Centering Equity & Inclusion During Virtual Meetings & Working From Home.
Written By: Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston (she, her hers), Associate Director, Education & Programing
This week, several of our organizations have had to switch to virtual meetings and working from home with a rapid increase in COVID-19 across the United States. As a team of consultants spread over 3 cities: New Orleans, Memphis & St. Louis, the Queen Team at Beloved Community has been succeeding at virtual team time since our founding! We wanted to share our tips on how to continue to center equity and inclusion during this time. In this post, you’ll find suggestions for how to build a warm culture via virtual meetings and some tips for working from home. Before we get started, we also want to offer lots of love to you and the world as we navigate this trying time, and acknowledge that being able to switch to virtual working space is a privilege that a lot of our working-class colleagues, hospitality staff, and medical personnel do not share.
Building a Warm, Virtual Culture:
Consider paying for your employee’s laptops, cell phones, phone bills, wi-fi connection, or other supplies and utilities as they prepare to use their own resources in this transition.
Give your colleagues grace who are now working from home with kids and family who are also home. They’re having to juggle way more than usual. Offer support with their projects where needed, and lighten up on unnecessary deadlines.
Ditto for everyone in your organization. This is an anxiety-filled time, so give yourself and your people space to take care of themselves.
Use a video call platform like Zoom (we use the paid version). Other options include: Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, or Skype. This helps your employees and clients feel like they are still in the “same room” during meetings. We’ve found that phone calls don’t typically build as much warmth and inclusion as video calls!
Need to learn more about how to use these platforms? Check out online tutorials to help your team transition.
Start your virtual meetings with a warm welcome. This helps to create the same sense of community as small talk does when a group of people gathers, while also intentionally grounding people before jumping into the work. Here are a few examples from our Director of Capacity Building, Lesley Brown Rawlings:
What "delights" you?
What are you looking forward to this month?
What does success over the next 6 weeks look like for you?
What's your "get pumped/hype" song?
What is one way that you can celebrate/honor those you love?
What's your current "binge-watch" tv guilty pleasure?
What does success (personal or professional) in 2020 look like for you?
What was your favorite memory from this past week?
Increase communication via emails, text messages and shared documents. When you work in an office alongside people, it can be easy to see an email or drafted document and then pop-over to your colleague’s office to chat and share feedback. This isn’t as easy when you’re all working from home, so get comfortable with answering emails in (potentially) more detail than you’ve had to before. Text messages can be used for updates like if someone won’t be logging in for the day, or spreading joy through funny gifs and exciting updates (like closing a big project)!
Working From Home:
Carve out a quiet place to set-up your working space. This can be your living room, kitchen, den, porch, or bedroom. Just make sure it’s somewhere you feel like you can be your best. Take some time to decorate it, too! Fresh flowers, crystals, candles, or photos, can make your space feel more comfortable.
If you’re able-bodied, create a standing desk in your home (bonus points if you can do this near a window)! Just find a surface that is counter height, stack several books until you reach a comfortable height and TA-DA a free, standing desk. Standing increases blood-flow and energy (not to mention burns calories)!
Build out a schedule, goals and daily to-do list. Asana is great for task lists (and there’s a free version)! You can also build your task schedule on your calendar to hold yourself accountable and remind you of your daily goals.
Consider taking regular breaks to keep yourself motivated. Humans love human connection and you don’t get that as much when working from home so consider taking a 10-minute break at the end of every hour to text your friends & loved ones, check social media, do a household chore with your partner/roommate who might also be working from home, and take deep breaths.
Take a lunch break! Don’t forget to take a break mid-day to eat and relax. Breaks are super helpful for our energy and focus.
Try adding a workout routine to your day. I personally like to wake up early, answer some emails for 30 minutes and then go for a run, do a free online workout video, or practice yoga. This routine helps me to center and get my day started in a healthy way.
Transition after the end of your workday. Typically you’d have some kind of transition time built into the end of your workday with your drive or walk home, but not when you’re working from home! Consider meditating, going for a walk, calling a loved one, or getting outside in some way (even if it’s just drinking a cup of tea on your porch).
Your organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion can and should continue to move forward at this time. We believe in the power of community and we believe you can still build that while working virtually and at home. If your organization is feeling up to it, you can use this time to take our free, online Equity Audit which measures how diversity, equity, and inclusion shows up in your organization’s policies and practices. We truly wish you all the best as we come together (by staying apart) during this time!