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“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde
Summer 2020 sparked many organizations to take a deeper look at their DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) initiatives, or for some, introduce themselves to the conversation for the first time. There was a significant response to social injustice: from the creation of Chief Diversity Officers to increased DEIB budgets and Mission Statements that claimed organizations were not only allies, but fearless advocates of this work. That moment, now forever etched in our history, shed new light on work that was already being done, but on a smaller scale.
Fast forward to 2024.
We are approaching four years since that turbulent time in our nation and our world. Many of the challenges we faced then, we continue to face now, with new difficulties presenting themselves. Chief Diversity Officers are stepping down due to their roles not having the organizational power needed to enact transformation, DEIB budgets are being slashed to keep up with the ongoing economic highs and lows, and Mission Statements that were once touted as the answer have now become lost on a webpage and not fully lived out by the organizations that created them. The passion we once saw is wavering, as marginalized communities continue to navigate many of the social justice issues brought to light in Summer 2020.
Despite some of the pushback we have seen towards DEIB initiatives, the work has not come to a full stop. Where hope may seem to be lost, it is important for organizations to remember that the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is a marathon, not a sprint. The race is long and arduous. Because of this, no matter how long one has been in the race, the goal is to simply keep moving.
To help advance the impact diversity brings to an organization, the question becomes:
How do we continue to move the needle on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging without feeling as though the work is leading us to a dead end?
What better month to consider an answer to this question than April, which is also known as Celebrate Diversity Month. Celebrate Diversity Month was first recognized in 2004 to honor the unique identities, cultures, heritages, and backgrounds around our world. To inspire new diversity efforts and build upon existing accomplishments, there are three words that can help organizations celebrate and embrace diversity in the ongoing face of uncertainty:
Reevaluate. Reengage. Remember.
Reevaluate. Organizations should look at the priorities they have set for increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. How have priorities shifted over the last four years and beyond? The world continues to evolve, even when current events seem to slow things down. Can the same be said for your organization? If the answer is yes, continue to evolve. Continue to push past performative action to drive authentic and meaningful change. If the answer is no, this means your organization must lean further into change management so thatis celebrated and achieved may be created.
Reengage. Many employees within an organization have been working to push diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging forward for a long time – years before recent events we have seen. Due to this longstanding work, many employees, if not all, are burnt out.
Organizations must consider a different approach to reengage these individuals so they may continue to contribute to short-term and long-term DEIB goals without sacrificing their personal and professional energy. This also creates a wonderful opportunity to engage new employees who may have been on the periphery, waiting for the “right moment” to get involved. The “right moment” is always now and to help ensure the work is sustainable, all hands must be on deck – from members of marginalized communities to the allies of these communities and, most importantly, leaders who can and want to champion for the voices of communities that cannot be heard at the tables in which they have a seat.
Remember. Take a moment to reflect on why your organization is engaged in DEIB work. It is easy to get defeated by the number of daily tasks we must complete or the list of people in crisis we need to support so that we forget why we even started down a particular path in the first place.
Regardless of how overwhelming the work may be, it is critical to remember the why. Take hold of the why, even when the road becomes much too bumpy. This also amplifies the importance of the human side of DEIB work.
Lean into the joy and excellence DEIB initiatives can bring. Just as people are complex and layered, DEIB work mirrors those qualities to serve as a reminder to move forward with grace and patience.
The Path Forward
The work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is hard and takes time for its impact to be seen and felt. As barriers emerge, it is important to remember that the responsibility of this work is not just on the shoulders of leaders and Employee Resource Groups, but all employees and entire organizations. When everyone reevaluates priorities, gets reengaged, and remembers the why, DEIB initiatives can move forward and change culture.
Resources
https://hbr.org/2023/09/overcoming-todays-dei-leadership-challenges
https://kpmg.com/us/en/articles/2023/dei-challenge-measuring-progress.html
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-a-values-based-approach-advances-dei/
Bio
Dr. Joanna Thompson (she/they) is a Black, Latina, and Queer female who serves as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for One Workplace. Her work is informed by her background as a criminologist and 12 years of working in higher education. Dr. Thompson seeks to raise awareness of social justice issues through education and scholarship while promoting intersectional community organizing by facilitating grassroots and systems-based connections.
Working from the office is no longer an expectation – it is a choice. The question we each will be facing is no longer “should we go into the office to work” – but rather “will the office help us do our best work?
A New Mission for the Workplace
Creating a work experience that allows us to be at our best is the new mission of the workplace. Solving for that goal requires not just great physical work environments (both at home and at the office) it also requires new ways of leading our teams. We must adopt and promote greater independence and self-direction, and afford our employees increased trust and autonomy.Offering these kinds of work experiences requires an interrelated effort from HR leaders, facilities and real estate teams, individual managers and their direct reports. This is especially true as the workplace evolves into an ecosystem of widely varied work locations and modes.
