Inclusive by Design: Key Questions to Ask When Overseeing a Team
I am a supervisor or manager
In your work, it's important that you remain mindful of the lived reality of the end users of your products and services. Inclusiveness is something that should be considered and integrated throughout the work process. How can an inclusion lens improve how you approach your work as a supervisor or manager? Are you aware of your own biases and how they might impact your mentorship and leadership?
Start by thinking about how to support and empower your team in the work that they do. Take some time to review the content in the other two job aids:
- I design policies, programs or other initiatives
- I implement internal or external policies, programs or other initiatives
There are some key questions specific to management that you should consider.
Develop a reflex for inclusiveness
You need to develop and exercise your “inclusion reflex” to consistently make inclusion and belonging a priority, even when the pressure is on. It's like learning to ride a bike. At first, you need to think about every step, from how to get on the bike, to how to hold the handlebars, to how to keep your balance when you first start to pedal. Once you build that muscle memory, you can do all those steps without even thinking, even when you're in a hurry. You need to develop a reflex for inclusiveness so that you apply all the necessary considerations, even when you're under pressure to deliver quickly.
Take a close look at your team
Is your team diverse, in terms of identity and perspectives? Place your answer in the space below.
How are you building a culture of inclusion? Place your answer in the space below.
Challenge your assumptions
What might be some of the barriers that exclude people from your team or from certain jobs? For instance, are there barriers for persons with disabilities? Were you intentional about procuring the most accessible goods and services available? Place your answer in the space below.
How can you address these barriers and create a more representative organization that embraces an inclusive culture? Place your answer in the space below.
Increase inclusiveness when and where you can
You may have assumptions about the need to do jobs in a particular way. Look beyond those already doing the job and consult people in similar jobs who represent a diversity of intersectional factors.
Should you consider recruitment strategies to attract a diversity of members to your team? Possible obstacles to someone's equal and full participation can be physical, technical or attitudinal, and might include issues related to security, finances, family obligations professional duties, legal constraints, moral/religious considerations, historic/structural/systemic vulnerabilities (for example, persons with disabilities, Indigenous women, refugees, members of the 2SLGBTQI+community), and so on. Do you have the resources available to respond to these needs and eliminate barriers? If not, how will you ensure that you can access them? Place your answer in the space below.
Remember that identity factors can intersect to create different impacts on different people. Consult Applying GBA Plus to concussion prevention and treatment, and Does Climate Change Affect Us All the Same Way? for examples.
Identify your own learning gaps
Has this job aid helped you to identify any gaps in your own knowledge, skills or attitudes? Place your answer in the space below. Be specific so that you can show this list to your manager to discuss your additional learning needs.
Identify the learning gaps on your team
What about your team? What are their gaps in knowledge, skills or attitudes? Place your answer in the space below. Be specific so that you can show this list to your team to discuss their additional learning needs.
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