Last month’s blog covered a range of technological solutions towards monitoring and improving organisational D&I metrics and benchmarks. In this month’s blog, we’re going to take a closer look at companies around the world (and in India) that are excelling and making strides when it comes to diversity and inclusion practices. You’ll notice that they vary across industry and are embracing diversity in different ways. The intent is to draw/learn from these organisations and think about how we can develop our own diversity and inclusion strategies.

Global D&I Champions:

At the very outset, it is worth noting that according to global D&I scorecards:

• The United States is leading with at least  25 companies out of the top 100. (Click here for a more detailed list of the best D&I performing companies for the year 2021)
• The industry with the highest D&I score is software and IT services, 
• Gap, Inc. ranked first on the D&I index for 2021

Let’s take a closer look at some of the organisations that have performed well on D&I on a global scale:

1.Sodexo

Industry: Quality of Life Services 

Number of Employees Worldwide: 460,000+

While gender, generations and sexual orientation are all part of the diversity hiring strategy at Sodexo,  “gender balance is their business” with 55% of all staff members in Sodexo being women (up from just 17% in 2009). 58% of the members on the board of directors are female and the company runs 14 Gender Balance Networks worldwide. What they have found is that when there is gender balance within an organisation, employee engagement increases by 4 %,, gross profit increases by 23% and brand image strengthens by 5 %. 

2. Johnson & Johnson

Industry: Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical and Consumer Packaged Goods

Number of Employees Worldwide: 132,000+

J&J’s Global Diversity and Inclusion vision is “to maximise the global power of diversity and inclusion, to drive superior business results and sustainable competitive advantage. J&J has strong employee resource groups, mentoring programmes and a  ‘Diversity University’, which is a dynamic website that helps employees to understand the benefits of working collaboratively. The Chief Diversity officer also reports directly to the CEO and Chairman of Johnson & Johnson, meaning that senior leadership is intimately involved in achieving D&I goals.  J&J has received various awards and recognitions for strides made in diversity efforts, and is one of only two companies that have been on the Working Mother 100 Best list for the past 28 years.

3. Mastercard

Industry: Financial Services

Number of Employees Worldwide: 13,400+

Mastercard consistently makes it into the Top 10 of DiversityInc’s 50 Best Companies for Diversity list. They believe that “diversity is what drives better insights, better decisions, and better products. It is the backbone of innovation”. A unique initiative that Mastercard has executed over the past few years involves getting older employees in the company more active when it comes to social media. To address generational barriers, “YoPros” BRG (the Young Professionals Business Resource Group) offers a one-on-one ‘Social Media Reverse Mentoring’ program to older employees who want to become familiarised with the platforms.

4. Accenture

Industry: Professional Services/Consulting

Number of Employees Worldwide: 513,000+

Accenture believes that “no one should be discriminated against because of their differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion or sexual orientation.” Diversity training within the company is broken into 3 different categories: 

1) Diversity Awareness – to help people understand the benefits of working with a diverse organisation. 

2) Diversity Management – to equip executives to manage diverse teams.

3) Professional Development – to enable women, LGBT and ethnically diverse employees to build skills for success. 

The organisation also hosts a company-wide celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities as well as endeavour to help their employees with various supports, like assistive technology, flexible work arrangements and additional training.

5. Ernst & Young

Industry: Professional Services

Number of Employees Worldwide: 280,000+

At EY, they believe that “only the highest-performing teams, which maximise the power of different opinions, perspectives, and cultural references, will succeed in the global marketplace.” The organisation was the first of the Big Four to assign full-time, partner-level leadership to diversity recruiting. Ever since, the number of women in top executive management positions has increased by more than 20% and programmes such as ‘EY Launch’ which is for ethnically diverse college freshmen, sophomores and transfer students builds awareness of accounting as a major and professional services as a profession.

6. Coca Cola

Industry: Beverage

Number of Employees Worldwide: 86,200+

At Coca-Cola, diversity is seen “as more than just policies and practices”. It is an integral part of who the company is, how they operate and how they see their future. Diversity education programmes include Diversity Training, a Diversity Speaker Series and a Diversity Library. In 2017, a new parental benefits policy was implemented, whereby 6 weeks of paid leave is extended to all new mothers and fathers. The move was championed by ‘Coca-Cola Millennial Voices’, a group of young employees tasked with making sure there is a healthy level of employee retention in millennial consumers and staff members.

7. Marriot

Industry: Hospitality/Tourism

Number of Employees Worldwide: 174,000+ 

Named as one of the ‘World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work’, the world’s largest annual study of workplace excellence, Marriott International extends their commitment to creating an inclusive guest experience to their workforce around the globe. Women-owned business enterprises make up approximately 10% of Marriott’s supply chain and they vow to spend $1 billion with diverse-owned businesses by 2020. LGBT inclusion is also a top priority for Marriott International. They received that ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ accolade when they earned a perfect score on the HRC’s 2016 Corporate Equality Index, a widely recognised benchmark for diversity and inclusion.

8. Novartis

Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Number of Employees Worldwide: 125,000+

Novartis believes that diversity is integral to their success, because it helps them to understand the unique needs of their patients and find innovative ways of addressing those needs. Within the organisation, the word ‘disability’ has been replaced with ‘diverseability’ because they don’t view people living with disabilities as having a lack of ability, but rather having diverse skills and proficiencies. Human Resources professionals in the company are also educated on topics such as unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, disabilities/accommodations and compensation/pay equity in order to improve their diversity hiring methods.

9. Microsoft

Industry: Computer Software

Number of Employees worldwide: 163,000 +

The tech company provides day-care services and has an employee resource group voluntarily formed by workers. The company also set targets to be achieved on diversity and inclusion and has a policy regarding gender diversity and a policy to promote diversity and inclusion in its workforce. When it comes to racial and gender diversity, Microsoft also tops the list. According to data from 2020, 39.7% of the company’s board was made up of racial and ethnic minorities, and its workforce as a whole was 49.8% racial or ethnic majorities. Based on the same data, Microsoft’s managers also consisted of 41.3% racial or ethnic minorities.

D&I in the Indian context:

In the case of organisations in India, we do not perform as well as companies in the west (most MNCs in India tend to have a better track record because of global mandates). However, in recent times, conversations in India around D&I have been strengthened by the explosion of social media, increased awareness of global events, policy initiatives, efforts by advocacy and consultancy organizations and some progressive judgments from the Indian judiciary. During Pride Month in 2019, several India Inc. members came forward to discuss the importance of D&I and the measures they have put in place to ensure a more supportive and collaborative work environment.

Let’s look at some noteworthy initiatives in the Indian context:

1. Myntra

With measures such as reserved parking for expecting mothers, an in-house creche in their Bangalore office, and the #WeForShe initiative, which conducts brown bag sessions to holistically address the challenges faced by women at the workplace, be it casual sexism or beyond – Myntra seems to be raising the bar for how Gender sensitization and Diversity is approached in the modern Indian workplace.

2. Zomato

Zomato has announced paid maternity and paternity leave for all their employees, and also extended this to non-birthing parents (parents who have adopted children). Another slightly controversial policy that they announced was the controversial Period Leave for all women and transgender employees facing discomfort due to menstruation. A policy implemented in good faith, with employees having the discretionary power not to misuse the leaves.

