The consensus on difference
Welcome to Love Mondays, a weekly newsletter designed as a 3-minute hit to fire up the other 10,077 minutes of your week.
Recently, we’ve had National Tree Day, International Friendship Day, and Australian Census rollout day. Which of these three things is not hug-inducing?
Inclusion is as much about what’s not said as what is said. When I opened the Australian census on the weekend via the online portal, it would have been great to see some more open-armed questions. For example, our census doesn’t count transgender people, it doesn’t account for kids with same-sex parents, and it lists mental health as a long-term medical condition when our state of wellbeing is so much more nuanced and dynamic than that.
The problem with blindspots is that they’re invisible to us while becoming invisible holes people fall through... to become invisible. Language relies on difference. Intentionality relies on tension. So inclusion is about actively holding space for different concepts to exist in tension with each other. The opposite to indifference.
Who might be falling through your blind spots?
Write down the place your mind wanders.
Consider: how might you currently brush over including some people?
Practice: intentionally shining a light on their contribution.
Decide to: ask a few people in your circle how they ensure they’re inclusive.
The 7 Pillars of Inclusion
This broad framework
provides sporting clubs or organisations with a starting point to address inclusion and diversity. Focused on the ‘how to’ of achieving inclusion, these action-orientated steps are useful for leaders to understand how our daily behaviours either enable inclusion or not.
Love your Mondays