Fostering inclusion is important for any business. A key driver of success for every organization is ensuring employees (of all subjective identities) are genuinely engaged in working as part of a unified team to maximize each members’ unique diverse contributions.

For over 50 years many companies have introduced a range of “DEI programs” designed to ensure every member of their workforce feels fully included. Most large companies have made this an executive-level responsibility.

Most companies have been following a “disunity mitigation” strategy, investing in programs to eliminate unconscious bias, ensure equal treatment, and to provide greater visibility and voice to employees with diverse identities. 

However, despite decades of DEI programming investment, 65% of US employees today still do not feel fully included. To make matters even more challenging, these traditional DEI programs have become very controversial, increasingly cited as creating a divisive rather than unifying workforce experience. 

The obvious questions are why is the traditional DEI strategy not getting the intended results…and what can be done to remedy the problem in a way that everyone can support?

The reason more employees are not feeling included is because 80% of employees of all identities in US workplaces have yet to fully adopt the required “we-centric” social mindset that is an essential foundation of any inclusive culture. 

In other words, it should not be surprising that employees are not feeling genuine belonging when they work in groups where the majority their co-workers have adopted “me-centric” social styles. It’s hard to feel “all in” when your groupmates exhibit oppositional, competitive, submissive, dominating, conforming, passively resistant and compliant social styles and habits.

Improving workforce inclusion will be impossible until this underlying workforce “social fitness” issue is addressed. This will require assisting and motivating employees to exhibit the more constructive, we-centric social styles and habits required for effective and inclusive team working.

This means companies must shift from a “disunity mitigation” strategy to a “unity-building” strategy. This strategy focuses on establishing a socially fit, “we-centric” workplace culture where the members of every workplace group finally can feel the genuine identity-agnostic sense of belonging that derives from working on a team where every member is truly “all in” for helping their group and organization maximize everyone’s shared success. 

Fortunately, recent advancements in AI technology make it possible for companies to pursue this unity-building strategy. 

We offer a turnkey solution to help organizations increase the social fitness of their workforce. Our “Genius” AI coach can help the members of every work group learn the science of inclusive team building, assess their current level of social fitness, and develop a social fitness improvement plan. In addition, the Genius can provide ongoing confidential, 1:1 coaching to help each group member adopt the necessary we-centric social style and work habits.

Implementing this unity-building (DEI) capability is a win-win shared success improvement opportunity. The members of every workplace group (of every subjective identity) benefit from a far more enjoyable and inclusive workplace experience. The employer also benefits because the members of every work group become far more engaged, loyal and productive.

In addition, our capability enables organizations to demonstrate impressive improvements in their key DEI metrics. And even better, this social fitness improvement program will be non-controversial with present-day “DEI” advocates and detractors alike because it is explicitly focused on creating a unifying (non-divisive) workforce experience.

Contact us to see how implementing this (DEI) solution is simple, low risk and has a compelling business case.