ASCII Anything

S5E4: Inclusion and Belonging with Thresette Briggs

February 22, 2023 Moser Consulting Season 5 Episode 4
ASCII Anything
S5E4: Inclusion and Belonging with Thresette Briggs
Show Notes Transcript

On this week's episode of ASCII Anything, we're joined by Thresette Briggs. She's the founder and Chief Performance Officer for Performance 3 and is here to talk about inclusion and belonging. 

Thresette is an author and award-winning consultant. Her organization, Performance 3 or P3, is a national leadership development firm that builds high-performing leaders through keynotes, training and facilitation, and coaching services.  Thresette holds multiple honors and certifications, including the 2022 Great Lakes Women's Business Council Indiana WBE role model/mentor of the year. She received her BBA from Wichita State University, her MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University, and she's a graduate of Leadership Indianapolis. 

00:00:10:14 - 00:00:38:07
Speaker 1
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Ask Anything presented by Mosher Consulting. I'm your host, Angel Leon, Moser's director of personnel. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about inclusion and belonging. Two very important topics, very much at the forefront of almost everything we do on a daily basis. And with me today to discuss this topic is Thresette Briggs, who is the founder and chief performance officer for Performance three Thresette, is an author and an award winning consultant.

00:00:38:21 - 00:01:08:21
Speaker 1
Her organization, Performance three, or P3, is a national leadership development firm that builds high performing leaders through keynotes, training and facilitation and coaching services to a set of holds, multiple honors and certifications, including the 2022 Great Lakes Women's Business Council, Indiana WBEZ Role Model of the Year. She received her B.A. from Wichita State University, her MBA from Indiana with slaying University and is a graduate of Leadership Indianapolis.

00:01:09:07 - 00:01:16:07
Speaker 1

Thresette, it's an honor to have you with us and ask anything today. Thank you for taking the time to come join us and talk about such an important topic. How are you?

00:01:16:07 - 00:01:27:20
Speaker 2
I am doing well. Angel, Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction and it's an honor to be here. So looking forward to talking about as you said, a very important topic.

00:01:28:02 - 00:01:55:08
Speaker 1
Yes, it is a very important topic. And as I mentioned, we're going to be talking about the Inclusion and Belonging Learning series, which is a series of trainings that can be taken either together and or individually. The series covers a great deal of topics which include understanding and reducing unconscious bias, creating a culture of belonging, identifying and overcoming diversity fatigue, building inclusive cultures with mentoring and coaching and inspiring teams with story power.

00:01:55:14 - 00:02:07:17
Speaker 1
All of these topics are, in my point of view, essential. If you want to start encouraging a shift in your workplace. Stories, diversity, inclusion and belonging. So could you give us a quick synopsis of of the classes?

00:02:08:09 - 00:02:33:22
Speaker 2
Absolutely. And thank you for sharing the names of all of them, because there are, as you said, five courses in this series and they can be taken. All of them can be taken or they can be taken individually, but they are designed to empower all levels of employees with understand aiding application and sustaining information so they can help build inclusive and belonging cultures by having the development tools needed to do so.

00:02:33:24 - 00:02:56:06
Speaker 2
One of the things that's really important about inclusion and belonging is that we have to first understand what it is. We have to have the readiness and the tools to be able to do it. And then we have to have a culture that supports doing both of those things effectively. And so these these courses are designed to help do just that.

00:02:57:09 - 00:03:12:15
Speaker 1
You mentioned something very key there towards the end, and that's to support to have these courses be brought into an organization, because if you don't have that support, especially from the top, it's going to be a lot harder to sell this to the rest of the organization.

00:03:13:07 - 00:03:51:09
Speaker 2
Absolutely. And we know the the quotes about culture eating strategy for lunch and that really, truly does happen. I've seen it happen way too many times. And you know, the culture, if you don't do something intentionally to establish it, it creates itself. And it may not be what you want it to be. So these again, these courses are designed to help leaders, employees at all levels understand what it is they really need to do, understand what it means to them and their colleagues, determine what they need to develop to do it best, and then what do they need to know so they can sustain it over the long term?

