The Best Of Building Inclusive Digital Communities

If inclusion and belonging are what you're striving for, you have to make sure you have the structure in place to do it. You need to make sure that your organization as a whole, from top to bottom, understands that you're trying to cultivate a culture of inclusion. If not everyone is on board, that culture will be difficult to develop. Join Megan Martin as she talks to the Assistant Vice President and DE&I Manager of Alliant Insurance Services, Aaisha Hamid. Learn how she manages DEI within companies and organizations. Find out how data is gathered and analyzed when it comes to DEI. Start developing a culture of inclusion today!

If you want your business to succeed, you need to produce inclusive content. Put closed captions in your content, produce videos for people who learn better through video, or just diversify your team so that your content can feel inclusive with different experiences and backgrounds. Inclusivity needs to be empowered, especially when you’re trying to build your audience. In this episode, we are joined by the Vice President of Customer Education at Mailchimp, Erika Putinsky. Tune in so you can learn how to build an inclusive culture in your business. Find out how you can better get in touch and relate with your customer. Understand why your content doesn’t have to be perfect and it’s okay to be weird and experimental. Start meeting your customer where they are today!  

When the pandemic hit the world in 2020, the entire meeting planning industry entered a brand new era. What has once focused on face-to-face interactions now transitioned to virtual gatherings. This offers both opportunities and challenges in expanding a business around the world. Megan Martin talks with community and event expert Liz King who discusses how their business underwent several iterations before bringing their content to a global audience. She explains how they create subspaces within their community to touch both lurkers and highly engaged members. Liz also talks about the right ways to leverage technology in managing digital communities and how to experiment with content creation to ensure consistent engagement. 

Everything begins with engagement. You have to make sure your employees are passionate about the work they do. You have to make sure that they believe in the brand and in the organization. Results will come later, but you need to engage first. Set up meetings for new hires, be open to listening to your employee's problems, or help them in their career. Just engage first. Talking about this in this episode is simPRO’s Chief People Operations Officer, Rod Lacey. Learn how simPRO develops its employees with in-person meetings. Discover how they are creating an open environment for people to be themselves. Find out why engagement is the key to everything that Rod does with the company. Start engaging with your employees today.

It is one thing to reach people; it is another to engage with them. It is in that engagement that relationships are built, and meaningful connections are made. And there probably is no better way to do that than through storytelling. Anthea Hartzenberg of OfferZen joins Josh Hotsinpiller to share with us how she is utilizing storytelling in creating a community and sparking creativity. As the Head of Engagement, she also tells us how events play a crucial role in connecting communities to the brand and supporting business growth. Ultimately, engagement is all about being an active participant in the community. OfferZen takes this approach to heart, and Anthea gives us a look into how they commit to this as they connect and grow their business.

Everybody wants to be called an innovator, but is innovation really an individualistic thing? Thomas DeBass argues the opposite. To him, innovation is a team sport. It’s the act of building on top of all the layers that came before you, and then putting something out there that future contributors can build on top of or pull into an entirely different direction. In a sense, we are all contributors to innovation. Everyone builds on top of what’s already there, and innovation is simply our contribution to our industry or domain of expertise. Being innovative doesn’t mean you’re the superhero. In fact, it means you’re the sidekick. Does that diminish the meaning of innovation? Quite the opposite. Tune in to this episode and learn why.

When building an inclusive workplace environment, one shouldn't downplay the importance of cultural and linguistic awareness. Communication and building relationships are vital in creating culture. Ryan Hart, Fractional Chief Experience Officer of Chameleon Collective, is joining us to discuss this further. Ryan is a recognized expert on the intersection of experience strategy, design, brand, and digital product innovation in the context of multinational brands and international markets. In this episode, he joins Josh Hotsenpiller to share how cultural and linguistic differences should not hinder you from letting people feel included and involved in each project. That's what embracing diversity is all about. Learn more about the topic by tuning in to this episode as Ryan shares various strategies and practices that promote inclusivity in the workplace.

The COVID pandemic brought people out of the office and into the virtual workspace. This can bring about opportunities and challenges when it comes to inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Just because you’re virtual doesn’t mean you should just forget about diversity. Businesses need to let everyone feel welcomed and valued because that can improve work quality. Coming in to the show is the Chief Diversity Officer of B. Braun Medical Inc., Scott Blair. Scott has served as a DEI professional for roughly 10 years in a variety of capacities. Learn how the pandemic affected inclusion and diversity in the workplace since everything is online now. Find out why people need to be adaptable to change whether that’s with working with people in person or online. Discover why it’s important to make people feel valued in your community so everyone works to their full potential. Don’t be afraid of DEI conversations and start talking about that today.

With technology evolving nonstop, the tools and software that will be developed in the future are surely more sophisticated than the last. But without designing them around human connection, they will just become mere objects that cannot be used to their fullest potential. Mariah Hay, Chief Experience Officer at Help Scout, discusses why the human element must never be set aside in product design and development. She emphasizes why an inclusive mindset is needed to come up with powerful ideas that can help change people's lives. Mariah also talks about her own challenges as a woman in a male-dominated space, the advantages of remote work, and the most effective approach to managing a geographically dispersed workforce.

Communication has become much more convenient thanks to digital connection and innovation. As workplaces expand and grow, how can technology accelerate the development of inclusive teams? Joining Josh Hotsenpiller is Adam Chen, Chief Marketing Officer of The Amenity Collective, who discusses how to become an intentional leader in a digital community where everyone is welcome and accepted. He explains how to make modern digital tools into channels for inclusivity and prevent them from getting off the rails. Adam also talks about the powerful impact of emojis in allowing leaders to be more expressive, making them vulnerable and relatable to their respective teams.

Community building is more than just bringing people together and hoping they click. It is about fostering the relationships within that they are building something of greater value together. The digital space is a great magnifier for building those communities. In this episode, Marjorie Anderson, the Founder of Community by Association L.L.C. and the Director of Community at Product School, joins Megan Martin to share with us her thoughts on the power of community building and utilizing digital. She discusses how their growth strategy plays in the association or membership organization space, what inclusion and community mean, and how the trial-and-error approach affects community building. Follow along to this conversation as Marjorie highlights the importance of community building.

Running a business in a virtual world means dealing with various cultures, viewpoints, and time zones. Leaders in remote setups must be flexible and versatile enough to cultivate interconnectedness and build inclusive teams. Derek Thomas, Chief Strategy Officer for Galway Holdings, shares with Megan Martin how they bring employees together from around the world by meeting them where they are at – despite not seeing each other physically. He breaks down strategies for empowering diversity within the team, especially when working with introverts and people from different generations. Derek also opens up about using the same inclusion strategies in making his son, who is diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, always feel accepted and loved.