How can you effectively support team members from underrepresented backgrounds?

There is a quote "If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else". That is what teamwork is about. There shall be diversity in a team, and every team member can and should learn from every other team member. Internal mentoring and healthy competition should be fostered, in order to support team members from underrepresented backgrounds. team members from underrepresented backgrounds should be able to feel free to go to any other team member for help without any judgmental worry or fear. Motivating and rewarding such members can also help in a big way and can boost up their confidence. Giving such members, autonomy to innovate and think and speak freely, can also be advantageous.

1. Offer mentoring opportunities to team members from underrepresented backgrounds. Pair them with mentors who can provide guidance, support, and career advice. 2.Provide access to professional development opportunities, such as training programs, workshops, conferences, and networking events. 3.Establish affinity groups or employee resource groups that cater to the needs and interests of underrepresented groups. These groups can provide a supportive community, networking opportunities, and a platform for sharing experiences and ideas.

1. Promote inclusivity: Create a diverse and inclusive work environment where all voices are heard and valued. 2. Provide mentorship and sponsorship: Encourage mentorship programs and sponsorships to support career development for team members from underrepresented backgrounds. 3. Offer diversity training: Implement training programs to raise awareness about unconscious biases and promote cultural competence among team members. 4. Recognize and celebrate diversity: Acknowledge and celebrate cultural, ethnic, and other forms of diversity within the team to foster a sense of belonging.

In my experience, understanding your team’s perspective, experience, background and challenges give you the right information needed to get the best out of your team. Your People’s Management skill becomes handy in ensuring that your team members are in their optimum state of performance thereby leading to a proper representation of what your organisation stands for.

Encourage team members from underrepresented groups to share their thoughts and ideas. Create opportunities for them to contribute to decision-making processes and provide platforms for their voices to be heard.

Se deben delegar tareas y dar voz en la ejecución de las mismas frente a terceros. Igual de importante es el reconocimiento público a las consecuciones de éste personal.

"Supporting team members from underrepresented backgrounds involves creating an inclusive environment. Actively listen to their perspectives, provide mentorship opportunities, and ensure equal access to resources. Promote diversity and inclusion in decision-making processes, and celebrate diverse achievements. Implement training on unconscious bias and foster a culture where everyone feels valued. By acknowledging and addressing unique needs, we contribute to a more inclusive and equitable workplace. 🌍🤝 #DiversityandInclusion #SupportInclusion"

Understanding others' perspectives is crucial for effective communication and relationship-building. It fosters empathy, minimizes misunderstandings, and supports conflict resolution. In diverse environments, it promotes inclusivity and cultural competence, facilitating collaboration. This skill informs decision-making, builds trust, and enhances leadership effectiveness. Personally, it stimulates growth by broadening one's worldview. Successful negotiation and customer satisfaction rely on this skill, as does global cooperation. In essence, understanding perspectives is fundamental for positive interactions and harmonious relationships.

To support team members from underrepresented backgrounds effectively: -Foster an inclusive culture by promoting diversity and equity. -Provide tailored resources like mentorship and development programs. -Address unconscious biases through training and awareness. -Ensure equal opportunities for career growth and projects. -Listen to and act on feedback to improve the work environment. -Promote diverse representation in leadership roles. -Offer flexibility and support for diverse needs. -Educate the team on diversity, equity, and inclusion. These actions create an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute.

Listening is the greatest beginning to engage with under represented communities or views in an organisation. To move forward there needs to be understanding and those working at the table, do need to be self aware of biases. Also allowing space for those folk to contribute.

You will provide fair and constructive feedback by focusing on specific behaviors or outcomes, not personal attributes. Be specific about what went well and what can be improved. Offer feedback in a timely manner, ensuring it is balanced and delivered in a supportive tone. Encourage a two-way conversation, allowing the individual to share their perspective and collaborate on solutions.

Wertfreies Feedback ist eine Methode, die hier ansetzt. Dabei wird die persönliche Wertung komplett aus dem Feedback gestrichen. Mit einer neutralen dritten Perspektive (wie von einer Kamera aufgezeichnet) und einem Einblick in die persönliche Wahrnehmung (was habe ich aufgenommen, wie habe ich mich gefühlt) kann sich die Feedback-bekommende Person selbst ein Bild machen.

Identifying behavioural changes required to achieve outcomes is one thing , successful communication of the changes required to the parties involved to effect that change, is an art. Depersonalisation of statements, using data offering support or extra resources is a response. However the true measure of success in this, is keeping up the engagement whilst effecting change.

This starts with asking every member of your team, "How do you like to be coached?" I don't think that the feedback cycle is dependent on whether one is from an underrepresented background. It goes more to an individual level. Understanding individual personalities here helps shape the format for fair and constructive feedback. Note, that all feedback should be fair and constructive. It is the delivery format that should be unique to the demands of the individual contributor to the team.

