Written by Nataliya Baytalskaya, PhD, Managing Research Scientist
While many organizations focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in some way, one often overlooked factor that can significantly impact success is creating an inclusive climate within your organization. Inclusive climates not only help organizations attract and retain top talent, but also enable effective collaboration across the organization, leverage diverse perspectives for greater innovation, boost engagement, and reduce turnover. Inclusivity enables an organization and its members to thrive by ensuring that every employee, regardless of background, can contribute and succeed.
What is an inclusive climate?
Organizational climate overall is a shared perception among employees about the work environment and the policies and practices (formal and informal) that support it. Specifically, when it comes to fostering a climate for inclusion, these perceptions reflect how well the organization ensures that all members feel valued, heard, included in decisions, and experience a strong sense of belonging.
In the broader DEI context, an inclusive climate goes beyond simply ensuring there is diversity in hiring practices. Rather, it focuses on creating an environment where diverse talent can effectively work together, share ideas, and incorporate different perspectives. It may go without saying, but promoting inclusive leadership goes hand in hand with those inclusive climate efforts. Although some DEI initiatives have faced backlash in recent years, creating an inclusive climate benefits everyone by ensuring that each employee can thrive in a respectful, supportive environment. This is a goal that both organizations, leaders, and employees can collectively rally behind.
Does your organization encourage an inclusive climate?
While focusing on individuals and encouraging inclusive behaviors is essential, it’s equally important to assess how the organization as a whole supports or hinders these efforts. Though some organizations shy away from measuring inclusive climate (or climate in general) due to concerns that it can be messy and confusing to interpret, with the right research and methodology, it is not only manageable, but also highly beneficial. There are several important considerations to keep in mind when measuring and implementing an inclusive climate in your organization:
1. Choose the data collection methodology and focus areas
Inclusive climate data is typically collected through company-wide surveys. These can either be part of a larger engagement or climate survey or conducted as standalone questionnaires focusing on inclusive practices. For smaller organizations or more targeted groups, focus groups or interviews are also an option for more in-depth insights. The key is to ensure questions are clear, relevant, and focus on factors that everyone in the company has had a chance to experience and observe. In addition to quantitative questions, it’s helpful to include some open-ended, qualitative questions to allow employees the opportunity to address areas not covered by the standard questions or provide additional context.
When designing the survey, it’s important to clearly define the specific factors you want to investigate. These may differ from one organization to another based on interests or the need to investigate certain problem areas. General questions about belonging and inclusion can provide valuable insight, but to drive meaningful change, it’s helpful to get specific. For example, asking about leader role modeling, fair and transparent HR practices, perceptions of psychological safety, or how the organization approaches topics such as bias training or holiday recognition can uncover pain points that might otherwise go unnoticed.
At Talogy, our research has identified multiple dimensions that, when taken together, help organizations understand their strengths and areas of improvement for building a climate for inclusion. These dimensions focus on various areas of the organization (e.g., how colleagues behave, what official policies exist, how leadership communicates) in order to build a complete picture of how inclusion is supported across levels. Below are the 12 dimensions we have found to be most meaningful for measuring inclusive climate. Focusing on both the overall inclusive climate index as well as the highest and lowest dimensions will yield the most robust insights.
| Dimension | Definition |
|---|---|
| Respect | Positive regard and consideration for the feelings, opinions, and perspectives of others |
| Intercultural Appreciation | Awareness, acceptance, and understanding of cultural differences |
| Open-Mindedness | Openness to questioning assumptions and biases |
| Learning Orientation | Desire to learn by embracing opportunities to gain a greater understanding of others |
| Psychological Safety | Freedom to speak without negative consequences |
| Inclusive Decision Making | Participation in important decisions and belief that opinions are taken seriously |
| Authenticity | Acting and feeling true to themselves without negative consequences |
| Building Diverse Relationships | Nurturing positive relationships with a diverse range of colleagues to enhance learning/performance |
| Fairness and Equity | Creating organizational programs and practices that explicitly address fairness and equity |
| Transparency | Clarity of the organization’s DEI policies and accomplishments |
| Championing Change | Continuous drive toward improving inclusivity both inside and outside the organization |
| Courage | Leaders taking bold steps to advocate for and drive inclusion |
2. Aim for a large and representative sample
To gain meaningful insights, it’s crucial to have a large, representative sample across the organization. Before launching a survey, consider how you’ll want to analyze the data (e.g., by department, region, gender) and include relevant demographic questions. This will be valuable once responses are collected because it may become apparent that some groups feel very differently about the organization (e.g., female vs. male employees or between different departments) and therefore require a more customized approach.
To encourage participation, ensure anonymity and present results only for groups large enough where individual respondents can’t be identified. In addition, there may be significant variability in employee responses in how they perceive the climate for inclusion. When groups have a high level of agreement about the climate, the climate is considered ‘strong,’ whereas lack of agreement implies a ‘weak’ climate.
3. Solicit employee recommendations for improvement
After assessing employees’ current perceptions, it’s just as important to gather feedback on potential next steps. Instead of leaving it entirely open-ended, provide a list of feasible initiatives the organization could implement within a reasonable timeframe such as mentoring programs, employee resource groups, or cross-functional collaboration projects, to name a few. Getting feedback about which possible initiatives would be most meaningful to employees allows organizations to focus on the actions that matter most rather than spreading resources too thin without truly making progress.
4. Share, track, and take action on the results
Employees taking the time to complete surveys and provide information want to know that their feedback is being taken seriously. Share the results and communicate what your data collection efforts have uncovered. Even more importantly, make sure to concretely explain how you plan to act on the insights, and use the results to directly inform new strategies and adjust existing ones as needed. Doing this will show employees that their input directly influences organizational strategies and initiatives, increases the likelihood of future feedback, and builds trust and engagement.
Maintaining an inclusive climate
It’s beneficial to track climate data regularly, monitoring changes in perceptions over time and assessing the impact of any actions taken. Combine inclusive climate data with other DEI metrics, such as hiring, promotion, and retention rates for a more comprehensive picture of your organization’s progress. Throughout this process, engage and gain support from leaders who can play a critical role serving as champions of inclusivity, promoting initiatives and their utilization, and advocating for inclusive practices both within and outside the organization.
Building an inclusive organizational climate is an ongoing process, where measurement, leader support, strategic initiatives, and employee feedback all play a critical role to shape and create an environment where everyone feels welcome, valued, and included. While it takes effort and perseverance, the positive benefits – ranging from increased employee engagement to team innovation to improved financial performance – make it well worth the investment.