An Ecosystem of Work
With millions of people working from home and many companies adopting a remote-first work model, we find ourselves on the verge of something Liquidspace founder Mark Gilbreth calls “The Great Migration.” Mark’s view on the workplace is shaped by a belief in the need for short term, flexible office spaces that are smarter, smaller, and more locally distributed. He describes an ecosystem of work supported by “satellite,” “hub,” or “outpost” locations as an extension of our traditional offices. Situated far from urban centers, these workplaces offer an appealing option, in Mark’s words, “For workers looking for an experience that augments their home working environment – and for organizational leaders looking to augment their HQ.”*
The move to suburban expansions or new forms of distributed working present novel challenges for leaders. Who and what is now driving our link to organizational mission, values, and purpose? How do we measure performance, productivity, and potential for people that we no longer see each day? These are just a few of the cultural shifts that organizations need to be prepared to address as our relationship with our places of work begins to change.
A New Relationship with the Ways and Places of Work
Prior to the global pandemic One Workplace, +One’s parent company, was struggling with similar questions. Rapid growth and the need for greater flexibility drove our organization to establish a new relationship with the ways and places of our work. The physical result was to create a network of workplace destinations – a suite of experiences provided to each team member in exchange for giving up an individually owned open office desk. This change would place an increased importance on the wayswe lead, trust, and interact with each other and would be centered on four core principles: Autonomy, Empowerment, Community, and Accountability.
Four Principles for the Return to the Office:
- Autonomy: The ability to choose for yourself how and where you work.
Give team members a framework to help them to determine (on their own) the best setting for each and every task - regardless if that setting is at home or the office. No one should have to come to the office by default. They should come by choice and because it will allow them to be their best.
- Empowerment: Having the tools, resources and settings available to you to “do your best work.”
Provide a suite of specific work experiences for your team, both within the office and at home, that are designed for distinct modes of work – from focus and collaboration, to rejuvenation and play. These tools and spaces should be supported both physically and digitally.
- Community: Possessing the human connections to your organization that remain with you no matter where you work.
Distributed work requires us to be more intentional in building a sense of belonging. Take advantage of our natural sense of propinquity, our ability to develop relationships with the people we spend time with, to develop both physical and virtual connection points throughout each day.
- Accountability: A shared commitment to excellence and contribution as individuals and a team.
Managers need tools and training to maintain positive and reinforcing relationships with their teams. The focus should be on outcomes, expectations, and growth and development – not on time spent at the office.
The Return to the Office
The return to the office is a bit of a misnomer. This is not only because we are no longer returning to just an office – but for many of us – it’s because we are returning to a relationship with our organizations that did not previously exist. Forward-looking organizations understand that our return to work is not a return at all, but is instead a chance to help each team member be at their absolute best no matter where or how they work.
What’s New with +One:
+One is launching the Propinquity Assessment which gauges the level of connection within your workplace and provides an understanding of interpersonal relationships, collaboration dynamics, and overall synergy among your teams. Be part of the beta testing by contacting us at [email protected].
About the Author:
Christopher Good is Chief Creative Officer at One Workplace, and Co-Founder of +One Work Culture Consulting. His work is dedicated to changing the way we think about our relationship to work and the workplace. He is an advocate of the design thinking process and is a frequent speaker and presenter at events across the country, leading active workshops to solve big problems. Most of all he believes in the power of design to do good things for other people. Chris recently spoke about The Power of Propinquity at TedX.
The world of work is now distinctly different from the one that we recently left behind. Organizations that once insisted that their teams could never successfully work in a remote environment have suddenly been convinced that distributed teams and working from home is an effective and productive work mode. Contrarily, organizations that have long promoted remote work have suddenly realized that sending people away from the office wholesale has come with dramatic side effects.
Loneliness and loss of connection, a workplace epidemic
that has grown increasingly disruptive, is spreading and threatens the cultural bonds within many businesses.
Inside of any great problem, however, is the possibility for great opportunity. By understanding the drivers of loneliness, and the instigators of our loss of connection or sense of belonging, we might discover simple action steps that any organization can take to foster a resilient culture. We might also, in turn, create more meaningful workspaces for the return of our teams.
The Power of Propinquity
One of the most compelling drivers of connection is our sense of propinquity. This is the natural human tendency to develop tight interpersonal bonds with the people and things that are closest to us. Propinquity exists at the core of every successful team, every intimate relationship, every social bond we create. Propinquity is why the physical workplace matters as much as it does.
Twenty plus years ago, I supported a workplace design project with one of the largest U.S. banks as that organization transitioned into a flexible work model it called “Future of Work.” It was an early attempt at agile teleworking before those concepts became mainstream. In many ways, this way of working was incredibly successful. Employees reported a 41% increase in workplace satisfaction, a 10% reduction in lost time to distraction, and a 12% increase in satisfaction for the time they had for concentration.
