Tag: K&D

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Understanding Key D & I Concepts

I recognized myself in so much of this week’s reading, Chapter Three of Kaplan and Donovan’s book, The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off. I’m not a female executive, and I certainly don’t have access to an executive cafeteria. Regardless, many moments from Kim’s day resonated with me. The reading prompted me to think back on interactions I’ve had at work, and how while my intentions may have been good, the impacts were not what I would have hoped for.

The pressure of being late on an assignment (in this case annual reviews) drives nearly all of the decisions Kim makes during the day described by Kaplan and Donovan. In being so focused on getting the reviews completed, she doesn’t take time to reflect on how her actions are perceived. Any one of the actions could be seen as innocuous. However, when put together, the distraction of driving while on conference calls, skipping out on commitments, and not acknowledging her peers could cause many to form misconceptions about Kim which could be damaging to her relationships – all without her realizing it’s happening.

The story of Kim’s day was an effective mechanism for Kaplan and Donovan to get readers to reflect on how those small, barely-conscious decisions might lead to places we never intended.

 

 

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K&D Summary

Chapter 3 from The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off by Mark Kaplan and Mason Donavon is an excerpt from a book that discusses Diversity and Inclusion. This chapter outlines and exemplifies how to take the complicated issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and address each level individually so that the issues as a whole can be corrected. The writers use an example of Kim a manager of a company and her day at work to relate to the reader’s own work experience. This allows them to visualize how microaggressions can be seen in the most common work dynamics along with unconscious biases and insider-outsider dynamics. The role of intent vs impact is stressed showing how although people might have good intentions with their actions they can still have negative impacts. This chapter was written to help people navigate how to increase inclusion and diversity in the workplace. The key concepts each address how negative workplace culture can go unseen and aim to bring to light to how each person, group, and the system can lead to a better or worst environment. What can be taken away is that to fix the problem inclusion and diversity need to be apart of everyone’s daily though the process.

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Dan K&D summary week of 6/1

The Inclusion Dividend article was written by Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan. This article focused on the common issue of organizations struggling to implement positive change to diversity and inclusion. The authors made their argument by telling a relatable story of a woman in an upper management position at her firm. It is clear to see from the story that Kim is a very hard worker and is dedicated to her career. As foreshadowed early in the story regarding her having no recollection of her morning commute, she spent the rest of her day on autopilot. A main task for her was to complete her employee evaluation forms. Unfortunately, her positive intentions to complete them earnestly had faltered as she was treading water in her urgent tasks. She may have also unintentionally belittled two of her subordinates when they asked for her attention and she neglected. The authors strongly assert that good intentions are not enough. A slight change in her words can have a much more positive affect on her coworkers. The authors also warned of our inevitable biases in the workplace. At one point in the story Kim seemed to make time for a male executive that she had previously mentored. This happened directly after she had dismissed a south Korean woman of whom she was supposed to be mentoring. This could be or could be perceived to be bias and negatively impact the woman she was supposed to mentor. This is both an example of possible unconscious bias and of the insider-outsider groups that exist in all organizations. The Authors proceeded to explore how this dynamic is present in all levels of organization. The authors then Include a few tips on how to help create more inclusive work environments.

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Week of 6/1 – Summary K&D

From a chapter excerpt written in “The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity and Inclusion Pays Off,” managing partners Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan bring to public light the cognitive and ever-present yet rarely discussed behavioral effects diversity and inclusion can take at the workplace. Through the day-to-day operations of the protagonist character Kim, readers are able to relate and sympathize with the perspective of a company executive as she goes about her busy work schedule. Kaplan and Donovan go on to discuss in detail the impacts Kim’s words and actions may have created or at large, contributed to a bigger crisis of mismanaged events.

The issues they present here ask one to reflect on our humanly inherent biases which commonly create unfair advantages and dividing insider-outsider work relations. Specifically addressing the need for systematic views at various scales, their argument stands to reduce micro-inequities that oftentimes goes unrealized and creates obstacles for underrepresented people. Kaplan and Donovan reinforce the idea that an individual’s good intent, while it may as well be in everybody’s agenda, is not enough to create lasting impacts a company should learn in order to move themselves forward. The goal of inclusion, as they put it, “should be apart of our daily decision.”

 

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K&D Summary

Authors Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan wrote a book centering around Inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Both authors themselves are managing partners in a firm that specializes in inclusion and diversity in the workplace. This chapter uses a protagonist named Kim who is an executive level manager in a company and runs through a normal day in her work life. Throughout this day, the authors let us know that she has a very hectic schedule and is overtaxed at work and may have good intentions in what she choses to do or say, but the impact doesn’t match her intentions (the authors say it rarely does with anybody).

Essentially, Kim’s actions come off as tone deaf in a way because she uses her busy schedule as an excuse to be insensitive to other employees, even her mentee, who she doesn’t pay attention to and blows her off for a previous mentee who is an “aggressive guy”, which is an attitude she seems to favor. The message we can take from this chapter is that most people have good intentions and that doesn’t usually add up to positive impact, we all have unconscious bias and it affects us at work, there are in-groups and out-groups at work (similar to cliques in schoolchildren) and that there are different levels of these groups: Individual, group/team, and organizational.