3. Godrej

Legacy company Godrej values diversity in experiences and beliefs to shape a well-rounded workforce. Their HR policies allow you to add a partner as a health insurance beneficiary and not just a spouse. They have work-from-home policies, flexible timings, and other such measures to make employees feel safe and welcome. They are ultimately trying for all their employees to have the same experience, be it in the Mumbai office or in the hinterlands of India.

4. Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra has received global recognition for its excellent Diversity and Inclusion policies. They have a gamut of policies to meet the needs of all – the parents, the kids, the LGBTQ+ community, new mothers, people of different nationalities, ages, sexes, specially-abled people, underprivileged communities, etc. Programs such as COLORS, Mentoring Tables, Role Model Series give women an opportunity to develop their careers. They also have self-defense and financial wellness programs for women to have a secured future.

5. Infosys

The D&I vision of the corporation is an integral part of the Infosy Code of Conduct contained in a powerful tenet viz., ‘Respecting Each Other.’ D&I Goals on the corporate scorecard flow into leader and manager goal sheets. D&I councils at the business unit, location, and geo levels provide a rich matrix of responsibilities and relationships to collaborate on the strategic intent of the organization to build inclusion for everyone. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) act as huge enablers. Some of the ERGs at Infosys India include: Infosys Women’s Inclusivity Network, InfyAbility (for employees with disabilities and their allies; iPride (for employees of the LGBTIQA+ community and their allies) and Family Matters for all employees focusing on childcare; parenting; relationships; health and wellness. ERGs serve to strengthen peer support groups towards building inclusive work environments. 

6. FedEx Express

In Feb 2021, FedEx express, a subsidiary of  FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, was recognised with the award for ‘Best Gender Equality Workplace’ by the World HRD Congress at the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Awards 2021. Their commitment to diversity, inclusion and gender equality is an integral part of their culture and strongly believe in providing all team members with an equal opportunity to excel and grow.  Recently, FedEx Express launched the Leadership, Education, Advancement, and Placement (LEAP) initiative in its MEISA region; a mentoring program aimed to equip women with mentorship opportunities, and the tools they need to advance their career within the organization. To showcase its commitment to helping women in the workplace advance their careers and explore possibilities. FedEx has been named by Forbes Magazine in 2019 as one of the Best Employers for Diversity globally, and was also recognized as one of the top Top 50 Best Workplaces for Women 2020 in India, by the Great Place to Work® Institute.

Other initiatives that deserve attention:

• The Kochi Metro which hired 23 transgender persons (in 2017), deploying them in different sections based on their qualifications. The progressive move garnered a great deal of attention, and rightly so. However, soon after the news broke, about 10 of these employees quit, as they were unable to find accommodation in Kochi , thus highlighting the systemic barriers that continue to operate at a societal levle.
• Nukkad, The Teafe, in Raipur is reversing social barriers by only employing transgenders and people with visual and speech impairments. The intention behind this endeavour is to provide a space of equal opportunity for marginalised groups of individuals – who are more or less persistently denied opportunities to work and progress, because of their perceived physical capabilities and their affiliated social stigmas.
• The Lifestyle brand and company  designed a remarkable initiative, called the “Creating A Ripple” program whose objective was to create an ecosystem where employees display a high degree of sensitivity and empathy towards each other’s issues / problems / troubles (grievances). To encourage this cultural change, activities and training programs were conducted across the organization. Employees were introduced to the idea that they themselves could help another employee with a grievance where they were given a choice to be a solution provider, a connector or even an empathizer.
• Recently, Diageo India rolled out an “enhanced wellness policy” for all employees effective July 2020 regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, including LGBT+. As part of the company policy, “medical coverage and leave benefits are to be extended to both same sex and opposite-sex domestic partners”. It also provides medical coverage for gender confirmation procedures. Similarly, surrogacy and fertility treatment medical benefits will be made available for all employees thus involving a revision to the definition of family  to include ‘same sex’ and ‘live-in’ partners. 
• L’Oréal India, which is the only FMCG company in the country that has been awarded the advanced EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) MOVE level certification for gender equality, has inclusivity policies like medical insurance that covers employees with same sex partners. “Our LGBTQI+ employee base feels respected, valued and entitled to every opportunity and benefit that any other employee would. Notably, this year, the company launched the Employee Human Rights Policy “with the principle of non-discrimination, particularly for the LGBTQ+ community” and covering aspects like hiring, remuneration, access to training, company benefits and services, promotions, terminations or retirement.

Although Indian companies (not MNCs)  have a long way to go, it is endearing to see them take steps towards gender diversity and inclusion by enabling conversations and policies that get the ball rolling. It must be said that India’s diversity is complex and inclusion goals require great nuance and concerted efforts to be truly impactful. Our involvement with organisations over the last two years also indicates a growing awareness and  desire to enhance and empower diverse employees within the workplace. In particular our flagship women in leadership program – She-Leads has been an incredible success at DXC Technology (for over 200 participants) where we have seen tangible results and shifts in mindsets. 

Having laid out all these best practices and success stories over a series of blogs these last few months, I now ask you to introspect on what diversity and inclusion means in your organisation and what has worked (or not) for you?

Ask yourself:

• Do I feel a sense of belonging in my organisation?
• Does everyone in my team truly feel that their ideas and suggestions are considered when making decisions?
• What does leadership in my organisation look like?
• What does the language used in corporate documents or during meetings sound like? – is it gender-inclusive? Or does it make some people in the room feel that they don’t belong there?
• What policies does my company have in place to support people from diverse backgrounds? Is the tone of these policies about mutual respect or just meeting legal obligations?

As you reflect on these questions, do check out our flagship D&I program – We-Lead –  to learn more about how we can help you address, improve and align diversity and inclusion goals in your organisation.

Keya Bardalai is a Senior Research Consultant at Syngrity. She has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and specializes in work and employment in the service economy. Keya has a keen interest in gender in the workplace and works on how spaces can be made more just, equitable, and inclusive for all.

SOURCES:

https://www.mondaq.com/india/employee-rights-labour-relations/1086642/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion-in-india-a-possible-blueprint

https://apna.co/blog/indian-companies-at-the-forefront-of-diversity-and-inclusion-at-work/

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/workplace/transgender-diversity-inclusion-wellness-policy-diageo-india-6526423/

https://www.peoplematters.in/article/diversity/creating-inclusive-workplaces-for-india-29576

http://orinam.net/resources-for/workplace/list-of-transgender-plus-inclusive-employers-india/

https://www.socialtalent.com/blog/diversity-and-inclusion/9-companies-around-the-world-that-are-embracing-diversity

https://fortune.com/2021/06/02/fortune-500-companies-diversity-inclusion-numbers-refinitiv-measure-up/

https://linkhumans.com/diversity-inclusion-tech-companies/

https://homegrown.co.in/article/802154/diversity-in-the-workplace-5-indian-companies-with-inclusive-hiring-policies

The post Part V – ‘Unpacking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ Blog Series appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

Last month’s blog was about going back to the basics and trying to understand what terms like diversity, equity and inclusion mean, especially in a workplace setting. This month, the blog picks up from where we left off to unpack unconscious bias and how it affects diversity and inclusion efforts in an organization.