These statistics tell a powerful story about the benefits of giving people choice over their work experience. These numbers also hid a curious side effect. The organization was known for its tight workplace culture. Team members quickly developed meaningful and familial relationships with the co-workers they sat next to every single day. They would attend each other’s children’s birthday parties and host weekend cookouts together. This is not an uncommon experience in many workplaces. When teams transitioned to the “Future of Work” model, however, something changed. An insight shared with me by the “Future of Work” project manager was that when employees stopped sitting next to the same people every day, those relationships fractured, and the culture of those teams ultimately suffered due to the lack of daily connection. People stopped going to each other’s children’s parties and weekend cookouts. What the organization was experiencing was the power of propinquity. Unfortunately, they were experiencing the negative impact: what happens when an intense sense of connection fades.
Three Rules of Propinquity
Propinquity is an emotional response. It is driven as much by our hormones as it is by our intentions. Neurotransmitters produced in deep recesses of our brains, such as oxytocin, influence our sense of trust, emotional bonding, and connectedness. These automatic responses can be left to chance, or they can be shaped and influenced by intentional experiences that we design into our workday – both physically as well as virtually. Whether working from home or from the office, the following three principles are central to defining and nurturing propinquity.
- The Rule of Proximity
- The Rule of Frequency
- The Rule of Affinity
THE RULE OF PROXIMITY
“The closer you are to someone the more likely you are to develop a bond.” Similar to what teams found in the “Future of Work” project, our proximity to each other leads to deep connections. Sharing the same physical space (or possibly virtual space) increases our chances that a relationship will develop and that our cultural influences will intertwine. Proximity increases the chances of developing propinquity.
THE RULE OF FREQUENCY
“The more often you connect with someone the faster those bonds will grow.” The more often we see, touch, and engage each other the more resilient and fast-growing those bonds will become. Frequency of interactions increases the speed at which propinquity is developed.
THE RULE OF AFFINITY
“The more similarities you share with someone the stronger those bonds become.” This is perhaps the most troublesome rule as it presents within it the risks of unconscious bias. It is our nature to be drawn to and think only about people and things most like us or aligned to our own interests. We seek out and develop fast connections with the people and ideas that we most intimately and innately understand. As we shape our teams and our workplaces, we must be mindful to create experiences that promote and support a diverse experience for our entire organization, and to consider the needs and affinities of both those most like and unlike ourselves. Affinity helps strengthen propinquity.
Propinquity at Work
To help teams adapt to this changing world of work, consider how you might apply some of the following approaches to foster propinquity among and within teams.
LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE EMPLOYEE
It is important to get a pulse on how employees are currently experiencing life at work and how the elements of propinquity are playing a role in both employee engagement as well as the organization’s success. Gather feedback and listen to your staff to learn more about what is working well, areas of opportunity, and future needs.
REDEFINE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
Reframe the employee experience to be about experiences people have WITH the organization and the people who compromise it versus the experiences they have AT work. Set new expectations, habits, and rituals to align to your new work model to the shared experiences which matter most to your teams.
PRIORITIZE COMMUNICATION
We are all on a journey into the unknown and that kind of uncertainty can lead to fear and resistance by our teams. Be open about the journey you are on – the good, the bad, the unknown – and reinforce your focus on leading with the best interests of your mission and your people in mind. There is no such thing as overcommunication when it comes to the bridge between your teams and their sense of connection to the organization.
RETHINK YOUR WORKSPACE
As your teams make their return to the office, consider ways to celebrate the reason your spaces exist. It is no longer just a place to sit at a desk. Our workplaces must now become a place to connect, reinforce culture, share in our propinquity, and serve all the work experiences that are better than any individual desk could ever be.
CONNECT TO WHAT MATTERS MOST
Define and clarify your organizational ‘north stars’ and help employees align their mindset, behaviors, and work to these critical navigational tools. Whether it is the organization’s mission, vision, or values, use these constructs to keep the organization marching together.
PLAN. ACTIVATE. ASSESS. COURSE CORRECT. REPEAT.
The reality is that no one has this new ‘world of work’ thing figured out. Apply the same approach you do to problem solving and innovating to serve your mission and your customers. Design a data-drive plan. Put the plan into motion. Set milestones and check progress along the way. Determine what is working well and what might need to be adjusted. Ask for feedback on things you can shift and evolve.
Culture Triumphs Over Disruption
Remembering that our human community is both resilient and interdependent allows us to have faith that no matter the challenge we will continue to benefit from and seek the power of our positive interpersonal connections. For those leading teams of people through this time or helping organizations transition to ever greater use of remote work, it is important that we remember that frequent connection builds trust, aligns goals, and fosters workplace culture. With a mindful approach to the influences of propinquity we can each ensure that our workplace culture can remain strong no matter where or how we work.
About the Author:
Christopher Good is Chief Creative Officer at One Workplace, and Co-Founder of +One Work Culture Consulting. His work is dedicated to changing the way we think about our relationship to work and the workplace. He is an advocate of the design thinking process and is a frequent speaker and presenter at events across the country, leading active workshops to solve big problems. Most of all he believes in the power of design to do good things for other people. Chris recently spoke about The Power of Propinquity at TedX.