In a time when we often find ourselves divided instead of united,

Be reminded, there is only one force that overcomes fear and hate,

LOVE makes US great!

Last month, I shared about finding an old performance review from 1997 that included personal information that we consider inappropriate and would likely be unlawful today. It's not that the laws were updated; rather, we better understand how subtle signals hit our brains, leading to unequal treatment.

If you’ve been alive in the United States during the last 10 years, you’ve heard the terms unconscious bias and systemic bias. When these concepts were first introduced, many of us were told we needed to focus on learning about our biases to combat them. This is partially true, but it’s not enough.

Integrated inclusion is required to interrupt and overcome the negative impacts of systemic bias. Let’s explore three ways to integrate inclusion. 

Recall that evaluation that asked for my age, marital status, number of children, etc. These were all personal characteristics that had nothing to do with my performance. Integrated inclusion is getting rid of questions and information that isn't relevant and focusing on only relevant performance factors so that all employees are indeed evaluated (and eventually promoted) on their merit.

I just released lovemakesusgreat.com. I was conscious about the levels of color contrast for low vision accessibility. I forgot to check the alt text on all images – I have some rework to do. Integrated inclusion is designing in accessibility from the beginning as a standard practice, not an afterthought.

Sometimes, I'm on conference calls at 3 am. Integrated inclusion is rotating meeting times for global teams so that one group is not constantly up in the middle of their night.

Integrated inclusion is love in action at work.

Please share how you have Integrated Inclusion in your workplace. You don't need to wait for a company mandate to integrate the above practices.

Love requires participation. Love requires action. Love requires commitment.

With gratitude,

Joyce Aiko

(yes, love really is my middle name)