Let me start out by saying that this is not an easy concept to unpack. I’m not a psychologist, far from an expert on the subject, and definitely hold a lot of unconscious biases myself. But the intent is to talk about it, put it out there, and start from a place of honesty and deep authenticity – a step that I think many organizations are beginning to see value in, and embrace.

What is unconscious bias?

Unconscious biases, also known as implicit bias, are attitudes and stereotypes accumulated throughout our lives that can influence our decision-making, particularly when something must be decided quickly. These biases are not always ‘negative’ but can lead to inaccurate assessments based on faulty rationale. For example, we might put someone on a pedestal because he/she has an Ivy League education without considering more information about him/her; we may judge a person negatively, as lazy because they are larger or heavier than average.

No matter how much we deny it, unconscious biases influence most of our decisions. Science tells us this is because our brains can consciously process 40 pieces of information per second—while we unconsciously process 11 million pieces. Therefore, for us to function with all the stimuli bombarding us, we create mental shortcuts that make decision-making easier. Studies tell us that this bias served to distinguish friend from foe to help early humans survive. The ability to quickly and automatically categorize people is thus a fundamental quality of the human mind. Categories give order to life, and every day, we group other people into categories based on social and other characteristics. 

Developing biases start at an early age, Social scientists believe children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes as toddlers. Many studies have shown that as early as age three, children pick up terms of prejudice without really understanding their significance. Soon, they begin to form attachments to their own group and develop negative attitudes about other groups, or the ‘out-group’. Once learned, stereotypes and prejudices resist change, even when evidence fails to support them or points to the contrary. People will embrace anecdotes that reinforce their biases, but disregard experience that contradicts them. 

Given that these biases form early on in life, and are integral to the way we make sense of the world, we naturally carry these biases with us everywhere we go, especially into the workplace. This automatically affects things like who gets recruited, hired, promoted, influences the overall culture of the workplace, and frequently leads to racism, ageism, ethnic profiling, and so on.

Let’s look at the different types of biases we hold.

1) Affinity Bias

Affinity bias leads us to favor people who we feel we have a connection or share similarity with. For example, attending the same college, growing up in the same town, or reminding us of ourselves or someone we know and like.  Affinity biases have a huge impact on recruitment. For example, if a candidate we have an affinity with tells us they’re a little nervous, we may smile more or offer more words of encouragement to try and set them at ease. Whereas, if a person we shared no affinity with told us the same thing, we wouldn’t behave quite as warm towards them. After the interview, the first candidate would seem to be a better fit than the second candidate.

2) Halo Effect

The Halo effect occurs when we perceive one great thing about a person and let that color our opinions of everything else about that person. As mentioned above, if we notice that someone went to a highly regarded college we tend to let this achievement influence how we see everything else about that person.

3) Horns Effect

The Horns effect is the direct opposite of the Halo effect, and occurs when our perception of someone is influenced by one negative trait (or what we perceive as a negative trait). For example, if we do not like the way someone dresses we might assume they are also lazy and unprofessional, even though professionalism and competence are not related to attire.

4) Attribution Bias

Attribution bias affects how we assess other people and their achievements. It can be particularly impactful during recruitment. When assessing ourselves, we tend to think our achievements are direct results of our merit and personality; while our failings are the result of external factors, including other people that adversely affected us and prevented us from doing our best. We are more likely to consider the achievements of others as a result of luck or chance; and their failings as a result of their personality or behavior.

5) Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information that aligns with our preconceived opinions. Recruiters must be cautious about this bias. If we make a judgement about a candidate, we subconsciously look for evidence to back up our own opinions. We want to believe we are right and that we have made the correct assessment of a candidate. The danger of confirmation bias in recruitment is that our own judgement could be inaccurate and result in the loss of a good candidate for the job.

These biases often color how we look at race, caste, gender, age, beauty, authority, and so on. The question for us to consider is whether we can truly de-bias ourselves and our practices.  The short answer to this question – No. However, we do have the means to train ourselves to recognize, interrupt and manage biases. The only way to do this is to point them out by educating ourselves and building safeguards in processes so that decision-making is more objective.  

Testing for unconscious bias

Psychologists at Harvard, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington created ‘Project Implicit’ to develop Hidden Bias Tests—called Implicit Association Tests, or IATs, in the academic world—to measure unconscious bias. These‘Implicit Association Tests’ (IATs) are designed to tap hidden stereotypes and prejudices that circumvent our conscious control. 

But there is a caveat. An article shows that when some people first took the test, they were happy with the results as it indicated no automatic preference for a race, ethnic group, and so on. According to this test, these people were free of bias, even at the subconscious level. However, when they took the IAT again a few days later, the results revealed a slight implicit preference for certain racial groups over others.

The article states that the IAT might not tell individuals much about their individual biases. According to a growing body of research, and the researchers who created the test, the IAT is not conclusive when it comes to predicting individual biases based on just one test. It requires multiple testing, or an aggregate of tests before it can really make any sort of conclusions (writer Jessica Nordell unpacks the complex and controversial science of implicit bias in her article and the idea that people can act in biased ways even when they sincerely reject discriminatory ideas).

Despite this, testing for bias is an important place to start. If people are aware of their hidden biases, they can monitor and attempt to control hidden attitudes before they are expressed through behavior and cause damage. Recognizing that the problem is in many others—as well as in ourselves—should motivate us all to try both to understand and to act. It can be easy to reject the results of the tests as ‘not me’ when we first encounter them. But that’s the easy path. To ask where these biases come from, what they mean, and what we can do about them, while difficult, is the only solution.

Tools to minimize workplace bias:

Assuming we begin to work towards recognizing our biases, there are many practices that we can follow to control or minimize its impact in the workplace.

1. Set D&I goals. From more innovation to more talented employees to higher retention rates, there is clear evidence for why companies should focus on creating diverse workplaces. Setting D&I goals is the first step that signals wanting to overcome unconscious biases that operate in the workplace. (I explore the business case for D&I in my next blog)
2. Widen your work circle. Work with a more diverse range of people and get to know them individually. This will help expand your horizons, lead to a better understanding of the cultural differences that exist in the world, and reduce the intensity of your biases.
3. Try blind recruitment. Removing information from a candidate’s application that might influence your hiring decision – such as name, age, location, and school name – can help you make a more objective decision on their suitability for a role-based only on relevant skills and experiences. Similarly, it is worthwhile investing in recruitment tools and software as it helps with eliminating biases in how we look at our talent pool and the overall recruitment process, by introducing some kind of standardization.
4. Writing neutral job adverts. Make use of tech tools to check if job adverts for your organization contain unintentional gender/race/ethnicity-specific language that could discourage men or women from diverse backgrounds from applying. For example, words such as ‘decisive’ and ‘self-confident’ are regarded as masculine-coded, while words such as ‘collaborative’, ‘empathy’, and ‘trust’ are seen as feminine-coded.
5. Use artificial intelligence (AI). While the debate on AI rages (the data used by algorithms to make decisions may reflect the biases of those who programmed it, as well as the previous human decisions that it uses as its data points), I personally think AI has significant potential to help limit the impact of our unconscious biases.
6. Invest in training. Regular and immersive training can help organizations address biases systematically and effectively. One-off interventions are less likely to be effective. Deep-diving into biases at various levels of the company can help reveal where biases lie and what biases are unique to groups/roles/teams/departments.  Stacey Gordon, a well-known D&I strategist, highlights that while organizations complain about the costs of such training, it is more important to focus on the cost of what unchecked biases could do to an organization’s image, reputation, and access to talent.
7. Publish data and conduct audits. It is important to publish and disseminate your D&I data and metrics in order to assess whether your commitment and practices to overcome unconscious bias are being met.  Audits and tracking metrics add legitimacy to change efforts.
8. And, finally, Encourage others to speak. It is crucial to ensure that everyone in your organization or team contributes to decision-making processes – not just the people who are like you or think like you. That way, you might realize that a decision may have been influenced by unconscious biases. This can only happen when you create a culture that encourages open dialogue and lets others know that they shouldn’t be afraid to speak up, refute or challenge one another.

