Freedom-restricting harassment affects us all in some way… even Execs and HR professionals

We’ve lost count of the number of HR directors, their teams and Exec Boards who have said to us that the fear of saying the wrong thing and being ‘cancelled’ is a major obstacle for them in engaging in EDI conversations. We recently ran Convergent’s Language of Inclusion session for about 30 HR leaders and that theme came up again and again. Just like it has done before.

And we’re tired of LinkedIn EDI influencers shaming them for it. It’s not helping.

EDI is altogether too huge a subject for anyone to claim perfection. Every single one of us is capable of and is likely to make a mistake and unintentionally hurt someone, or just not know something. How could we possibly go through life without doing that? Unless we literally stop speaking to each other. And do we want that to happen?

There are 9 Protected Characteristics under UK equality law and under each one of those sits a huge subject, a huge variety of experiences and a huge variety of views on how we can create a more inclusive work environment and a more equal society.

How can a lone HR director possibly know all the nuances?

And on top of that, Dame Sara Khan DBE recently published her independent review into “social cohesion and resilience with recommendations to build cohesion and strengthen democratic resilience.”

One of her key findings is a phenomenon she names ‘freedom-restricting harassment” (FRH). It is an extreme form of harassment leading individuals into silence, self-censoring, (or, at a societal level, abandoning their democratic rights.)

Silence and self-censorship – it sounds familiar. It’s what we’re hearing from clients. Dame Khan’s societal findings don’t exist in a vacuum. A fear of FRH is affecting people as they go about doing their jobs.

So to see professionals on LinkedIn acting as though Execs and HRD’s should automatically know better by virtue of their positions is an over-simplification that we’re not willing to entertain.

And let’s not forget that we’re in a election year globally, and things are getting crazy online and on the news.

But what does any of this mean for you who might be reading this?

  • If you’re one of those people who is worried about making mistakes,
  • if you’re working in a organisation where employees are wanting you to go nuclear on every perceived slight (which devalues real experiences of bullying, discrimination and harassment),
  • if your SLT is worried too, or if they’ve become cynical because of these EDI pile-ons…

We’ll help you figure this out. If you want to speak to Heeral just say the word. Get in touch!

Inclusion starts with conversations, people being patient and trying to understand each other. Shaming cannot be part of the equation.