Diversity Policy? Scrap It!
Or at least, if it were up to Yasmina Fadli. She would prefer to remove the word ‘diversity’ from the dictionary for good. According to her, the term emphasizes fragmentation rather than unity. Yasmina resolutely chooses Personal Leadership as the lever for greater inclusion in the labor market.
The various governments in our country are certainly not sitting idly by when it comes to increasing diversity and inclusion in companies and organizations. For instance, on October 1, 2020, ten ESF projects for ‘Inclusive Enterprises’ were launched in Flanders, with the goal of making 10,000 Flemish companies more inclusive. Additionally, from 2021, the Flemish government is launching so-called ‘correspondence tests’ (read: fictitious job applications) to further reduce discrimination in companies.
However, companies and employees do not need to wait for policy actions to give diversity and inclusion every chance. Moreover, as an individual, you can make a difference yourself by seizing all available (labor market) opportunities with an open mind and shaping your own future through positive thinking. As an empowerment coach at BrainTrain, Yasmina Fadli supports various projects that increase the connection between people in the workplace, regardless of their background. What opportunities does personal leadership offer, in her view, to improve the recruitment and intake process in our labor market?
Who is Yasmina Fadli?
As a trainer-coach at BrainTrain, Yasmina focuses on two important missions: “On the one hand, I support companies—through coaching and training top professionals—to maximize the potential of their employees for the realization of sustainable growth. On the other hand, I guide young people seeking opportunities—who are seen as ‘different’ because of their background or limitations—in their identity journey. In this way, I inspire them to rise above themselves, regardless of their life situation or background.
In both missions, it is always about out-of-the-box thinking and stretching the box of every stakeholder, so that more can fit in and so that someone, from a positive mindset, seizes all possible opportunities that cross their path, with an active search for new opportunities.”
Expert by Experience in Diversity and Inclusion
Coming from her own background, with a Moroccan father and a Belgian mother, Yasmina regularly had to contend with prejudice during job application procedures throughout her career: “I developed, as it were, an extra sense to detect employers who closed the door during interviews because of my name or background. I was also regularly subjected to extra security checks during international business trips. Of course, these were not pleasant experiences, but at the same time, they gave me extra energy to break away from a victim role and classic rejection scenarios. I learned to take matters into my own hands to steer my life and career in the right direction.”
To put this approach into practice, she started—alongside her full-time job as a trainer and coach—a series of five workshops on diversity with young people. “These are always highly educated individuals in their twenties and thirties of African, Moroccan, and Turkish origin who are faced with classic rejection scenarios in the labor market. Together with them, I search for their identity and their outlook on life, to then map out paths for empowerment and positive action.”
Practical Tests and Quotas: Not a Good Idea?
As a result, Yasmina is not a fan of positive discrimination, practical tests, or quotas: “I can live with such steering policy measures, but the goal should not be to sanction companies that do not, or insufficiently, comply with the legal rules. Such actions do not create broad support among employers and employees for more diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It can even have a counterproductive effect, because you generate resistance on the work floor or use a new colleague from a minority background as a ‘token’ hire.
However, I do support the research results that these measures can yield. They can be used to highlight success stories of people with certain characteristics, such as a migration background, physical limitations, gender, or orientation. I believe this can steer the perception of themselves and the general public in the right direction. The moment an organization realizes that the essence of individuals is their contribution to the realization of organizational goals, only then can we truly speak of inclusion. For example, if the focus for public-facing roles at a service desk shifts to a professional approach and a customer-oriented attitude, and no longer on physical characteristics and background, then we are on the right track. So, rather than mandating quotas, write your own success stories in the field of inclusion and showcase them!”
Free Will Over Mandates for Employers
According to Yasmina, quotas in companies and organizations place too much emphasis on exceptions: “Based on my practical experience as a corporate coach, I am firmly convinced that many companies want to give people from minority backgrounds a job opportunity even without quotas. In this recruitment process, I prefer to see the free will of employers prevail over the ‘forced’ imposition of target figures.
The minority community is large enough today, with many successful references and examples. I advocate for bringing those positive stories more to the forefront, so that people can discover for themselves what minority groups are capable of. The fact that more and more people from diverse backgrounds are appearing in commercials is also a trend I fully applaud.”
Time for Action: Five Tips to Choose Empowerment
As mentioned, Yasmina developed a personal leadership program (consisting of five workshops) tailored to people struggling with their background and identity in their career search. How does she teach them to take matters into their own hands for a better future? What advice does she give companies based on this program? Yasmina explains in five tips:
“As a first step, it is crucial to—regardless of all possible obstacles that exist or that you perceive—create your own vision of how you see your life and career. This step is extremely important because it provides the fuel to keep going after a rejection in a job application. Without a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your career, you have no target to work toward.”