These are just some of the many tools and steps we can take to rectify how our unconscious biases seep into organizational processes. But one does not have to wait for an ‘organization’ to take these initiatives. We as individuals can address it within ourselves as a start (we must not forget that we make up the institutions and processes we inhabit). One just has to google ‘unconscious bias/eliminating unconscious bias in the workplace to find plenty of research, innovative best practices, and tips we can apply in our daily life. 

I come back to the point I started this blog with – intent. At the end of the day, while recognizing that addressing unconscious bias is complex and far from easy, none of these ‘tools and practices’ will yield returns unless there is genuine intent, at an individual and organizational level, to educate ourselves about biases and manage it. Without it, our D&I practices will not just be lip-service, but may even be counterproductive to the end goal of inclusion.

In my next blog post, I discuss the business case for D&I goals. Till then, I leave you with an eye-opening TEDx Talk on unconscious bias by Valerie Alexander:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP-cqFLS8Q4&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

#unconsciousbias  #diversityandinclusion  #asktherightquestion  #biasatwork  #syngrity

Keya Bardalai is a Senior Research Consultant at Syngrity. She has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and specializes in work and employment in the service economy. Keya has a keen interest in gender in the workplace and works on how spaces can be made more just, equitable, and inclusive for all.

Sources:

https://skillpath.com/blog/unconscious-bias-training-for-companies-is-more-important-than-ever-

https://medium.com/@socialbeings/unconscious-bias-a9a145642fd9

https://www.catalyst.org/2020/01/02/interrupt-unconscious-bias/

https://www.learningforjustice.org/professional-development/test-yourself-for-hidden-bias

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/3/7/14637626/implicit-association-test-racism

https://www.ciphr.com/features/unconscious-bias-in-the-workplace/

The post Part II – Unpacking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Blog Series appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

There is an abundance of resources and materials available online about DE&I in the workplace as a result of the fact that many corporations are pursuing DE&I goals. But what is immediately apparent is that achieving DE&I goals and strategies in the workplace is far from easy or straightforward.

A 2020 PwC Benchmarking Survey states that although global DE&I is a priority area for 76% of the organisations surveyed, many are struggling to translate DE&I strategies into action. In fact, 33% of respondents still feel diversity is a barrier to employee progression and only 5% of surveyed global organisations’ DE&I programmes reach the highest level of maturity. Diversity data on corporate India, while limited, indicates that although organisations are beginning to accept the need for diversity and workplaces are striving to be inclusive, we are dealing with deep-rooted socio-cultural biases and inertia that impede successful DE&I practices. 

The question before us then is how we overcome these chokepoints? What tools, language, and value propositions do we need to successfully meet diversity and enable inclusion in the workplace and possibly larger communities we are part of. In this seven-part blog series on DE&I, I explore a range of questions around these issues in the workplace, whether we are asking the right questions around it, and reflect on where we stand (globally and within the context of India) and need to get to in terms of benchmarks and values. In this first blog post, I start with the basics –  What is diversity and equity? What do we mean by inclusion? More importantly, how do these concepts intersect?

What is diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Despite the renewed momentum around DE&I, there remains a visible lack of clarity around each of these terms. In some circles, we hear one or more of these terms used interchangeably. Elsewhere, we find DE&I used as a kind of non-specific catchall, when it might be more productive to zero in on a specific part of this concept for the purposes of identifying improvements and launching initiatives. It’s therefore helpful to define diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Diversity refers to political beliefs, race, culture, sexual orientation, religion, class, age, and gender identity differences. In the workplace, diversity means your employees consist of individuals who bring new perspectives and backgrounds to the table. It’s important to remember that diversity is less about what makes people different—their race, socioeconomic status, and so on—and more about understanding, accepting, and valuing those differences.

Whereas diversity refers to all the many ways that people differ, equity is about creating fair access, opportunity, and advancement for all those different people. It’s about creating a fair playing field, to use a familiar metaphor. To use a common example, not everyone within an organization will own a car, or even be able to afford public transportation on a daily basis. An organization can create a more equitable environment by accommodating the full spectrum of transportation needs, from policies around start times and working hours to allowances for both automobile and public transportation travel. Successful equity initiatives, then, must build fairness and equal treatment into the very fabric of an organization on the premise that not everyone has the same set of resources. 

Finally, inclusion means that everyone in the diverse mix feels involved, valued, respected, treated fairly, and embedded in your culture. Empowering all employees and recognizing their special talents is part of creating an inclusive company.

How do diversity, equity, and inclusion intersect?

All three components of DE&I are important一diversity without a sense of equity and inclusion can result in a toxic culture, and inclusion without diversity can make a company a homogenous monolith, stagnant and uncreative. Further, companies are starting to focus more on diversity, but many disregard the equity and inclusion piece of the puzzle. Without a concerted effort towards all three components, the workforce is bound to feel out of place and unsupported. There’s a common misconception that environments in which diversity and equity are priorities naturally lead to inclusion.  The truth is that even among the most diverse teams, there is no guarantee of equity and inclusion. Women might be well represented at the senior management level, but still not feel included due to longstanding gender norms, salary discrepancies, and other factors.

Diversity and inclusion expert Verna Myers, founder, and president of Verna Myers Consulting Group coined the phrase:

Diversity is being invited to the party; Inclusion is being asked to dance.

The phrase is powerful in the way that it distinguishes the two terms, which for many, mean the same thing.  It articulates (though somewhat abstractly) that diversity is about ‘representation’, and inclusion is about ‘involvement’.  They are really different things, and it’s important to help people understand that. It’s not just about having people from different social backgrounds in your organisation, but about supporting, nurturing, and facilitating their progression within the workspace. Myers says that embracing inclusion requires “the institution to fully integrate its understanding of and appreciation for the diverse cultures and backgrounds of its employees.”