Create a culture that values diversity and inclusion. Encourage open communication, respect different perspectives, and actively promote a sense of belonging for all team members.

It's all about being fair and impartial. You treat your team the same. The same strong feedback you give your under performing member would the same as the top performing member. You are only as strong as your weakest team members.

In my experience, the worst thing you can do to someone is remind them of their inadequacy without giving them the support or opportunity to showcase their strengths and value in the team. Being consistent with goals, providing support and timely feedback which can improve their confidence is extremely important. Perhaps above all these is giving them a sense of belonging in the team.

Empower the team.. No one is perfect and mistakes makes people better. Learning from others mistakes in a team and support when others needed is important trait. If we succeed in creating this environment, you will succeed in any situation irrespective of the circumstances

Empowering them to show their strengths is a great way to build an effective team. Finding out the members and help, empower and support them to present. A team`s growth stops when team members are not supported.

Das Team muss einander kennen, um die Stärken der Teammitglieder anzuerkennen. Investieren Sie Zeit in ein gemeinsames Kennenlernen und erforschen Sie die Stärken des Teams gemeinsam. Damit kommen unterrepräsentierte Stärken ans Licht. Im Tagesgeschäft kann das Team die Stärken einzelner Mitglieder schließlich individuell einsetzen und wertschätzen.

In New Zealand we call this process of empowerment of people by employing their own strengths “ mana enhancing” as a pathway forward for them to contribute grow and indeed advance and achieve their goals and then also be recognised and so their mana is enhanced…

Mentor them in their knowledge build up and their work. Provide guidelines to achieve their targets Show them my trust that they will succeed

There are so many times when those who are underrepresented are not comfortable showcasing their talent. This is where a leader must build the trust with the true, authentic alignment with each member of his or her team. This also goes back to understanding the individual, regardless of background. Some like to silently showcase their strengths. Others want the world to see. Then there is a huge middle ground. Understanding this and knowing how to recognize and celebrate will bring joy and excellence to a team of any makeup.

Utilize the diverse talents within the company for its benefit. In fact, the more multidisciplinary the team is, the greater the potential to complement skills and solve problems in an agile and efficient manner. Never criticize a job just because it's not done the way you would do it. Always try to understand the perspective from which they are observing the situation, and if there are errors, try to teach them in a way that enables them to better utilize the tools at their disposal, rather than pushing them to compare themselves with their peers.

Show that you are approachable and empathetic. Take the time to know your team as well as you possibly can. You don't need to be their best friend, but remember details important to your employees humanizes you to them. It's ok to share a bit about yourself including an hobby or two. You don't have to expect them to open up, but by being open and vulnerable yourself it builds the bridge of approachbility. By being ok with who you are and showing that abilitys to vulnerable, it encourages engagement. Leaders are humans and relatable people. Bosses are villians in fiction. Ultimately, the more you humanize yourself and employees the easier it will be to achieve the organizations goals and promote a healthy work environment.

Creating an environment that fosters growth and vulnerability begins with the leadership. In order to promote your teams full potential, you have to care about them as human beings outside of work first. Communication with your team must be open and honest, as should any feedback. I encourage my team to find one thing to learn and one thing to teach each day. Contribution and collaboration within a team encourages an inclusive work environment.

To create this space of support, yes good communication, regular checkins are fundamental along with setting expectations and norms. Fundamentally, to get partnership you need to establish relationships and that means you need both or all parties or groups to a place of understanding first!

Actively address and challenge any bias or discrimination that may occur within the team or organization. Promote fairness, equality, and respect, and ensure that all team members are treated equitably.

I've found that being relatable, transparent and honest are ways to create a safe and supportive space. When team members can see you as human, sympathetic and empathetic, they're able to feel a measure of safety. You have to give a little to get a little. Also inviting them to be different, listening to their perspectives and sharing your own helps. Something I found myself doing with a team members is sharing the definition/meaning/use of terminology that may not be familiar to them in their country/culture. I try not to take for granted they understand. Sometimes I will ask if they're familiar. Representation and inclusion goes beyond gender and race, it also extends to culture and geography.

The most important thing is that people from underrepresented backgrounds are included in the leadership team. You see so many companies wringing their hands, not sure what to do - it's no wonder when they've got an executive team of 12 people that "coincidentally" all look the same.

Vorschnelle Bewertung und Aussortierung verhindert einen sicheren Raum, um Ideen zu äußern. Mein Vorschlag: Ideenfindung und Bewertung voneinander trennen. Workshop 1: Nur Ideen finden, aufschreiben und clustern Workshop 2: Bewerten, aussortieren und zu einer Lösung formen

Encouraging diversity of thought and innovation in a team is an on trend statement for a lot of organisations. To achieve this you need talented and robust self aware leaders with solid EQ to facilitate this. That or employ a unicorn.