Tip: As an organization, ensure that your own vision is powerful, clear, and inviting to attract employees who want to help realize that vision. And actively support your own employees in shaping their careers within the framework of your organization.
“In the second step, you look in the mirror and shape your own identity. We often only think of the visible identity (such as name, gender, age, skin color, degree, etc.) as the tip of the iceberg. But it is primarily about the qualities hidden below the waterline of that iceberg. Society defines us only by our visible identity characteristics, which makes us inclined to think that our identity is limited to this. If you succeed in bringing your invisible identity to the surface, and let yourself be defined as little as possible by what is visible, it helps in the realization of the first step.”
Tip: Guide and support your employees systematically in ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking. Systematically focus on the talents and qualities that can contribute to the future success of the organization. Start this from recruitment and hiring, through evaluations and feedback, to career opportunities. In this way, ‘looking below the waterline’ becomes part of your DNA.
“I describe the third step as the ‘gladiator mindset’: despite—or perhaps even thanks to—all obstacles and rejections, you do not stop until you have put your vision into practice. You not only learn to deal with resistance, but at the same time, you become aware of the negative ‘playlist’ of thoughts and remarks that constantly haunt your mind. Stop taking rejections personally: turn them into opportunities for future applications. Realize that all successful people were rejected multiple times but kept going on the path to success.”
Tip: Invest heavily in guidance, coaching, training, and communication to maximize your employees’ adaptability and to deal with setbacks, hurdles, and feedback in a constructive way. You do this by working not only on a resilient mindset but also on the corresponding ‘language’ and behavior.
“The fourth step involves the implementation of a personal success strategy. Success does not just happen. You have to roll up your sleeves yourself to realize your vision. In 2021, recruitment and selection are increasingly less about just credentials and degrees, and more about the right attitude, mindset, and adaptability quotient (the ability to adapt to rapidly changing working conditions).”
Tip: Maximize the personal leadership of employees by empowering them and offering opportunities based on talent and ‘drive.’ Help them make choices more consciously, complemented by ownership of the consequences of those choices.
“The concluding fifth step is about building trust (‘take a leap of faith’) and jumping! Realize that the outside world is an ally, not an opponent. From this principle, it is easier to take the first step (sending your CV to companies), instead of crawling into a corner because of ‘natural laws’ and that paralyzing negative playlist in your head.”
Tip: Create a context where people dare to be entrepreneurial and show initiative without fear of failure. See failure as feedback to adjust choices, and not as the personal failure of your employee as a whole. And just as importantly: for an organization to implement an inclusion policy, it is important to just do it: immediately, concretely, and with small steps. Take the plunge yourself, without writing extensive procedures or scripts beforehand. Every step forward is a step in the right direction. Implement it in a concrete and agile way, with an open heart and open arms, and under the motto: ‘As you go along, adjust where needed.’
Inclusion: Not a Hype, but Time for a Sustainable Approach
What final message does Yasmina have to give inclusion every chance in companies and, by extension, in our society?
“I suggest that companies and organizations stop giving preferential treatment to minority groups, however well-intentioned it may be. Such an approach causes resentment and frustration for all parties involved: the employer, the employees concerned, and their colleagues. Installing a separate prayer room for Muslims in a company is a typical example of how not to do it. Replace such a facility with a quiet room that can be used by all employees and consequently boosts internal social cohesion. In other words: avoid working with exceptions as much as possible, because they actually hinder inclusion by emphasizing fragmentation. If you mention exceptions in the company policy, you are actually indicating that there is a different category of employees.
As an employer, prioritize attitude and talent, linked to organizational values and goals. Go for positively minded and eager-to-learn workers who want to put their energy into organizational projects. Also: if you create a separate position to cultivate inclusion in the organization, choose a job description that does not seek out and highlight differences between people to derive rules and procedures from them. Go resolutely for a role that strives for unity and inclusion, for what connects your employees and what they share, and for personal leadership and awareness. So no CDOs (Chief Diversity Officers), but CUOs (Chief Unity Officers) or CIOs (Chief Inclusion Officers).
Or—even better—CCOs (Chief Change Officers)! This indicates that inclusion is an essential part of a broader change process—in your organization and its people—that is supported and promoted by management. Change goes broader than just diversity and inclusion, but helps your organization implement all changes that promote growth, such as (personal) leadership. Let’s get to work!”