Let’s look at an example of women in tech industries. A large percentage of women drop out of the IT industry in their mid-30s, mainly because women do not get the support from their managers/organisations to continue after a parental break. As a result, women refrain or hesitate from taking a break/sabbatical after a long-running engagement or starting a family because they know that once they come back, things would have changed at a much quicker pace than they could keep up with. For all we know, they might not feel included during conversations, as their peers might not consider the fact that they have just come back and need to be briefed about what has been going on around or what they could do to get up to speed. If employers are unable to help women keep up with the pace and address their blockers, it will not help – no matter how well they advocate for women in tech (or any industry for that matter).

Some immediate responses to the example above come to mind. Perhaps initiatives such as getting leadership to start working themselves flexibly. e.g., working from home and encouraging others to do the same to maintain a work-life balance; using flexible working hours to accommodate family needs and commitments; ensure employees are aware of their rights with regards to flexible work; institutionalising regular communications to all employees at monthly catch-ups, conferences and one on one conversations discussing the benefit of flexible work; providing employees time, resources and space to upskill themselves; any training which would enable them to get acclimated to the market changing trends and ensuring employees are aware of coaching and mentoring programs that will help them hit the ground running could improve the ways in which women in the workplace feel included.

But such efforts that help organisations move from just being ‘diverse’ to ensuring inclusion is a big shift. In order to do this, a lot of organizational cultural training is required. Myers highlights the significant way unconscious biases and blind spots operate in our unconscious mind. She says, “our brains are highly habitual. Our brains start reaching conclusions without immediately telling us that it’s doing so. It’s looking for things that go together” (In my next blog, I unpack the idea of unconscious bias, how it operates, not just in the workspace, but outside our working lives).

More importantly, Myer’s phrase about how diversity and inclusion are connected is not the end goal.  We must take her phrase one step further and examine ‘who is doing the asking’ and ‘who is doing the dancing’. Very often, it’s a specific group that controls the ‘dance floor’ that others dance on. The person has to be invited by someone else. The person has to be asked to dance by someone else.  You may be included, but someone else has the decision rights on whether and when that will happen. 

What seems to me to be a better vision for DE&I is to create a sense where marginalized or underrepresented peoples are no longer dependent on an offer of brief ‘inclusion’ but where they are equally able to be ‘party planners’ within the organisation. In other words, we should be striving for ‘belonging’ so that people are being asked for inputs on the music, food, and decorations of the party. You don’t have to wait for someone to ask you to dance. You can determine who you dance with.  You have as much a right to influence the playlist as anyone else – even if your music choices might be different than anyone else’s. ‘Belonging’ is not just a ‘nice thing’ to have, it is truly the point at which we start to see real benefits when it comes to team and business performance and the return on investment (ROI) in DE&I.

At the end of the day, representation and inclusion matter and it’s great that workplaces are beginning to recognise the value of diversity in ensuring a better workforce, brand image, reputation, innovation, and generating profits. But, organizations must commit to going all the way and proactively invest in tools needed to create organization-wide accountability, redesign working models, and change cultures to become not just inclusive but belonging-oriented, if there is to be any real transformation.

In the next blog, I unpack unconscious bias and how it affects DE&I efforts in the organisation.  Do let us know your thoughts on DE&I or share experiences around it in the comments section.

#asktherightquestion  #diversityandinclusion  #organisationalaccountability

Keya Bardalai is a Senior Research Consultant at Syngrity. She has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and specializes in work and employment in the service economy. Keya has a keen interest in gender in the workplace and works on how spaces can be made more just, equitable, and inclusive for all.

Sources:

1. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/people-organisation/global-diversity-and-inclusion-survey/global-report.pdf 
2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inclusion-isnt-being-asked-dance-daniel-juday/ 
3. https://www.cleveland.com/business/2016/05/diversity_is_being_invited_to.htm/ 
4. https://www.achievers.com/blog/the-definition-of-employee-engagement/ 

The post Part I – Unpacking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Blog Series appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

Source for AQI: https://app.cpcbccr.com/AQI_India/

The air is cleaner, for sure.

I was walking my dogs on a 50 meter stretch of road just outside my house, at night, two days back. There is a tree just next to a street light at the end of the lane. For the last 4-5 years, I have observed these tiny particles in the air that become visible with the street light. Sometimes these particulate matter is so dense that the leaves of the tree appeared hazy. Not any more. In Delhi, the AQI levels are ranging from 70 – 120 past these days. As I write this, the AQI is 67. Living in Delhi, these numbers almost sound unreal. We are used to the range of 250 – 999. Plus there is no construction and there is less/no traffic.

Birds in my neighbourhood.

I wake up to the constant chattering of the birds.

From my balcony, you can observe various species of birds like the Black Drongo, Pigeons, Common Mynahs, Pariah Kites, tones of Rose Ringed Parrots, Indian Rollers, Laughing Doves, Koels and an occasional Shikra. It’s such a pleasure to wake up to this chitter chatter. With all the infrasouds in the atmosphere and human involvement, one hardly gets to hear a cacophony of birds, any more. Try identifying the bird calls that you can hear.

Dolphins in Mumbai. Photo Courtesy: The internet

The animals are out.

Whilst my two beagles can’t get over the fact that I am at home, all the time, the dolphins have returned in Mumbai waters, the swans returned in Italy, the Neelgai is seen in Noida; sometimes I feel that they are thanking us for remaining inside so they can roam around freely. The waters are cleaner for the fish to swim. There is lesser pollution everywhere and animals are just rejoicing. They seem the happiest. The cats are a different story.

5 stages of grief during a pandemic. Photo Courtesy: Syngrity

David Kessler, author of The sixth stage of grief, adds another stage of grief; finding meaning in all the grief. He also explains anticipatory grief.

The post We’ve become human again! appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

Some Germans say Kassel is ugly, mainly referring to the absence of a quaint old town as a result of the extensive bombings during World War II. Notwithstanding, Kassel is a town of art. It is world-famous for its “documenta” exhibitions of contemporary art.

The town is also home to a fascinating work by German artist Joseph Beuys, initiated in the early 1980s. With the help of numerous volunteers, he planted 7000 oak trees all over town, each of which accompanied by a basalt stone. Previously, he had dumped the basalt stones on the central plaza, forming an enormous heap which many citizens disapproved of. A basalt stone was removed and placed along with an oak only when someone donated 500 DM (approx. 256 €) to the project. The aim was to transform the urban habitat in a sustainable way, and to interfere with the ongoing urbanization.

The oaks are still around, right where people live and work – living monuments of Beuys’ central philosophy: “everyone is an artist.”

Recalling this quote, I thought of the concept underlying one of Syngrity’s signature interventions, Moving Canvases. In this intervention, the facilitator asks participants to paint their company’s values or strategies on large vertical canvases. The whole body is involved – participants paint using their hands, feet, and their colleagues’ support to reach the upper sections of the canvas. The concept originates from the belief that “everyone is born creative” – (Vikram Badhwar had written about this in a previous post).

I witnessed such an intervention during a workshop weekend which Syngrity conducted for an artificial intelligence consulting company in Panchgani, Maharashtra, in May 2018. It was fascinating to see people get up, experiment, argue about colors and patterns, and most of all, get adventurous. It seemed as if participants had forgotten about any limiting formalities and instead accessed something inside themselves which they thought they had lost since childhood. Playing with colors and calling into existence a gigantic piece of art probably tapped into conscious and unconscious kindergarten memories, when failure (and the taboos surrounding it) was still a distant concept of the adult world.

