Creating Inclusive Teams in Tech

Skills that could transform your teams!

by Gloria Dwomoh + https://github.com/blossomica

See also https://fosdem.org/2018/schedule/event/mozilla_creating_inclusive_teams_tech/

It’s not just about diversity…

A diverse team is not inclusive by default.

75-90% of time of leaders is communication activities Source: Miller P2012 Leadership comm 3 levels

Fruit basket game

One kid assign a fruit to every one except one who got a rice ball. There are the fruit and the rice ball is excluded.

Fostering inclusion, 2 challenges:

Unconscious bias

Communication skills

Tools used in remote working could be a communication challenge But also in the office:

All of these -> tensions

To solve this improve:

Emotional intelligence

Measure emotion (yours and others) ex: Include person that avoid team meeting, understand why and try to be inclusive

You don’t have to experience the others’ way of doing things but you must find a common ground ex: if you are good in python and someone else not, you can’t understand why he is strungling, so think about something else like skateboard or diving and explain things as if you were the person laking of experience

Try to understand why he is struggling and find path to understand the struggle for yourself than adapt

Cultural Intelligence

Interpret ambiguous/unfamiliar gesture like a compatriot focus on mission company and supporter in the company strategy instead of cultural similarities.

ex football watching and beer drinking the friday

Naturally people group themselve with similarities. That’s fine but you need to open yourself and transform your mind, create neuronal connection.

You need to adapt to what they know and try to seemlessly mix, understand why and how they do things. Try to find a common ground that you agree upon.

In mutlicultural team you have to define a new culture your own and define what you agrees on and what you reject.

Call to action

List all actions and pick just 1 ONE action and try to put it in place.