The silliest ideas are often the best ideas. Leaders who discount diversity of thought and innovation often hide behind the fact that they believe these thoughts are impossible to realize or otherwise "silly." We as leaders must avoid that mindset. Some of the best ideas and innovation starts with something that may seem wild. This is where it's important for a leader to have developed a team who surrounds these so-called silly ideas with their own support and commitment. Most importantly is that the leader truly buys in and supports ideas, knowing that the team and its contributors are part of what makes the whole excellent.

I recently read this excerpt in Luvvie Ajayi Jones book, The Professional Troublemaker", and I think it speaks well to how important it is for everyone one on a team to be/feel included, have their opinions, thoughts and voices heard and detrimental if they don't: "If you have an environment where people will be punished for speaking up, then you gotta deal with the consequences of sh***ty work." It's important to create space and opportunities for expression of thoughts and ideas. To actively encourage team members to speak up. This might mean one on one encouragement outside of team meetings. In meetings it can look like words of praise and acknowledgement for ideas and encouraging challenge.

Acknowledge your preconceptions and address the differentiating factor of different backgrounds, leave no elephants in the room: - state your understanding of the background of underrepresented members, so you can be corrected (because having a different background gives you higher chances to provide a wrong solution to the underrepresentation). - invest more time in discovering the new perspectives that can be brought to the table. - explore the benefits of different backgrounds and discover their benefits as new strengths.

In my experience, as a leader, you have to work with your leaders (managers, directors, etc.) to become more sensitive to the issues that can arise in the workplace. From what I could observe, people want to do the right thing, but they often don’t know what to look for - they observe the world with their own lenses. So education and pattern recognition in the workplace can increase collective awareness and therefore lead to a more respectful and safe space.

Education can be as simple as asking team members about their backgrounds. Sharing stories about culture and history. This all helps to gain perspective and to engage with each other from a level of knowledge and understanding i.e. empathy

Das Ehrenamt bietet großartige Projekte, um aus der Komfortzone auszubrechen und den Horizont zu erweitern. Der nötige Schritt dazu ist ein Anruf bei einer NGO Ihrer Wahl. Meiner Erfahrung nach ist man da immer aufgeschlossen, wenn es eine ernsthafte Absicht gibt.

Through my time at VMware and working with the awesome DE&I Team, I found a Reverse Mentorship program was of great value to connect those in senior leadership roles with employees who were of an underrepresented group. It offered a chance for these employees to share their experiences and a chance for those in their more privileged roles to learn, grow, and make changes to how they manage employees, retain great talent, and provide opportunities for their employees to thrive and shine.

The key is to promote a culture of equality with your teams, without mixing professional performance and personal backgrounds.

Pathways of Potential (POP): Chart unique career paths tailored to individual strengths. This isn't a one-size-fits-all galaxy; rather, it's about identifying and nurturing the distinctive talents each team member brings to the table. Inclusive AIHR Prompts (IAP): Infuse your recruitment process with AIHR prompts that transcend biases. Develop a ChatGPT-powered interview framework that dismantles barriers and spotlights merit, ensuring a level playing field for candidates from all walks of life. "If you don't like the results, change what your doing"

Recognize and celebrate the achievements and contributions of team members from underrepresented groups. This can be done through public recognition, awards, or highlighting their work in team meetings or company-wide communications.

Here are some methods I have implemented: Equal Opportunities: Ensure equitable access to opportunities, projects, and career development for all team members. Flexible Policies: Implement flexible work policies that accommodate diverse needs and circumstances. Recognition and Celebration: Acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and contributions of team members from underrepresented backgrounds. Networking Opportunities: Facilitate networking events that connect team members with professionals from similar backgrounds or industries. Resource Allocation: Allocate resources for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to create a supportive environment.

Before the VMware-Broadcom acquisition, I was able to work alongside and learn from amazing people within the DE&I setting. One of the most impactful tactics I took away from my time working, learning, and growing from the DE&I Team and PODs was first to get others who are not part of the underrepresented groups to consider their ‘why’ for caring about learning and growing their diverse talent and understanding the need for a more diverse and inclusive community at work. People are more likely to get on board when they can make a personal connection to the work.

In my journey as a leader, I've found that embracing diversity isn't just a checkbox—it's a commitment to continuous learning. Educating myself and my team on the unique contributions of underrepresented backgrounds has opened up a world of innovative solutions. Remember, knowledge is a powerful catalyst for positive change, and the more we understand, the more inclusive and successful our teams become.