Community Led: Honoring the Voices of Those Most Impacted

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Good intentions and genuine effort are not substitutes for listening to and truly believing the experiences of your employees.  

Effective culture change is always led by the insights and voices of those most impacted by the systems we are working to change. First, you must identify which employees are most impacted by culture issues, and ensure they are engaged in the process of informing the work. 

For colleagues who are just now becoming aware of culture issues: your role is to create the conditions for those voices to be heard and acted upon, not to interpret or speak on their behalf. 

Be responsive and appreciative 

When impacted employees choose to share their perspective on workplace culture, treat that as a gift and recognize that it often comes at a real personal and social cost. Speaking up about one's own experience of exclusion, or advocating for change in a workplace that has not yet fully earned that trust, can be professionally risky, exhausting, and socially isolating. Some employees may face subtle or not-so-subtle pushback from colleagues. Others may worry about being labeled, dismissed, or penalized for raising difficult truths. This might be especially true for employees whose identities are not broadly represented in workforce and/or company leadership. 

When someone takes that risk and shares their perspective, follow through on what you hear. Incorporate their feedback in ways that are visible and meaningful. Express genuine gratitude for their honesty and their trust. And make effort to prevent them from bearing negative consequences for having spoken up. If employees learn that sharing their experience leads to more burden and no change, it makes future feedback more difficult to gain.  

Invite voices, never demand them 

Creating opportunities for input is very different from requiring it. Employees should always feel empowered to contribute their perspective. However, no one should feel obligated or pressured to do so. Participation is always a choice. 

Honor the diversity within communities 

One of the most common missteps in this work is treating all employees from historically excluded communities as a monolith. "Historically excluded communities" is a term meant to unite many different experiences; it was never intended to flatten them. Listen to individuals without treating any one voice as the authority for an entire community.  

Seek out and amplify a range of perspectives 

Be intentional about hearing from employees across different backgrounds, identities, and experiences, particularly those whose voices have been most consistently absent from organizational decision-making. An external consultant can help you design processes and assessments that make this more systematic and more equitable.