1. How To Create A Sense Of Belonging

E1: In today’s episode, I unlock the key steps to building good IDEAS: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Sustainability by asking guiding questions and providing the approach on how to embed suggestions practically for everyday success that is both relatable and intentional.

[Inclusion = “How do you feel in the space?’]

1. Psychological safety

2. Intersectionality

3. Active Listening

4. Authenticity

5. Positive Representation

6. Leadership

7. Zero-tolerance

[Diversity = “Who you are.”]

1. Intersectionality

2. Neurodiversity

3. Support

4. Thrive

[Equity = “How do we finish together?”]

1. Access

2. Systems

3. Fairness

4. Opportunity Creation

[Accessibility = “How do we target support to allow people to thrive?” ]

1. Universal Design

2. Neuroinclusion

[Sustainability = “How do we build long-term success by considering ESG factors and impact where everyone feels empowered to contribute?”]

1. Representation

2. Economic

3. How are resources allocated and are decisions intergenerational (impact beyond the present?)

4. Partnerships

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Creators & Guests

Host

Bandile Mndebele

Bandile Mndebele is a passionate advocate for intersectional inclusion, committed to creating equitable and inclusive environments. Their journey began at Stellenbosch University, where they pioneered a gender-neutral initiative, making it the first top South African university to recognize the gender-neutral marker, Mx. Following their academic pursuits, Bandile has held influential roles in various organisations, including serving on the Global Council for DEI and as a PRIDE Network Chair at a major S&P 500 company, where they co-founded Ubuntu South Africa. They have been instrumental in driving initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly for marginalised groups such as LGBTQ+ individuals and neurodivergent people. They have also been recognized for their leadership and impact, receiving awards such as the Top 100 Outstanding LGBT+ Future Leader and Top 100 Outstanding Executive Role Model. Through their podcast, newsletter, and speaking engagements, Bandile shares insights and inspires others to create a more just and equitable world. Their work highlights the importance of intersectional inclusion.

What is The Add IDEAS Podcast?

Certain things in life are hard but belonging should not be.

Through inspiring stories, expert insights, and actionable tips, we help unlock meaningful ideas for a stronger sense of belonging in every aspect of your life.

From war to groove, there is a conversation worth having and lessons learnt about how we show up authentically as ourselves. Sometimes, we only want to afford a good groove towards a thriving community both individually and collectively.

Join me, Bandile Mndebele, as we explore the world of IDEAS: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Sustainability.

Our lived experiences matter and so should our ideas.

Thank you for following and listening to the show.

Welcome to the Add Ideas Podcast. Picture this. A vibrant community made up of diverse

voices, ideas and accomplishments. Everyone shines confidently, their contributions celebrated,

their successes shared and belonging strongly reinforced. What invisible or visible walls

need dismantling, like dangerous assumptions or access issues? Are there empty chairs at

the table waiting for voices that haven't been heard or much needed? Who decides who

gets a seat and who is left behind and why? What should everyday progress look like to

get us there? I am Bandile Mndebele. Today, I am going to be talking about building good

ideas. Let's break it down. Inclusion. Inclusion is mainly targeted at feelings. How do

you feel in the space? How do you feel when you go to work? How do you feel when you have

to raise an issue with your manager? Inclusion is built on 7 factors.

Number 1. Psychological safety. Psychological safety is all about having little to no fear

of being yourself, communicating your ideas, needs or perspective constructively. Giving

honest feedback and participating or showing up authentically in the way that you feel

most comfortable to be yourself. So how does that look like? There must already be existing

trust or accountable leadership that not only embraces this in action but supports continuous

learning. So there is no shaming culture on how people learn or approach their curiosity

and development. Leaders encourage you to communicate regularly, not just at certain intervals.

People are trusted to work or deliver results based on their strengths and abilities and are

not micromanaged. The next one is intersectionality. This means that there are no barriers to being

at the table. Microaggressions and biases are actively worked on to limit harm or trauma

for that matter. Intersectionality is all about allowing different types of diversity

and abilities to be prioritized. So that means that your identity is more than just one thing.

For example, I am not just black, I am not just agender, I am not just neurodiverse.

Everything informs who I am. I cannot separate one part and live it out. Tomorrow I will

always have those diversity factors. Number three, active listening. So that means listening

to understand and not to respond. There is empathy and a strong intention to align your

growth priorities towards your desired path. Your needs are clearly understood and your

lived experience is not undermined. People or leaders ask you clarifying questions that

avoid misunderstanding or misstating what the outcome should be or look like to support

you. There is authenticity. Number four, who you are and what you want to achieve or build

towards is seen, understood, celebrated and elevated. There is no frequent or unnecessary

code switching. Number five, there is positive representation. You see yourself represented

throughout all levels of the organization, company and leadership easily or throughout

the event. There are no excuses for why you cannot contribute to power structures, processes

or influence decisions and approaches to engage with leaders. You can access or find a sponsor,