00:03:51:17 - 00:04:24:18
Speaker 2
Because one thing that's for sure is when when we're in organizations that are in transformation or trying to implement great programs like these things that we'll be talking about in the series, if you don't have the ability to do it, it doesn't matter what you do. You know, you've got to have the mindset. You've got to have the competency built to be able to do it, and then you've got to be able to sustain it in times when you are transforming so that you don't revert back to old behaviors and actions and things you used to do under times of stress.

00:04:25:05 - 00:04:46:14
Speaker 2
Because we know when things are going great, stress is not an issue, right? Yeah, but it's during those times of stress when you really need people to be able to shift to more effective actions and behaviors around inclusion and belonging. And so that's what we want to help them do, especially with the sustainability piece, because otherwise it just becomes a check the box activity.

00:04:46:18 - 00:04:47:19
Speaker 2
Another one, right?

00:04:47:22 - 00:04:53:03
Speaker 3
In my experience, times of stress will tell you what your culture actually is.

00:04:53:22 - 00:04:57:18
Speaker 2
So true. So true. Brian Yeah, well said.

00:04:58:09 - 00:05:30:05
Speaker 1
I think we see that all around right now with, you know, the job market the way it is, how much it has changed over the last six months, even probably less. With layoffs occurring in the tech industry, how hiring has shifted from it, being an employee driven situation, a job market to now employer is kind of just pulling back the strings a little bit on that market and now being a little bit more geared towards the employer once again.

00:05:30:05 - 00:05:57:05
Speaker 1
So everything is shifting around us. And I think these topics right now in the world that we're currently living in, January 30th, that's where we're recording this. It's very important to make sure that we take a second and stop and look at just to name a few, you know, reducing unconscious biases, creating a culture of belonging. Those topics for some people might sound like, Oh, this is some, here we go again.

00:05:57:05 - 00:06:05:02
Speaker 1
This is something we've heard before, but they have a certain importance right now that I believe should be at the forefront of everything that we're doing.

00:06:05:22 - 00:06:50:05
Speaker 2
That is very true because as you said, last year we had the great resignation, 2021, 2022, and now that has reversed based on all of the layoffs that we're seeing, companies over anticipated hired more people than they actually need. And now they're reversing that. And so that puts more people into the workplace and the dynamics shift. But regardless of whether it's the great resignation or the great rehiring or whatever we want to call it, the culture is going to determine are these employees, wherever they are going to be successful, because the culture that's needed now, post-pandemic, you know, this new reality with all the societal things that we're facing, that culture is going to be

00:06:50:05 - 00:07:06:09
Speaker 2
extremely important for retaining good employees, attracting others, and doing all the things that we need to do to to remain competitive. Right? So it's definitely a shift, but it is a shift that can be balanced by these types of courses, to your point.

00:07:07:01 - 00:07:11:22
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. So could you tell me what inspired the creation of these classes?

00:07:12:14 - 00:07:45:19
Speaker 2
Yes, absolutely. One of the key things that inspired the why is that? I know personally I'm very passionate about these types of things, and I've been doing this type of work in the inclusion and belonging space, as well as the diversity and equity space for many, many years. But I know that in partnership with Mozilla, the leadership desires to provide offerings that can empower most your employees as well as like minded clients and community members who really want to develop what's needed for sustainable, higher individual and organization performance.

00:07:46:05 - 00:08:17:07
Speaker 2
Now, I have always said that to people that I am not a diversity expert per se. I have been in diversity a long time and I consider myself a specialist in that arena. However, the goal is to develop higher performing cultures, and these topics are one way to do that. It's something that needs to be integrated into the culture along with financial competency, with operational competency and other competencies that are important for cultures to be high performing.

00:08:17:14 - 00:08:37:22
Speaker 2
But the overall goal and it's wonderful, you know, and I love partnering and working with Moser because of this, the leadership desires to provide this, to have that type of a culture, a culture that's going to give them a competitive edge and others in the community that want to take these in their community as well as their clients who want to take these, are going to have that same benefit.

