09/24/2024

Five Rules to Foster Inclusion Through 'Inner Rings'

Creating "inner rings" can help leaders foster a culture of inclusion

In 1944, best-selling author and scholar C.S. Lewis delivered the Memorial Lecture entitled, The Inner Ring, at Kings College in London. His speech focused on the innate human desire to belong and the extent to which we will strive to be included, even in groups that don't serve our highest good. Lewis warned that our desire to belong could unwittingly lead us to actions that take us far away from who we want to be and contribute to us welcoming or rejecting others.

Everyone, including you, is part of some inner ring, from the company you work for to the family into which you were born. For most of us, life is carved out by a series of inner rings to which we belong by default or through active intent. If you think about it, the work environment is full of inner rings. Where you sit on the organizational chart, the group with whom you dine at lunch, the department in which you work and the projects to which you’re assigned, even the respect and popularity your boss enjoys or lacks creates an inner ring from which you are included or excluded.

Earlier this month, I attended a "by invitation only" conference, a new inner ring of sorts that I was being welcomed to join. My experience there led to new insights about the power of expanding membership to the inner rings in our organizations and work teams. Most importantly, it provided some ground rules for doing that successfully.

Please select this link to read the complete article from SmartBrief.