Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Felicia Johnson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Felicia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Any thoughts around creating more inclusive workplaces?

Creating a more inclusive workplace starts with YOU! As cheesy at that might sound, I believe that statement to be true. Each of us own the opportunity to be the change we want to see.

Felicia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

What ultimately led to my career in diversity and inclusion actually started when I served on the Board of Directors for a corporate foundation. Part of my responsibilities included interviewing heads of non-profits and gaining an understanding of the services they provided, thus being instrumental in the decision whether to fund grant applications. That exposure led me to have some truly insightful conversations regarding disparities that exist in organizations and communities.

I have had the pleasure of working for and with some amazing organizations! I am beyond thankful for the opportunities each one provided me, and it is because of those experiences I stepped out on BIG FAITH a few years ago and started my own diversity and inclusion consulting and training practice.

The Gatson Group is a certified minority and woman-owned small business, offering certified diversity training and strategic consulting. My firm is a licensed provider of global credentialing for diversity and inclusion certification. I also recently released on online, on-demand diversity and inclusion learning course that explores how diversity and inclusion can directly influence business outcomes. Whether you have 2 employees or 2,000 employees, or whether you have office or field based employees, The Gatson Group can meet you where you are and provide expert and impactful diversity and inclusion education and consulting support. Other examples of services I provide include creating and facilitating learning content, helping to create diversity strategies, and supporting enterprise-wide execution, as well as serving as a facilitator for employee listening sessions.

I vividly remember one client I worked with a few years ago that asked me to facilitate a few training sessions. While I was onsite, they shared they were losing quite a few employees in quick succession and wanted to find out why. They added three days to my travel and over those days, I conducted well over 30 one-on-one confidential feedback sessions with employees. Talk about being insightful and informative! I believe having a neutral 3rd party facilitate those sessions really worked in the employer’s favor because the employees were able to be open, without any feeling of reprisal. The results were immediate changes to several of the items that were shared from the employees.

One of the things that sets me apart is that I understand the need to be authentic and vulnerable when doing this work. I experience way too many leaders that feel the need to pretend they ‘know everything’, and don’t realize the beauty in admitting, no, I don’t. Instead, they have been indoctrinated somewhere along their journey that it’s weak to admit a shortcoming or lack of knowledge in an area, when in fact, it shows you are human. And that is a GOOD thing for employees to see!

Another thing that sets me apart is the relationships I build with my clients. I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. I understand and respect that each organization is different and at a different place in their journey. I take that very seriously when I am creating interventions to support their efforts.

My approach to diversity and inclusion has always been an ALL-inclusive approach. That may sound as if I’m repeating myself, but I am not. You can have one without the other. Meaning, you can have diversity and not have inclusion. They should be symbiotic, and work together to achieve an organization’s goals.

I think the last thing I want to share is simply this. I believe there are two things ALL employees want to know. They want to know they are SEEN…and they want to know they are HEARD. And note, I said ALL employees. All short employees, all tall employees, all employees over 60, all employees under 25, all employees of all ethnicities, faiths, experiences, etc. And as shared previously, EVERY employee is deserving of an inclusive experience.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I am actually self-funded. I started my company with personal savings and have been quite diligent to operate in a very streamlined way that allows me to avoid costly overhead.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My advice for managing a team and maintaining high morale is really quite simple. Treat ALL of your employees with dignity and respect. We oftentimes hear about the ‘golden rule’, right? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Well, take that a step further and apply the ‘platinum rule’. Here, we do unto others as THEY would like to have done unto them. In other words, treat them the way THEY would like to be treated. But guess what? In order do that, you have to know them. So how do you do that? Drum roll please…talk to them! Build authentic relationships. Mean what you say and walk what you talk. Employees want to know you are being real with them and that you are giving them 100%. And when you give 100%, I am confident that is what you will receive in return.

Show genuine interest in your team. Ask questions, don’t play favorites. I’m not suggesting you hang out with them over the weekends, but ask if their child won their soccer game? Use inclusive language. Don’t assume. This isn’t overly complicated.

And when in doubt, ask yourself, how would I feel if that was said to me? How would I feel it that was done to me? How would I feel…if that was done to someone I love?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gatsongroup.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GatsonGroup
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/inclusionprofessional/