For National Inclusion Week 2024 (23-29 September), our leadership columnist Judith Germain examines the importance of accepting diverse lived experiences in the workplace.
Whose lived experience is more important? To answer that question, we must first consider what we mean by the term.
Lived experience emphasises the importance of personal narratives and insights that are derived from the personal knowledge and understanding that someone has gained through their own experience.
Too often we forget the most important aspect of organisational culture – the people. Not ot just the collective actions of the individuals in the workplace but the lived experience of every individual.
Culture is multifaceted and can be described as both ‘what we do around here, and who we are around here’. If we adopt this definition for culture, could we also describe organisational culture as just a collection of lived experiences that we see the world through?
Looking beyond the default lens
A question that all leaders should consider, especially those responsible for defining and aligning organisational culture, is: ‘who chooses the lens we use, and are some lived experiences more important than others?’
Often the default lens in most organisations in the West is one that prioritises the perspectives of the able-bodied white male (insert the dominant nationality of the country), with the equivalent female being the lens of secondary importance. For example, in the UK, the default lens is the one worn by the white British male, while other perspectives are considered as additional ones that we should or could accommodate.
The prevalence of this – often unseen – dominant perspective, requires many people in your organisation to leave behind who they are when at work. For example, they maintain their work persona at the Christmas party, but not when they come home.
Code switching
Many individuals make the decision to become who they perceive they need to be at work, to have the future they want. To be themselves can put that very future at risk.
Code switching is one example of how people change who they are to adopt a perceived acceptable norm. This phenomenon is the practice of switching between two languages. It also encompasses the decision an individual might make to switch from speech used when comfortable around family and friends to speech they feel is necessary to adopt at work. Take a look at this short video to see multiple ways that code switching can occur.
When your lived experience is irrelevant
Have you ever considered what it feels like to be a different person at the weekend and holidays and hide your real identity at work? This is a reality for many people, particularly Black and Minority Ethnic individuals – and that reality risks creating environments where employees feel unheard, undervalued and disconnected, ultimately hindering their own success and growth potential.
In addition, the organisation could miss out on important perspectives and knowledge that can only come from firsthand lived experiences. This can lead to blind spots in decision-making and policy development. Ignoring lived experiences often disproportionately affects marginalised groups, reinforcing existing power imbalances and hindering efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
It’s time to leverage diverse lived experiences
If we acknowledge that culture is a collection of lived experiences, then we must as leaders support our people to leverage those experiences. To do that we must look at making them more influential.
I have determined that there are four components of influence: capability, decisiveness, power, and impact. When you amplify an individual’s ability to influence, they are more likely to feel able to voice their lived experience to the benefit of the organisation and themselves.
Enable all to be influential through adopting the four components of influence model
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make – Jane Goodall
