Is Inclusion Possible Without First Understanding Adversity?

If you’ve never been excluded, how can you really build inclusion?

It is emotional intelligence, aka EQ or EI, not IQ, most often associated with a leader’s success. Regardless of a leader’s goal— whether it’s strategic planning or motivating teams into action — their success depends on how they do it. Overcoming adversity is a lived-experience that directly improves your emotional intelligence.

I believe in order for any DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) program to be successful, buy-in must come in from upper-management and the goal of any DEI program needs to be communicated effectively and understood across the organization.

With the proper support and execution, DEI programs increase company’s profit and the bottom line. So how does one exactly get upper-management buy in? By building relationships and understanding how to communicate to others. This involves emotional intelligence and the degree in which you can use this skill to navigate and grow relationships.

You wouldn’t talk to an engineer team the same way you would communicate and/or lead a marketing team. Engineers tend to be more analytical and NEED to see data to understand, support, and execute on a goal or vision. Marketers tend to want to hear ideas, creativity, etc. A great leader knows how to inspire both using emotional intelligence to effectively communicate and navigate each team through the process.

For upper-management, it’s first listening to their ideas, acknowledging that you respect their experience, doing your homework ahead of time, and having your own solutions and ideas with supporting data as to how you came to your opinion or difference in solution. Leaders want to work with other leaders. And the best leaders look to be inspired.

Share a part of yourself. Whether that’s a lived-experience in overcoming adversity or reading books to further develop your knowledge. DEI programs need “movers and shakers”; those who are not afraid to disagree and disagree with data, compassion, and true desire for collaboration. Not everyone has had to overcome adversity and no two people overcame adversity in the same way.

The goal here is to educate yourself and others on what adversity really means and how your own experience and knowledge will contribute to effective execution. Approach with the mindset of, “We are all learning together and I am intellectually curious and passionate enough to go above and beyond to further drive this home.”

In my own experience, it is overcoming adversity that led me to want to build more inclusive environments. I got tired of saying, “I’m the first… Latina, girl, woman, Mexican-American, first-gen college student, etc.” I began wondering, “Why aren’t there more like me?” In my search for discovery of the answer, I found my passion.

If you have overcame adversity, teach and educate others on what that journey looked like and what obstacles you had to overcome. What were the most difficult challenges? What was most humbling? In doing so, you are helping others to develop empathy and making an impact in true change.

Inclusion is bringing all the different pieces of the puzzle together and creating one puzzle. Now go build that DREAM TEAM!