Creating a work environment where every employee, from intern to senior management, feels valued, heard, and empowered is vital for the success and growth of businesses in today’s globalised and interconnected landscape. As Lead of Inclusion & Diversity marketing transformation at Philips and supervisory board member at CLIQ, Nathalie Nijhuis-Lam brings a wealth of DEI experience and expertise. In her role, her aim is to enhance inclusion and diversity representation on all marketing touchpoints.
In this interview with her, she shares her knowledge and key insights with us and gives actionable tips to foster diversity, inclusion, and equity within organisations.
What steps should companies take to ensure that teams are diverse and inclusive in all regards, and what strategies have you used to achieve these goals?
Understand where you stand. What is your status quo? This is also a sensitive topic (DEI) so you can never do it 100% right. Seek support from professional agencies like Creative Equals to guide you on your journey in your company. For me, it has been very beneficial to collaborate with an agency.
Also, allow yourself to make mistakes, we all have our biases. Be vulnerable and learn instead of trying to do everything perfectly at the same time.
It depends a bit on the nature of your company and your current workforce. But overall, I would advise you to ensure commitment from your senior leadership. If they actively and genuinely prioritise diversity and inclusion by embedding it into their business strategy, then it works. They should walk the talk. For Philips, DEI is more than an HR objective or function, it’s a core capability and practice which is ingrained throughout the entire company. From a marketing point of view, I have led the DEI Brand Transformation programme, embedding DEI into the brand, from the perspectives of consumers, customers, and employees.
How can companies promote and foster a company culture of inclusion and diversity, and what steps should be taken to ensure that everyone feels valued and heard?
To be truly inclusive, companies must be intentional to understand the unique needs of their workforce. This may be different depending on the sector and market, but an anonymous employee survey can be a great start to understand the current status quo of the employee base and what challenges they may experience. These provide good insight into how you can build your strategy.
Steps you can take:
→ Understand the reason why DEI is beneficial to all members of the team to drive a shared commitment to inclusion.
→ Celebrate diversity and create moments for connection, education, and engagement. These build empathy within teams and opportunities for knowledge and experience sharing. For example, use a DEI calendar to understand key dates and to ensure we are being inclusive as an organisation that spans cultures.
→ Actively listening to staff across identities and different levels of seniority, can be done through conducting pulse surveys and fostering a culture of psychological safety.
→ Encourage teams to understand and acknowledge the bias they may have and the privilege they hold. Self-awareness establishes a foundation for meaningful allyship.
How can companies promote and foster a company culture of inclusion and diversity, and what steps should be taken to ensure that everyone feels valued and heard?
It’s not as difficult as one may think. Take small steps first and then when the outcome is good take some bigger ones. Never give up, you will get there.
My advice would be: Firstly, awareness. Often we aren’t aware of our bias, so integrate training that sparks reflection on bias within teams. Be sure to make it practical and consider how bias may inform day-to-day work and decision-making. Build confidence in those who may feel unsure about challenging bias and discrimination through guidance and training and combat prejudice through internal communications, learning and development initiatives, and effective management practices.
Secondly, advocacy. Cultures are informed by leaders, they can drive culture and set the organisational tone, ensuring leaders’ role model best practices can mitigate a discriminatory or biased culture. And thirdly, accountability. Ensure you have robust reporting routes, and clearly outlined consequences for discriminatory behaviours, we link this to organisational values and our expectations of all staff, so it’s clear to all where we stand.
How do you ensure that diverse voices are heard and valued within your team, and what steps do you take to encourage open and honest communication?
For one just be nice and positive along your journey in life! Some of my positive inclusive advice is to encourage participation by making small changes to the way we work. One simple but effective technique would be to practise Equal Share of Voice at day-to-day meetings. Also, acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of team members from diverse backgrounds. Celebrate successes and publicly recognise the value that everyone brings to the team. Creating structures that allow diverse voices to be heard is critical to fostering such communication styles. For example, adding structures to meetings for all attendees to contribute, regularly sharing channels for anonymous feedback about company practices that are supported with updates and actions at all-team meetings, and providing a platform for individuals who wish to share their knowledge and contributions.
How do you stay up to date on best practices related to diversity and inclusion, and what resources can you recommend to stay informed?
First and foremost, I listen to people, engage with people and trust that everyone means well. I am a bit naive at times but believe in thinking positively and doing well and being nice to others. I provide others with a platform when needed and embrace feedback from others. Continuous learning and reflection. Be real! I engage with my inclusion partner consultancy Creative Equals who bring a DEI lens to all our work and build an understanding of best practices and current DEI trends. I also listen to podcasts and read books that centre on inclusion. There is a lot of unhelpful sensationalism around diversity and inclusion, and there is better commentary and analysis to be found in editorials that aren’t produced around the news cycle, and podcasts on adjacent topics where experts from differing specialities (psychology, behavioural science etc) are invited to talk and debate, e.g., Intelligence Squared and Politics on the Couch.