Cultural dominance manifests itself in a number of ways. Breaking those patterns can start with pointing the mirror at oneself, altering the ways by which we operate and shifting things from where we sit.

Acknowledging that the foundation on which we built our organizational work environment is warped and dismantling our own habits to challenge the system in which we exist, requires a systematic and continuous questioning of our behaviors and taking nothing for granted.

Moving toward a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment takes intentionality.

As I sought to open a new office in the Central African Republic (CAR), diversity was foremost on my mind. In spite of that, the job posting dissemination process I used generated a 98% male Christian response because the communication ecosystem in which I navigated was built around channels that favored the dominant culture.

Women who received the email about the job opening were not applying and Muslims were outside the communication circles of the dominant culture and thus were not hearing about opportunities that insiders passed along to each other by word of mouth.

Equity is about giving everyone what they need to be successful.

Western cultural preferences for efficiency and deadlines did not lend themselves to rectifying generations of inequality that played themselves out in our current systems and psyche. So to gather a diverse pool of qualified applicants from which to start an equitable selection process, I needed to take additional time and be inefficient in my actions. That meant making multiple outreach efforts to women and religious networks to encourage a variety of people to apply.

The desire to create a highly skilled and diverse team that reflected the demographics of the country where we were operating was only the first challenge.

Once the team was composed things didn’t end there. Bringing together well-meaning people with different worldviews does not automatically imply having a socially cohesive work environment.

We then began the arduous task of creating an inclusive environment where people feel heard and supported. This meant having the staff co-create the values by which they wanted their work to be guided and institutionalizing those values in the processes and systems put in place to manage the organization and its program.

Continuously encouraging civil discourse that values and honors a broad range of experiences provides an opportunity for enriching and supporting an inclusive learning environment.

Intentionally creating an organizational culture based on principles of diversity, equity and inclusion means integrating these practices in staff’s evaluation criteria, the company's internal and external messaging and communications, in its leadership style and decision-making processes, its program implementation practices and in the policies and procedures that guide employee conduct and organizational systems.

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These reflections are part of a presentation made by Nathalie Al-Zyoud, Senior mediator with Communities in Transition, during the George Washington University 2018 Diversity Summit "Embracing Diversity and Inclusion at GW"