’ve spent one second in the inclusion/equity space, you would have heard the question, “Are you doing the work?”. It’s said over and over again. The question that you and many more people have been wondering is…. what does “doing the work” actually mean?
In all honesty, without doing the work, your ability to contribute to meaningful or impactful positive social change is limited and can potentially cause more harm than good. If you’re not doing the work, simply put, you can’t understand the conversation around inclusion, diversity, equity, or allyship because you won’t know how you fit into it.
There are 5 components that are essential for doing the work.
1. Auditing your privilege
Have you ever done an audit on your privilege? It doesn’t have to be a big scary thing to do. Privilege isn’t a bad or wrong thing. It isn’t something you should feel guilt or shame about. It’s something out of your control that you were born with or born into. Feeling bad about the privilege you have is just like saying you should feel bad about the colour of your skin, or the family you were born into… it doesn’t make sense right?!
When I say audit your privilege, I’m talking about your privilege in a multifaceted way. Where you get to see where you fit in the privilege spectrum across multiple privilege spectrums. When people seek to support marginalised people, they don’t see themselves in those spectra of privilege or oppression. When you place yourself along these spectrums, you will clearly see the spaces where you are privileged and the spaces where you aren’t as privileged. This will inform you on the spaces where you have the power of influence. The spaces where what you say and do, has the potential to influence others. The places where you have most privilege and influence are the places you have the greatest potential for creating positive social change. Get in contact with me if you need help doing this.
You can harness and leverage your privilege by consciously showing up in these spaces embodying inclusion, role modeling it, amplifying mariginalised voices in it, and stimulating inclusive practices & systems.
2. Uncovering your unconscious biases
Unconscious biases are attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious way. Everyone has unconscious biases (including me), and they can influence our behavior towards others, whether we are aware of them or not.
To uncover your unconscious biases, you must first acknowledge that you have them. It’s not about feeling guilty or ashamed, but rather about being aware of them so that you can work on challenging them.
There are many ways to uncover your unconscious biases, such as completing any of my uncovering unconscious bias workshops (you can find them here), engaging in honest and open conversations with people from different backgrounds, and examining your reactions and behavior towards people who are different from you when you’re in social settings.
By becoming aware of your unconscious biases, you can take steps to think about them critically, challenge them, and prevent them from negatively impacting your decisions and interactions with others.
Stay tuned for the next components of “doing the work” in the inclusion space, and remember that taking action towards inclusion is a continual process of growth and learning.
3. Connection / Reconnection to your heritage & culture
When we think about creating a more inclusive society, it’s important to recognise the value and importance of diverse cultures and heritages. With my experience as an inclusion coach, one component of “doing the work” that is powerful in bridging understanding, empathy, and compassion is when a person connects or reconnects with their heritage and culture. You see, the privilege system works in a way to dispossess BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) communities of their culture & heritage and homogenise white people into one indistinguishable group of people by dispossessing them from their heritage and culture too. This component means taking the time to explore and connect with our own cultural heritage and identities, as well as being open and curious about the cultures and heritages of others.
By deepening our connection to our own cultural backgrounds, family stories, foods, arts, knowledge, and customs we gain a better understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. This ensures we’re better equipped to appreciate and learn from the experiences and perspectives of others. Additionally, exploring and celebrating cultural diversity can foster a greater sense of community and connection among people from different backgrounds, which can ultimately help to break down barriers and promote greater understanding and inclusion.
One of the ways you can connect or reconnect with your heritage and culture is by doing some research into your family tree. Online businesses that help you understand your family line as well as your family history is Ancestry. Check out my affiliate link here to Discover Details of Your Family History – Search Records with Ancestry®
4. Assessing your participation
Take time to reflect on how you participate in the world around you. Do you actively seek out opportunities to learn about different cultures and perspectives? Do you engage in conversations around social justice and equity? Do you use your platform, business or voice to advocate for marginalised communities? Or do you stay silent and avoid uncomfortable conversations?
Assessing your participation means being honest with yourself about how you show up in the world, and then taking steps to improve. This might mean committing to reading diverse books or following BIPOC creators on social media. It might mean engaging in difficult conversations with friends or family members about racism or other forms of oppression. Whatever it looks like for you, assessing your participation is an important step in doing the work of inclusion. Believe me when I say our participation in upholding the privilege system is so deep that you may not even realise an action, process, or behaviour as a form of participation. Sometimes it takes a few peeling back of layers to see what’s really hidden underneath. If you’d like my help with this, please reach out.
Now, onto the last component which is critical to the dismantling of the privilege system and the creation of an inclusive world.
5. Taking inclusive action
Finally, doing the work means taking action. It’s not enough to simply be aware of your privilege, biases, and participation. You have to use that awareness to make tangible changes in your life, your business, and in the world around you.
Taking inclusive action might mean adjusting your language to use more inclusive terms, upgrading your social media to be more accessible, donating to organisations that support marginalized communities, tipping marginalise creators for their content, attending protests or rallies, or advocating for policy changes. It might mean changing the way you run your business or interact with others in your personal life. Whatever it looks like for you, taking inclusive action is a crucial component of doing the work. It’s how we turn our intentions into impact and create a more just and equitable world.
This is the inclusion revolution and stronger with you taking action in it.
By auditing our privilege, we gain an understanding of where we fit in the privilege spectrum, where we have the most influence, and how we can use our privilege to create positive change. By uncovering our unconscious biases, we can take steps to think critically, challenge them, and prevent them from negatively impacting our decisions and interactions with others. By connecting/reconnecting to our heritage and culture, we gain a better understanding of ourselves, appreciate diversity, and foster a greater sense of community and connection among people from different backgrounds. By assessing our participation, we can be honest with ourselves about how we show up in the world and take steps to improve. Finally, by taking inclusive action, we can create meaningful change in our personal and professional lives, challenge systems of oppression, and advocate for marginalised communities.
In short, doing the work of inclusion requires us to take specific actions that challenge and change our behavior, mindset, and participation in the world. It’s essential that we all commit to doing the work of inclusion to create a more equitable and just world. I you’d like my support with your inclusion journey or with how you can “do the work” in the most meaningful and impactful way, get in contact with me. I have 1:1 sessions available as well as ongoing support for business owners within the Inclusion Creators Collective Membership.
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Until next time, keep learning and taking action!
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