00:08:38:04 - 00:08:59:23
Speaker 2
So that's the inspiration behind it and gaining a greater understanding of what both of those mean inclusion and belonging, because they don't mean exactly the same thing. Leaders and employees will have the opportunity to reflect on what they need to do to prepare and how they can contribute to developing inclusion and belonging cultures at their organization.

00:08:59:23 - 00:09:30:18
Speaker 1
And that's it's a very important aspect because as you were touching on earlier, the working landscape has changed a lot and whether that was because of COVID or because of the great resignation and the turn of events that have happened here in late 2022 and early 2023, in that the cultural in the workplace has switched now from that in-person in-office mentality to an at home working environment.

00:09:30:18 - 00:09:53:13
Speaker 1
And now it's kind of trying to shift back to that in-person piece with a hybrid, sort of a little bit of mixed in sort of peppering there in the middle, trying to be to kind of still hold on to those changes that we saw at the very beginning of the pandemic, where everybody just went home and you were given a laptop and said, okay, go conquer your job at home.

00:09:53:19 - 00:10:15:24
Speaker 2
Yes. And to that point, you know, the hybrid environment is going to be here for the foreseeable future for a good while. And employers, leaders, they all have to look at that whole person concept. Now, you know, there's there's people at home. How do you set them up for success working from home and so they can be the most productive as possible.

00:10:16:09 - 00:10:46:12
Speaker 2
How do you set the people up for success who have to be at the worksite to be successful and for the organization to successful? How do you how do you balance that? Because there are employees who want to be at home and can't because of what they do. So how do you understand those differences and be inclusive and belonging in the different policies and practices and things that you said to ensure that everybody's voice is basically heard and you're doing things to try to balance that whole person piece.

00:10:46:18 - 00:11:02:01
Speaker 2
So everybody feels like they're part of this. Not all the hybrid people get, all the benefits are all the people on site get all the benefits. So it's all those factors you said that have to be considered in this decision making process now because it's just different. It's just different how we work.

00:11:02:12 - 00:11:08:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, it's very different. So who would you say is the audience for these classes?

00:11:08:11 - 00:11:39:12
Speaker 2
The audience is really almost anyone who wants to learn more about these two topics inclusion and belonging. It can be all levels. Certainly I encourage leaders to get in there first because they have to go first if they want their employees to follow them right, and to believe in its credibility. So I encourage leaders to do that. It is also, however, for employees to understand what they need to do and how they can prepare and what this means to them.

00:11:39:21 - 00:12:07:08
Speaker 2
It's also important that everybody gets engaged because it's an important component of change. Leadership to help everybody feel like they have some kind of part in what change impacts them. It's all audiences, really from top level leaders, senior leaders to whoever. You know, if you have a janitor still, you know, whoever does that, it's for everybody, really. And then, of course, is might be slightly different.

00:12:07:14 - 00:12:17:10
Speaker 2
There might be different things talked about based on who is in the course or in the session. However, it is for everyone, because everyone is part of inclusion and belonging.

00:12:18:00 - 00:12:22:02
Speaker 1
And you would start it from that top down leadership perspective, correct?

00:12:22:08 - 00:12:43:23
Speaker 2
Yes, I always encourage that. Now, I've seen I've seen it kind of try to happen simultaneously. Sometimes, however, that can create a level of confusion because the leaders are learning and trying to figure this out. And then the employees also learning in their questions and things happening. And the leaders aren't quite prepared and ready to address those things.

00:12:44:13 - 00:12:45:18
Speaker 2
What's that, Brian?

00:12:45:18 - 00:12:48:16
Speaker 3
They don't have their answers yet because they're still learning to.

00:12:49:02 - 00:13:15:14
Speaker 2
Exactly. You know, so everybody has to learn what they need to have a foundation on which to do this. And the best possible way. And you want employees to feel like the leaders have confidence and kind of know what they're doing, although they we understand that leaders are a continual learners, too, and we all are continue learners, but they kind of want to have confidence as they're transforming the organization that their leaders know at least are a step ahead of them.

00:13:15:14 - 00:13:15:22
Speaker 2
Right.