mentor or coach who is culturally competent and aligns with your values, passions or growth

and career objectives. More importantly, the effective decision-making powers and organizational

support to create results or drive change don't limit who or what can be done. So what

does positive representation also look like? This means that diverse leaders are not just existing

as tokens to create beautiful presentations and reports or for companies to say, oh no,

we have one woman as a leader or we have two women and people of color or black people

in part of leadership and they stop there. No, those diverse leaders are empowered to

enforce decisions are empowered to create and contribute to solutions and drive change

that is much necessary to bring about the impact, the results that is needed in the

space. Leadership means leaders, including managers are accountable and transparent in

their unwavering commitment towards implementing people growth strategies, holistic well-being

and wide representation, meaning that they are continually building trust, reinforcing

equity at every step through policies, programs, sponsorships, mentorships and a lot

more and they provide meaningful work or opportunities for you to build the career that best fits

you. Number seven, zero tolerance. That means everyone

understand as it's made a way of zero tolerance for behaviors and discriminatory practices

that means tacit or subtle forms of exclusion that create trauma. There's not any kind of

discrimination against your age, your disability, your health, your gender, your race, your

sexuality and a whole lot more other diversity elements. Next, we're going to be breaking

down diversity. So diversity answers who you are, who you are is informed number one by

intersectionality. This means every factual element of what makes you you is not shamed

or dismissed. No one asked you to stop or edit who you are. No one asked you to stop

being black. No one asked you to stop being whoever you are in this space. There is no

reason to hide your diversity or code switch.

Code-switching means that number one, you feel the need to assimilate far more than you are to

represent your authentic self. So you don't feel safe. There's no psychological safety

for you to be who you want to be. Neurodiversity, right? That's number two, your overall

neurotype. That means your brain function, how your brain is wired, your sensory processing,

cognitive processing and social interaction styles is supported. Different neurotypes and

conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, bipolar, OCD and a whole lot more are not seen

as an unorthodox, abnormal or even silenced. Number three, there is support for diversity.

People from different backgrounds find it easier to come in, connect, collaborate, grow, stay

in the firm and have a meaningful career along the way. They're able to build relationships

that work, seek opportunities that allow them to go up the ladder. People are encouraged

with their contributions and successes. There is support for them throughout the ladder.

There is no glass ceiling. There are no any issues or excuses about why people cannot

progress. Number four, thrive. From acquisition, and onboarding to your exit. Who you are does

not limit your compensation or pay, your opportunities to get promoted or what you cannot do or

go about for you to succeed. You feel valued. The next one we're going to be tackling is

equity. The key questions with equity is how do we finish together? Number one, we look

at excess. Who needs better excess? Before we begin about excess, I have to first start

about separating equality and equity because many of us confuse the two. Equality mainly

answers how does everyone start together? Equity is not about everyone starting together.

It focuses more on how do we finish together? There's a big difference. So finishing together

means people have to start at different points and allow the need and the excess and the

opportunities to create fairness throughout the systems. How does justice look

like across different communities? Our leaders and managers are committed to growing their teams

and allocating different communities that need to thrive or have an opportunity to do

so or to even come in to even start in a place that allows their abilities to grow and to

succeed. Now let's look at accessibility. There are two main factors to consider with

accessibility is how do we target support to allow people to thrive? Number one, universal

design. How your job environment is built and designed or communicated to allow different

types or different norms or disabilities and abilities to exist and work safely or productively.

This allows more equitable outcomes. Number two, neuroinclusion. That means creating

an inclusive environment that recognizes and values the diverse ways that people think

and process information, particularly focusing on integrating and supporting individuals

who are a neurodivergent? How does the environment support our brains and consider important

factors? ADHD, dyslexia, autism, bipolar, OCD, social anxiety disorder and many more.

We're going to be tackling now in our last bit, sustainability, which is now a very hot

topic throughout different types of communities, whether you are in investment, wherever

you are in your career right now, whatever that looks like sustainability is a growing

need also in inclusion. Key to understanding sustainability is about answering one question.

How do we build long-term success by considering ESG factors and impact where everyone feels

empowered to contribute? For example, where no one is left behind. Number one, you have

to look at representation. Is the environment truly representative? Who is in the margins?

Economic. Is it financially inclusive or considerate of different income levels? So you are looking

at inequality or pay gaps and inequities. Number three, how are resources allocated and

Are our decisions intergenerational? Impact exists beyond not just the present, but beyond the

present. So looking at future considerations and how our decisions impact and influence

the next generation that is to come. Number four, looking at, for example, partnerships

are all decisions developed and implemented in a way that creates number one agency. Number

two, and support advocacy. How are we sponsoring talent or people to rise together? We have

just learned the key factors of building ideas. This breakdown is mainly a summary of what

or how to go about building good ideas wherever you go, wherever you are. Thank you so much

for joining episode one. How does your ideas look like? What do you want

to build towards your ideas? Your good ideas? Please let us know. We shall build ideas together.

Thank you and chat soon.