Creativity is not exclusive to those who are defined artists, musicians, actors or graphic designers. This is an essential learning from Moving Canvases. Rather, creativity arises when the workplace allows for empathy, interaction, breathing space, and for the possibility of failure. Almost any success story, ranging from new software developments to the successful entry of a new market, has involved trials and errors, and the embrace of failure. Walking untested terrain, which is what creativity essentially means, is synonymous with finding out what works, and what doesn’t. If there is a safe space to do that, solutions will eventually emerge.

That way, Moving Canvases does not only move hands, feet, colors and work material, but minds and thought boundaries. It creates a space where work routine takes a backseat and people can access intuition and the expressive powers of creativity in the literal sense of the word.

Tanja is a research consultant and holds a master’s degree in development economics, focusing on quantitative and qualitative research techniques. She has documented the work of development professionals and small-scale entrepreneurs in West Africa and India. Her field visit insights became part of a publication series by the German Development Cooperation Agency GIZ based in New-Delhi, which she conceptualized and edited.

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Improvisation is an experiential process that actualizes the “Broaden-and-Build Theory” of positive emotion developed by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, Phd,— and demonstrates the skills and practices that promote sustainable positive emotional states. As a creative experience, improv parallels the real life challenge of negotiating uncertainty day to day through interaction with other people who may or may not be familiar to us. The rules and structures and inprov are designed so that a group of people can agree to support one another through a process of great uncertainty. Complete strangers can come together and successfully improvise, if agreements are made and honored. The conscious choice to try to co-create with strangers is an act of faith in itself, one that elevates the brain chemistry of curiosity and reward. To make this dynamic process even possible, improvisers must generate good will, humor, warmth and a high energy that drives spontaneity. If anyone is going to take a creative risk — which is, in the end, putting our ideas and our sense of self on the line and therefore a genuine emotional risk- there must an atmosphere of support and sense of trust. Even when there is trust and a collaborative spirit, improv is like real life in that there is always the risk that a perfect storm of performance anxiety, self-consciousness, and the element of uncertainty that is part of the improvisation experience, can trigger an “amygdala hijacking.”

Vikram Badhwar, CEO, Syngrity, is a communications coach, an experiential educator, and an artist trying to bridge the gap between the creative and the analytical side of our brain. He consults individuals and teams in the space of learning & development to enable transformations at a personal, professional and organizational level.

The post Improvisation and Positive Psychology appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

In 1947, a lot of our families migrated from, now Pakistan. Some of these families lost everything in the migration. People who lived in huge houses and kothis, had to run away with their bare essential belongings in suitcases. A lot of families never made it to India and vice versa. Without going into the gory details of partition, people needed to start afresh. It was a matter of survival – of the basic needs.

In 1943, Maslow had written in his paper, “A theory of Human Motivation” about the hierarchy of needs. He stated that the most basic needs represented by physiological needs was one of the most basic needs and only when those are met, people are willing to look at other factors in the hierarchy. It took India almost 50 years after partition to be introduced to the concept of abundance.

How did this translate into actual living?

Whilst the partitioned families scrambled to make ends meet and to gather their resources and start afresh, a lot of morals and value systems were compromised. The idea of establishing a new reality in a new space came with its own set of perils. Wide spread corruption started. Legal systems were compromised and a certain section of the popular got richer whilst the majority suffered in poverty. People became very possessive about their money. What started off as a money saving measure graduated to full blown exploitation, which continues even till today. The whole idea of getting the maximum out of people for the least amount of wage became the mantra. Nehru spoke on the eve of August 15, 1947; not about the holocaust that people had survived in India but about a newer India, a newer idea. The New India was headed towards industrialisation and growth and higher GDP. We needed that. Kind courtesy the British, we were left with not too much.

As the post partition days were scarce of resources, people weren’t able to look at abundance as a principle. Its a bit ironical because if you go into the history of this land, there was always enough to share. Scarcity in the heart results in scarcity outside. And because we were seeing a scarce outer world because of our own scarcity inside, we started becoming selfish. We forgot to acknowledge and appreciate. Our world became EXCLUSIVE rather than INCLUSIVE.

So whats the problem?

There isn’t one. There could be many problem that arise out of a scarce perspective of life. I’ll try to list some.
As I mentioned, inner scarcity more often results in scarcity outside. One of the basic problems of this scarcity and exclusivity is that people stop connecting with each other. For eg: joint families started suffering from what I call HIFS (Happy Indian Family Syndrome). Siblings started fighting over immovable assets. Families moved from joint to nuclear to sometimes not even existing.
One of the biggest issues with exclusion is an inflated sense of ego because by definition exclusion means that you feel that you are different from the other person and that your benefit is the only thing that matters. We can observe this in how we have treated our forests and rivers. We can also see this in the way we treat our domestic help and security guards. We can see this in the way we deal with relationships – personal and professional. The “Ji huzuri” still persists.
Competitors bad mouth each other trying to convince the customer that my product is Better than their competitions. The advertisements on television are based on accentuating deficit, on creating a false need; always pushing for what you don’t have and why you don’t need it. Rather than abundance, fear is used as a tool and a weapon to control peoples minds.
This sense of self righteousness and self centeredness keeps the muscles tight at all times and can be quite exhausting. It’s not a sustainable space.

So then what is to be done?

For years, in my workshops and talks, I have been saying that Freedom = Gratitude + Forgiveness. And I find this formula very easy to understand. It may be difficult to apply but its easy. Try it.
I think one of the first and foremost things that we need to do is to RECONNECT WITH OURSELVES and be THANKFUL and FORGIVE ourselves for all the stuff we beat ourselves for.
Secondly, we need to reconnect with people around us – be it our family and friends or acquaintances. It’s nice to reconnect with those we often forget to thank and forgive or seek forgiveness.
And instead of an exclusive space, we need to start feeling connected with people around us. Instead of beating our own trumpet ( we are masters at it), we need to start ensuring that the person to our left or right looks good. It is lovely to bask in the glory of someone that you have pushed forward. And when they look good, so do you.

What is in it for me?

Relaxed muscles in the body hence lesser fatigue.
A happier space of inclusion
Lesser fear, hence better stomachs.
Better relationships with yourself, your families and friends.
Try it!

Vikram Badhwar, CEO, Syngrity, is a communications coach, an experiential educator, and an artist trying to bridge the gap between the creative and the analytical side of our brain. He consults individuals and teams in the space of learning & development to enable transformations at a personal, professional and organizational level.

The post INCLUSION – time to go back! appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

Tanja Matheis, our researcher on the Warrior‘s Path team, documents the implementation of Syngrity’s exciting new experiential intervention. Rumor has it that she is intertwined with her laptop, but she actually loves spending time walking and trekking, in good company, with cheese snacks and a camera. In this series, she talks about her research on the Warrior’s Path strategy of adopting e-mentors to fuel the RIGHT consumption for the participants. Stay tuned for more tidbits.