00:13:16:14 - 00:13:41:14
Speaker 1
And it goes back to that initial point about buying about putting them first. And like Brian was saying, them having those ideas generated so that if I'm taking it and i'm in h.r. And my leaders already taking this course, then i can go to my leader and start having a conversation based on these courses and we can actually sit down and have a have a good chat about it.

00:13:42:01 - 00:14:09:03
Speaker 2
Exactly. And doing it that way makes all the difference. Because if that employee is concerned about something and they want to talk about something in this area and this inclusion and belonging area and they want to have a sit down or conversation with their supervisor about it and the supervisor doesn't know any more than they do. That can cause a lot of anxiety and it can slow down the process of implementing these types of initiatives and programs in an organization.

00:14:09:03 - 00:14:19:09
Speaker 2
So just that feeling, they know that their leader is learning as well, but they want to know what their leader knows a little bit more than they do and can help them feel comforted about what's going on.

00:14:19:21 - 00:14:24:21
Speaker 1
Right. So how is this series beneficial for an organization's bottom line?

00:14:25:06 - 00:14:51:20
Speaker 2
Oh, there are I tell you, there are so many studies that show how it's beneficial. But I'll I'll speak to one from McKinsey and Company, which we all know is a pretty reputable organization. It shows that companies in the top quartile for inclusive and belonging cultures in all diversity dimensions as well are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry.

00:14:51:21 - 00:15:31:11
Speaker 2
Medians. So there's study after study after study, but those are some of the most compelling ones. And also they also have studies around how it impacts innovation in a positive perspective and what it can do for everyone. That's part of it. So when leaders and employees are gaining greater understanding of how an inclusive and belonging culture has a positive impact on their company themselves, they're better able to enhance individual and team productivity and more effectively contribute to the organization's vision and strategies, help others who are maybe struggling, and it may even help them be more effective in the community.

00:15:31:11 - 00:15:42:02
Speaker 2
In the different things they do there. So it helps you in the workplace, and that's where the focus is. However, this information translates over into what people do in the community too.

00:15:42:14 - 00:16:13:16
Speaker 1
And that to me, I mean, I consider that percentage to be high specifically because these courses aren't technical in nature. They're not going to give you a technical skill that you can put into action or into motion using, you know, your computers, your equipment, etc.. It's more of the interpersonal, interpersonal subject where if we look around and we want to care more about the people that are around us, then this is how it affects us.

00:16:13:24 - 00:16:33:15
Speaker 2
That is so very true. Because then, you know, and I say this in one of the courses we do a fun activity that really distinguishes the difference between inclusion and belonging. And I won't give that away, but I'll say here that inclusion is a hard thing. You know, it's I will include you because I should or I must.

00:16:33:24 - 00:16:54:21
Speaker 2
I'm complying and somebody is telling me to or I have to keep my job or something. Some reason like that belonging, on the other hand, is a hard thing. And that means I will include you and accept who you are, because it is it is the kind, compassionate and empathetic type of leader and person I want to be.

00:16:55:13 - 00:17:19:10
Speaker 2
So there's a big difference between it and I when I do these courses, I get into the differences and what each of the terms mean more deeply so people can really reflect and examine where that where are they on this. So it's important to understand that that is that it is a hard thing for inclusion and a hard thing for belonging.

00:17:19:10 - 00:17:56:03
Speaker 1
And that's why to me, that percentage that you mentioned is so it seems higher than I honestly, I wanted it to be higher to be to be quite frank, I mean, would be perfect if it was even higher. But because when you look at returns, you know, our eyes on returns of investment, on technical skills, when an employee goes for certification that they're upskilling themselves, etc., versus something like this where again, like you mentioned, it's thinking and Harding, if you will, it puts a different price on it.

00:17:56:10 - 00:18:12:13
Speaker 1
It's not so much a skill as I am good at typing 100 words per minute where it is I am going to accept somebody. It doesn't matter to me the way they are, the way they look, how where they come from exactly.

00:18:12:13 - 00:18:29:12
Speaker 2
And that is that is a struggle that many have with this type of topic because there are one of the courses is about identifying and overcoming diversity fatigue, because diversity advocates and diversity critics alike are struggling with diversity fatigue for different reasons.

