A Beginner's Guide to Inclusion

You don't have to be an expert to know strategies and different techniques when focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. Over the next few days, we will discuss how to implement strategies and techniques into your professional, academic, business, volunteerism careers, and more. In this post, we will present four guidelines to utilize in whatever space you are in, and in future posts, we will focus on specific areas such as academia and corporate.

1. Materials in Different Formats One size does not fit all. Learners of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences learn in different ways. For example, if you are an educator, lecturing may work for some students but not all when they understand what they are learning. Providing required and supplemental learning materials in various formats, such as videos and infographics, can benefit their grade, engagement, and experience.

2. Provide Constructive and Positive Feedback How feedback is presented to peers, colleagues, students, employees, or volunteers is very important. A key thing to remember is not to focus on the negatives first, most of the time. This can lead to a lack of motivation, a decrease in morale, and a decrease in the sense of belonging and feeling included. Instead, focus on what they have done well. Speak to their strengths and how they can use them to improve in areas of opportunity. This can assist in their self-esteem, perception of self, and increased motivation, emotional intelligence, and confidence in the space.

3. Be Supportive As a leader, being supportive of others, regardless of whether they are new to the professional or educational space or professional field that has been involved for years, can mean so much to others. Ask others what their goals are and what they're interested in, and provide suggestions to help them achieve their personal/academic/professional goals. You can also provide mentorship to assist with accountability and developing and achieving attainable goals.

4. Tying it all together, the previous three suggestions provide encouragement and engagement from peers, colleagues, learners, employees, and more. By encouraging others, keeping them engaged by providing learning materials of different styles, providing support and mentorship, and utilizing strength-based coaching to help improve areas of opportunity, there is a greater sense of belonging and feeling included in the space.

We hope this "Beginner's Guide to Inclusion" has sparked some ideas! Stay tuned for using these strategies and techniques in an academic space.

The Jade Research Lab Team

If you would like to talk more or schedule a free consultation or equity/inclusion audit, please reach out to us at contact@jaderesearchlab.org or jaderesearchlab.org.