We recently connected with Shahrzad Nooravi and have shared our conversation below.

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

First, I’d like to share that culture is a living organism that needs to be tended to regularly whether it’s how you onboard, how you communicate with employees, the physical and virtual environment you operate and how people treat one another within these environments. Creating an inclusive culture begins by being clear on the definition of inclusive. A definition I like is by Lily Zheng, author of DEI Deconstructed: Inclusion is the achievement of an environment that all stakeholders, especially underserved and marginalized populations, trust to be respectful and accountable. Inclusion is achieved through actions that explicitly counter present-day and historical inquiries and meet the unique needs of all populations. She states that to achieve inclusion at work, all groups must feel like the workplace is one in which they are valued and respected.

In my book, A Powerful Culture Starts with You, I share three ways to strengthen your culture. WATCH IT®, a tool for examining your culture with a fresh set of eyes, DRIVE IT® a tool for creating a coaching culture and WALK IT®, a senior team alignment tool. The first tool, WATCH IT® can be used to observe the employee experience, group dynamics in meetings, the physical environment and the communication from the top leaders. It is eye opening to have several formal and informal leaders complete the free assessments to learn how they see the same company. It can definitely show how inclusive the workplace is from different employees’ perspectives.

A few things leaders can do to create inclusion is 1) Take the time to learn about your employee population and their backgrounds and update your structures, systems and spaces accordingly. If you notice you have Muslims, you can create a space for praying throughout the day. If you have many employees who have English as their second language, consider translating your main communications about the strategy, vision and values in that language. If you want to create a more comfortable workplace for new mothers, have a quiet and private area for nursing. If your employees want to create Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) , partner with your HR leaders and make it happen; 2) Build inclusive language and behavior into your values, which should be reviewed every few years as your company, industry, employee population and the world evolve; 3) Facilitate interactive leadership workshops that demonstrate what being inclusive sounds, looks and feels like; 4) Create guidelines for inclusive meetings and make sharing them part at the beginning of each meeting to become part of your culture, 5) Create a workplace that gives flexibility for workers to tend to their personal lives whether it is caring for a family member or children or pursuing outside interests. It is best to create flexibility for all, versus one population, which tends to be parents, understandably. When you make wellness a priority for your team, they will be more energized and able to bring more of themselves to work. Many women opt out of leadership positions based on seeing workplaces that make it difficult to have balance. If companies can create more flexible structures, decrease bias in decision making and create policies around DEI, we will see more women rise to the top.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As a business psychologist, I work with leaders to empower them to shape strong, positive workplace cultures where employees choose to stay and do their best work. I partner with clients to take an honest look at their culture and leadership. My solutions include executive coaching, group coaching, senior team alignment and leadership development workshops.

My training is in psychology and journalism and I found my way to this industry by working for a human resource consulting firm. Once I learned about it the psychology of business, there was no turning back. I worked in-house for companies as well as consulted for Fortune 500 companies in the areas of coaching and team development until I launched my own company Strategy Meets Performance. When clients work with me they learn about their strengths and potential development areas. In a safe environment, we create plans to launch them into their next level of leadership, resulting in more engaged, productive and inclusive teams. Their workplaces become places where employees choose to stay and give their all.

I’m proud of the difference I make in leaders’ lives and their company cultures.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I moved to San Diego, I quickly learned that there was no safe way to cross the street. I believe in safe, walkable cities and knew I had to do something about this dangerous situation. Currently, 7,500 pedestrians in the United States are killed in accidents each year. Many of these deaths happen when a person had safe access and was crossing properly. This means that situations where safety is not accessible is much worse. I did not want anyone to die or become disabled so I worked with my community and government (city attorney, city council members, mayor) to create pedestrian and bicyclist safety. It took nine years of standing up for safety. We were in the paper, on the news and in the city council member’s office regularly. In the end, we achieved our goal of getting a pedestrian activated cross light. I was named Citizen of the Year for these efforts. The real reward is knowing our efforts saved lives.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Treat adults like adults. Learn what motivates leaders and meet them where they are. Seek input from your team and be transparent about future changes. Show gratitude for people’s work and be specific in your praise. Create a workplace where employees can be open and vulnerable. Create an inclusive culture by making sure all voices are heard in meetings.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.strategymeetsperformance.com
• Instagram: dr.shahrzadnooravi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahrzadnooravi/
• Youtube: @dr.shahrzadnooravi
• Other: www.apowerfulculture.com www.strategymeetsperformance.com