00:18:29:21 - 00:18:30:04
Speaker 1
Right.

00:18:30:18 - 00:18:53:07
Speaker 2
And you want to help people understand what they need to understand to make educated decisions and to continue this important work or to potentially buy in to this important work. The one thing I will tell everybody who is involved in trying to create these cultures is it is really important to understand that you won't get everyone. You just won't.

00:18:53:07 - 00:19:14:09
Speaker 2
And that's one of the differences that people have, is is that they don't agree or that they do agree. And if after education and learning, the heart still says, I don't agree with this and I don't want to do this, then of course that person has to decide what they want to do and they may or may not be a good match for that organization.

00:19:14:15 - 00:19:38:11
Speaker 2
But if the organization is focused on having that kind of a culture and a person doesn't support it, of course you know that means that they they don't necessarily align with that and they have to decide what they want to do. But the key thing for leaders, so they don't get an all employees, so they don't get frustrated and so you don't have big disagreements about what you should be thinking or shouldn't be thinking, because we all think what we think, Right.

00:19:38:18 - 00:20:02:20
Speaker 2
And we need learning to help us discern do we need to reconsider that thought process? But you don't want to have people just, you know, disagreeing and trying to make people believe what they believe because we all have our different worldviews and beliefs and that is the essence of inclusion and belonging is to not necessarily agree with that, however understand it and respect it and have a culture that does the same.

00:20:03:09 - 00:20:44:18
Speaker 3
Yeah, this is a very narrow and specific example, but my wife is an elementary special education teacher and she teaches moderate to severe disabilities, and they've mainstreamed many of her students into second, third, maybe fourth grade classrooms. And, you know, when a student is in there at first and kind of isolated, they're in there because of inclusion. But as the school year goes on and, you know, the children acclimate special needs student acclimates to the room that when they're in and the other students in that room acclimate to them and friendships form and they're you know, they're playing on the playground or they're in gym.

00:20:44:18 - 00:20:52:21
Speaker 3
It's like and that's where it transfers from inclusion to belonging. That's just great. That's just it's great to see.

00:20:53:21 - 00:20:54:17
Speaker 2
Absolutely.

00:20:54:21 - 00:21:09:19
Speaker 3
That transition. It's it's super important and there's always a tipping point as comfort levels rise to where that that inclusion becomes belonging. And it's just it's very touching in that specific instance.

00:21:11:12 - 00:21:34:08
Speaker 1
I want to ask something before I get to my last question specifically about the course name inspiring teams. What story power I, for one can say that as a leader myself, I enjoy actually sitting down with people and going into stories of things that I've done in the past and and or listening to their stories about things that they do in the past.

00:21:34:08 - 00:21:39:14
Speaker 1
So what can you tell us a little bit about this inspiring teens with story power? Of course.

00:21:39:14 - 00:22:22:19
Speaker 2
Well, as you as you just reflected and by the way, I wanted to do it, thanks to Brian for what he said regarding that. When you see that belonging kick in, that is so true. And that was a that was a wonderful story. And to that point, that's one of the reasons why stories are so important, because as you're going through the different things you need to do to build an inclusive and belonging culture, you are doing things that help you understand each other, learn about each other, not necessarily agree again, but you are hearing the stories and building relationships with people that you may not have otherwise heard stories from and built relationships with.

00:22:23:01 - 00:22:52:14
Speaker 2
And so as you do that, you begin to relate better. And you began to understand the why of who they are. And so as a leader, if you are sharing your stories and others are able to have a voice and a culture that allows them to share theirs and be vulnerable about sharing them, then that story power that builds the kind of culture that we're wanting.

00:22:52:14 - 00:23:15:24
Speaker 2
Because when right, if you were if you were going to build a relationship with someone, there has to be a point where you become a little vulnerable to say or share something with them that they need to know about you, and then they in turn open up and say something that you need to know about them. And so it builds trust and it builds a relationship through stories.

