Power Of DEI And Communications
Key Takeaways
Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media | LIVE event on LinkedIn, where she interviewed Head of Inclusion and Employee Development, Kelsey Bardfield. They shared tips and personal stories about the power of DEI and communications. Here are the takeaways for VIP Comm Pass members:
- We can impact our workplace to ensure it is inclusive by considering how we treat others daily.
- If we see or hear microaggressions, we need to use our voices to speak up.
- We can increase our understanding of different voices by consuming media from people of all races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
- When we make a mistake, we need to acknowledge it, apologize, and move on. We need to avoid making the incident about us.
- We can focus on making the workplace more inclusive by considering how networking can be done at the office, and without alcohol.
- If we are in a position of privilege, we can think about ways to use our privilege to help others.
- Microaggressions are verbal and non-verbal slights and attacks. Saying something like, "Oh wow! You speak English so well." To someone who is Asian. Commenting on someone's behavior using a negative label.
- We need to break the assumptions we have about other people.
- We can expand our ideas of how we think others should behave, talk, and engage.
- As leaders, we can build more inclusive meetings:
- How we structure meetings - send an agenda ahead of time
- Rotate the person who is housekeeping - scheduling the meeting, taking notes, getting lunches
- Pay attention to body language - put a loud person on pause and give space to someone else
- We can pave the way for underrepresented colleagues to speak up,
- "Kelsey, I know we talked about your ideas on this program, would you like to share those now with the group?"
- We need to have open communication and trust within our teams.
https://vimeo.com/793073313
We can all make an impact at our workplace to make it more inclusive and safe for everyone walking through the doors.
*As a VIP Communications Pass holder, you get access to these show notes we’ve organized for you, so you’ll always remember what was shared. No worries if you didn’t take down notes. This is for you to keep!*