In September 2018, eight people set out to Annapurna Basecamp (ABC), an arduous trek which most of them had never done before: the Warrior’s Path. A 10-day-trek like this one requires physical training, but the preparation inevitably also leads to deep reflections and emotions about one’s own decisions.

How do you prepare for this adventure, and how can mentors be of help?

The Warrior’s Path doesn’t start with the actual trek, but three to five months before, when participants sign up. The purpose is to create a space of inclusion, exchange and learning early on, that is, a space of mentoring. Soon after participants committed to the program, they have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the team online, over the phone and on WhatsApp.

However, the idea of mentoring goes far beyond team-participant interactions, making the Warrior’s Path a unique approach in the outbound education space.

A mentor is a person who supports you by sharing her or his rich expertise and wisdom. A mentor creates an environment for the learner to think, question and grow, very much like healthy soil nurturing a plant.

Syngrity realised that a person’s consumption, while training for an arduous task, will determine their readiness for it. Different forms of consumption could be classified as Physical, Emotional and Mental. Syngrity envisaged the thought process and skills required for this trek, and chose experts and teachers from their network to create an inclusive, circular way of sharing experience. Each of these experts mainly focused on either physical, mental or emotional consumption. This information, passed on from the experts to the participants, would help them streamline their focus towards their training. Syngrity reached out to different experts in their respective fields, as diverse as sports physiotherapy, stand-up comedy and martial arts.

The beauty of accessing many minds to share experience.

Experts prepared short talks or practice videos, which were shared with the Warrior Path’s participants during the trek preparation between June and September 2018. The group subsequently watched and discussed the experts’ contributions on a private youtube channel. Participants reflected on how the insights could become part of their individual preparation for the trek. Since all of this happened online, bridging geographies and time zones, the experts are referred to as e-mentors.

One of the e-mentors was a teacher of Tai Chi, Pak Wa Chuan and Praying Mantis in Dubai. He talked about “second wind”, the moment in which an exhausted athlete regains breath and strength to reach her full potential with less exertion. Then he shared an exercise from the Praying Mantis which helps activate the second wind.

A sports physiotherapist gave us tips on the muscles and joints that we needed to keep exercising and relaxing before, during and after the trek. The physical aspects were complemented by a senior theatre and dance performer, a head of a learning and development organization and a renowned stand-up comedian and motivational speaker. These mentors emphasized the emotional challenges involved in conquering one’s internal mountain, and the importance of joy and humor throughout the process.

An internationally renowned spiritual teacher shared practical wisdom for happiness and enlightenment in a joyful and transformational way. He showed us how to get past the inner noise and eventually achieve a space of stillness and silence.

These diverse insights have given participants food for thought and leverage points to deepen their knowledge and practice of awareness. Participants found it easier to tackle steep inclines, merciless weather and mental exhaustion on the trek, because they had already heard of different practices from the mentors. The leverage points that the mentors provided through their talks also serve as an inspiration beyond the trek, e.g. for previously unresolved issues at work or in relationships.

While the network of e-mentors cannot replace intimate and face-to-face relationships with friends, family, colleagues, supervisors or teachers, they do represent a resource to keep in mind and to draw on. For the new rounds of the Warrior’s Path in 2019 and beyond, Syngrity is working towards a broader network, with more opportunities to engage for participants. Stay tuned!

Tanja is a research consultant and holds a master’s degree in development economics, focusing on quantitative and qualitative research techniques. She has documented the work of development professionals and small-scale entrepreneurs in West Africa and India. Her field visit insights became part of a publication series by the German Development Cooperation Agency GIZ based in New-Delhi, which she conceptualized and edited.

The post Like soil to a plant – exploring the digital space for mentoring: E-Mentors appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

I attended a talk recently where L&D heads of various organisations came together to discuss the Future of Leadership Development. The main discussion was “where we are” and “where we aspire to be in the next 10 years”. Everyone was talking DIGITAL and AI. There was also AGILITY; a need that organisational HR Heads present there, kept going back to, again and again.

The Cambridge dictionary defines AGILITY as the ability to move about quickly and easily. For the last two decades, organisations in India have been training their businesses to respond with swiftness in the ever changing market conditions. Business Agility has been a trait that we have trained ourselves in, for the last two decades. Processes had been adopted which allowed continuity of business even in adverse situations.

As a qualified BCP/DRP (Business Continuity Plan/ Disaster Recovery Plan) facilitator, way back in 2002, when I worked at GECIS, was one such example of how businesses moved towards being agile. There were people who were skilled In various tasks that would ensure that the business did not suffer, the data didn’t suffer etc. There were drills that were carried out to see how fast the business could start operations in a different geographic location. A very regimented way. It was quite fascinating to watch.

These processes, naturally, started putting mechanistic orders in place. That was the aim. We all understand that Processes succeed. But there was a problem. Business Agility was making businesses fluid but the people who were a part of the business were becoming rigid and losing their own creative spark. That is one downside to processes. Personal creativity and passion takes a back seat. Pandit Nehru’s speech of Independence at the dawn of Aug 15th, 1945 marked the era of an Industrial thought process. He spoke about the future, about industrialisation, about hard work, about progress. There was little to no mention about the struggle of independence. The vision was progressive and futuristic and mechanistic.

In Europe too, around the same time, post the World War 2, countries were determined to rebuild themselves and saw an industrial way to be the direction to progress. Once again, a mechanistic vision.

The definition of agility is changing again. And it is becoming people centric, rather than being fixated on Business Agility. Organisations today have started realising that people are not just resources or assets, but are people. Organisations are beginning to see that any mechanistic process that hampers creative input is not beneficial to the employee and hence forth the business. Organisations want to behave better with their employees.

What do organisations need to do to cultivate agility as a strength in their employees?

A Creative Corporate Culture

We need to stop teaching people creativity as it is a natural skill. For creativity to emerge, we need to just allow a safe, non-judgemental space where people can experiment and exercise their minds. Once a free space is given, then specific creative skills can be taught. But first, the leadership should be committed to creating a culture of embracing creativity, across boards. Click here to read about Creative Corporate Culture.

Invest in personal lives

Organisations use their employees for over 20 hours, in a 10 hour day. If organisations start investing into the personal lives of their employees, the employee would be free to allow himself or herself to work better. If organisations invest in their employees’s passions, they are going to fuel the fire that makes the employee tick. It’s a win-win solution.

Award Failure

This requires organisations and its leadership to start redefining failure – awarding failure as a part of the KRA. The failure needs to be relooked not as unsuccessful attempts but as successful data collection, for what doesn’t work. This will allow people to experiment more and finally think out of the box.

Authenticity

Authenticity is an under rated trait. It has been, for many decades. The “Ji Hazoori” which still goes on rampantly in organisations are a continuous reminder of our feudal past. For people to be authentic, this would need to stop. People should be offered a safe space to be authentic with themselves and others, and QUESTION, the constructs of the mind.

It is imperative that organisations start looking at their processes also from an organic and holistic process where the employee and all related people are at the centre of their existence, down the value chain. Happy employees make happier organisations!

Once the organisations commit themselves to being organic and holistic in their employee vision, specific training and learning interventions can be used to train the people in specific skills. I will write about these specific skills that people can start working on, for themselves, in a separate blog.