00:23:16:07 - 00:23:58:00
Speaker 2
So leaders getting an understanding of how to share their stories so they're very impactful, will help other employees feel comfortable and open and vulnerable enough to share theirs. The trust will be built, inclusion and belonging increases and you begin to have more effective team building and productivity because those relationships have been enhanced. Now, I said a lot there, but that is really the essence of why that is so important, because as you think back on how you and Brian probably think back, I think back to a teacher who who shared a story with me when I was in high school and I was kind of I admitted I was skipping class and doing some things

00:23:58:00 - 00:24:29:13
Speaker 2
I didn't need to do. And that person shared a story with me and it made me think I didn't think about it real deeply at that time, but I realized that it stayed with me over the years and it changed the course of my career and the direction. So I always went back to that story. I could have went in another direction, but I didn't because stories like that stick in my head and then stories like that stick in my head of some of the bosses that I had that were great bosses and spent time with me sharing their stories and hearing mine.

00:24:29:13 - 00:24:31:17
Speaker 2
And we deeply relate it to each other.

00:24:32:10 - 00:25:02:01
Speaker 1
I think we can all agree that at some point in our early either careers or early time as students, we have a story to tell from somebody who brought that little golden nugget to our heads and kind of made it go, Huh? I certainly have a few. I've said quite a few here in this podcast before. So so lastly, what would you hope would be the results for individuals taking this series of classes?

00:25:02:13 - 00:25:25:14
Speaker 2
And I also wanted to say one more thing on the story. Power. It's about remembering the stories and really helping you to reflect and build relationships and trust and be vulnerable, but is also a method that connects the employees to their supervisors and others that helps align them, and that helps, of course, the organization, Vision and Mission be carried out.

00:25:26:04 - 00:25:59:17
Speaker 2
My hope for this, because I've been in this a while and seen some great things, but also seen some things that are a little disheartening. But I stay optimistic and hopeful is that everyone who participate in the series comes away with the awareness of what inclusion and belonging means to them, what it means to their colleagues, and that they can increase their effectiveness by applying their learning to create and sustain inclusive and belonging cultures wherever they are, whether that be in their organization, in the community, in their home, in their family.

00:26:00:12 - 00:26:28:18
Speaker 2
Because, you know, we've had we know of people who were they can't even have Thanksgiving dinner together anymore. Yeah. Because of certain topics and things that they cannot discuss. So that is my hope is that people are able to take this type of information and carry it into the circles they're in and really, really help themselves grow and build their relationships with all the people that are important to them, their employer, their family, their whatever they do.

00:26:29:19 - 00:27:01:06
Speaker 1
Yeah, build relationships is very important nowadays. So that is very key concept that I think people are starting to slip away from because of thoughts and things that they either think themselves or hear or read somewhere. And so we, we see a little bit of divide, but hopefully courses like this could bring more people together and in harmony and we can have a very good productive in together society.

00:27:01:07 - 00:27:04:02
Speaker 1
That's the hope that I think we want as well.

00:27:04:20 - 00:27:32:17
Speaker 2
And one other thing definitely is to that point is that we understand, many of us, that this is the right types of things to be doing. However, to one of the earlier questions, what's the benefit to organizations for people who only listen to that? We have to focus on those strong, compelling business cases to help them build their own personal business case for why this is necessary and important to do right.

00:27:33:00 - 00:27:40:11
Speaker 1
Very important as well. So with that, we'd like to thank to a set of breaks for joining us again this week on Ask Me Anything. Thank you very much.

00:27:40:21 - 00:27:54:00
Speaker 2
You're very welcome. It was a pleasure to be here. Thank you, Brian. And not how I look forward to delivering these courses for whoever decides they need to take it. And I hope that's everyone you guys take care. Thank you very much.

00:27:54:15 - 00:28:11:01
Speaker 1
Thank you for listening into this week's edition of Ask Anything presented by Mosher Consulting. We hope you enjoyed listening to Trista Briggs. Talk to us about our inclusion and belonging Learning series. Join us next time when we continue to dive deeper with our resident experts and what they're currently working on. Remember to send us your ideas or topics.

00:28:11:01 - 00:28:30:17
Speaker 1
We are social media feeds. In the meantime, please team member to give us a rating and subscribe to our feed. Where were your podcasts? Well, till then, so long everybody go.