Vikram Badhwar, CEO, Syngrity, is a communications coach, an experiential educator, and an artist trying to bridge the gap between the creative and the analytical side of our brain. He consults individuals and teams in the space of learning & development to enable transformations at a personal, professional and organizational level.

The post Prerequisites of moving from Business Agility to Employee Agility appeared first on Syngrity Transformation Solutions.

Always hearing the elders in the family teaching us that every one that is born must die also stayed with me in my head. It still does; today with a slightly better understanding. Every time, I have visited the Lodhi road crematorium in Delhi, there is on the walls, all around, verses from the Bhagwad Gita where Lord Krishna is explaining the principle to Arjun just before he was getting ready to go on a rampage. He explains the principle of life and death and reiterates on the fact that the body is just an outer cover for the soul and one should not mourn when the covering is gone. Very simple yet not very easy to pragmatically put to use. If the soul is all inclusive and eternal then the physical body is the mask that it adorns. So what do we cry about? Are we crying for the soul? If yes, then we are wasting our time because it isn’t going any where. It has been released from the grip of the human flesh and unified with the universe all ready to choose for itself a new body and a new shape. So do we cry for the body? Do we cry every time we open a gift and rip apart the wrapping paper? No. Then when do we shed tears when the body goes. Are we crying for the attachment we have towards the deceased? I guess so. I was sitting with a learned man who shared an insight about people crying because of expectations that they have/had from the dead. They are crying because they are thinking, “Now what?”, and trying to unsuccessfully deal with their own inability to survive minus the presence of the person who went away. My teacher has another opinion. He told me, “whats the point of coming and mourning when someone died when you didn’t have the time for the person when he/she was alive?”. Rather piercing but also has a lot of truth in it.

I told my father a few years back that I don’t want to cry when he passes over. He looked at me strangely but I think he understood the space from where the statement was coming. I don’t want to cry because I don’t want to have any knots where he is concerned. And I ensured I didn’t cry at his pyre. The break down happened a few months later. It was liberating. Not knotting.

Hopefully, my loved ones will go when they want to and when their time is over. They will know for sure when their time is right to pass over to the other world where they can stand in queue to be recycled and reborn depending on all their deeds in this life. I think everyone knows when the moment is there. Even the ones who have an “untimely” death. The reason why I put ‘untimely” in quotes because there is nothing which is untimely. If a person passes over at 3, it is not untimely; if one goes at 73, it isn’t untimely either. We call passing over at 3 untimely because the person wasn’t “old” in flesh and age. We forget the “old soul” part. You could be 3 but still be an old soul. But the point is not to criticize the short comings of human understanding. I think there are enough people who enjoy doing that job. I remember myself saying in one of my lectures a while back that “ there are some people who come into your life for a purpose. When that purpose is fulfilled, they go their own way. And we must allow them to leave. If we resist the departure, it causes pain to both the individuals. This example was given for a living person who was wanting to step out of a relationship. There was temporary death in the moment of the break in relationship. But somewhere it holds good for the dead”.

Why is death looked at when the body gives up? I have found death to be in every moment. Not only death but also birth. In every breath lies a moment of birth and death. More specifically, when the lungs inhale as much air as they can consume, there is moment of pause, of death, and birth happens, as the exhalation starts till all the breath is released to a state of near emptiness. And then death happens and rebirth as the inhalation starts.

The start of a day and its end explains the process of death and birth and death and rebirth. Bathing is the death of the old skin and birth of a deeper cover. Sleep itself is the birth and death. A friend, as I was writing these lines, called and said. “Death is simply a passage into the next body. The sooner one realises it, the less fearful one becomes.” Interesting! In many cultures in India and around the world, death has been celebrated rather than mourned. There was music and dance to celebrate the passing over especially if the deceased had lived a full life. But every life is full! Full to the extent that you allow it to be.

One thing that also fascinates me is to get an insight into the dying persons mind. What is going on in the head of the dying? Denial, acceptance, sadness, happiness or what? I would love to sit next to a person who is on his way up or down, depending on how you want to look at it, and have the person share what the creations of a dying brain and heart have to say. If one has to look at it scientifically, because the body is in a state of release, a lot of hormonal and chemical changes would be taking place in the body and the brain which would make the person see, hear, hallucinate. The same thing to look at metaphysically could be messages from the masters and the angels who are waiting for the bucket to be kicked to guide you to the gates to register your entry. What are these messages? Dr. Brian Weiss in his book, Many lives & Many masters, has documented extremely potent insights into the mind of his subject in this life as well as the many lives the subject lived in the past. A beautiful book, it is. It is a book which has been written without a bias because Dr Weiss was trained to look at everything very logically and scientifically and these insights about death and reincarnation was like washing away all the knowledge he had obtained in his formal training.

Something I experienced in Dec of ’07.

I had a wonderful experience a week and a half back and somewhere I feel that it adds to the journey of the art of dying. I was in meditation and just before I reached the state of “ding”, I had a thought that translated to emotive pain. The pain was beautiful as it made me aware of my journey as a peaceful warrior – as I see myself. I must thank Dan Millman and Paulo Coelho for this awareness besides a lot of individuals I have met in person who have ignited the spark of higher consciousness in me. This pain also made me aware of being alone yet not lonely. Alone on my journey. Being alone is one of the best ways to be able to cultivate. Being alone gives you the opportunity to be benevolent to yourself and the souls around you. And it gives you the space to be you – in touch with your essence, away from the persona. A thought of a hundred percent embrace came to my mind – something. What a wonderful feeling it would be to be able to embrace a person with a 100% surrender. I even attempted to understand what that meant.

We have 4 layers of muscle. the first two are the ones we can control and move our limbs with. The 3rd layer is what one needs to work at and the last one is something that we have no control over because they control the internals. If that layer gives up, so does our body. Anyway, with that thought in my mind, I very slowly entered ding. As I was aware of my main consciousness being present with me, I was also aware of what I was doing. Yet, after staying in the state for more than 10 minutes, which appeared like a year, something started happening. I had a feeling that my muscles were relaxing. A very good feeling, for sure. The third layer relaxed slowly putting my mind in alpha almost instantly. I remember being aware of this transition and was in a state of blissfulness. Then something else happened. I died. It lasted 2-3 seconds and I must confess, I was scared beyond my guts. The fourth layer of muscle relaxed. And while that happened or was happening, I felt a certain suction effect that took place. My brain immediately switched off and am pretty certain, my heart stopped. I resisted because I wasn’t too sure if I would have come back. But I did. I opened my eyes gently and found my organs coming back to their usual synchronized dance in a short while. I experienced death. And I was conscious of it.

If we need to live well, we need to be aware of what role Death plays in every breath we take. Then its an intimate tango.

Note: These are my thoughts based on my experiences and journeys. The intention is to just share and not be antagonistic to any approach or system.

Vikram Badhwar, CEO, Syngrity, is a communications coach, an experiential educator, and an artist trying to bridge the gap between the creative and the analytical side of our brain. He consults individuals and teams in the space of learning & development to enable transformations at a personal, professional and organizational level.

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