Part 1 Inclusion: A Workplace Wellness Imperative

Part 1: Do you ever feel like you're walking on eggshells at work, afraid to speak up, share an idea, or be your authentic self? That feeling is more than just stress—it's a lack of psychological safety, a critical outcome of an inclusive workplace.

In Part 1 of this crucial conversation, I am joined by Culture and Belonging expert Dr. Kesha Carter to unpack the undeniable link between Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and your mental, emotional, and even physical health. We lay the groundwork for understanding why true inclusion is the only way to prevent burnout and build a thriving culture.

In this episode, you will learn:

• What psychological safety truly is and why it's a non-negotiable for employee well-being.
• The draining, real-world impact of microaggressions and a non-inclusive workplace on your mental health.
• Why DEI is the foundational key to unlocking team-wide wellness and performance.

Be sure to tune into Part 2, where we shift from theory to action with strategies to help you flourish and evolve.

Connect with Dr. Carter and learn more about her transformative work via email at Lkcarter827@gmail.com or LinkedIn

Transcript

UNKNOWN: 0:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 0:02

Hello, and welcome back to the Life Podcast, where we explore what it means to learn, inspire, flourish, and evolve in our journey towards holistic well-being. Today, we're talking about occupational wellness, which, as we defined back in our very first episode, is about finding that balance between meaningful work and personal fulfillment. We're diving into a topic that is absolutely critical in today's world, the powerful, undeniable link between diversity, equity, and inclusion. and our wellness at work. So many of us have heard the term DEI, but what does it truly mean for our mental, emotional, and even physical health? How does a truly inclusive culture become a sanctuary for our well-being and what happens when that sanctuary is threatened? To help us unpack all of this, we have a very special guest with us today. Dr. Keisha Carter is a nationally recognized leader and the Director of Culture, Belonging, and Engagement at a local school district. With over 17 years of experience leading organizational change, she has been instrumental in building sustainable, value-driven workplace culture. She holds a doctorate in executive leadership and is a certified diversity executive. Her incredible work has earned her honors, like being named one of the top female we admire in 2024 and the 2023 DEI Executive of the Year. She is truly passionate about helping leaders create cultures where people feel seen, valued, and empowered to drive. Dr. Carter, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35

Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. It's my honor.

SPEAKER_01: 1:39

Well, it's our honor and privilege, right, to have you on our show so that you could share some valuable, actionable strategies for our listeners. So let's jump right into it. And let's start with the first pillar of life, and that is to learn. So Dr. Carter, for many, DEI can feel like a corporate buzzword. What are we really talking about? And how does DEI Connect to the core of our well-being. Can you break that down for us?

SPEAKER_00: 2:05

Yeah, it's become this buzzword because folks don't really understand the D, the E, and the I. And it's just this one, like, big acronym that folks always say together, DEI, DEI. And I think because it's been so smooshed together, everybody has their own idea of what it really is. And so when we really break it down, the D is, you know, the diversity, the E is the equity, and the I is inclusion. And diversity is just everything that every single person brings with them, right? We all bring diversity everywhere we go. And then the equity is how we use the resources in spaces to meet the needs of people. And then the I is how do we make people know that they belong and they are really valued and respected for everything that they bring with them into a space. And I think it's really important to well-being because it really, so one, the medical part of it is when And folks feel stressed and like they don't belong, that they always have to cover some part of themselves. There's the neurological aspect where our brains are so clogged up with who can I, who do I, who can I be in this space? Who can't I be? What part of myself can I bring? What part of myself can't I bring? How do I need to dress? How do I need to wear my hair? How do I need to speak? All of those things. And so when your brain is so clogged up with those things, you can't really focus on the work that you, you're not giving 100% to the work that you are supposed to give. Yeah, absolutely. And so not really resting, not really so that if we think about that armor that people always have to have on. And if folks are in a space and they don't truly feel included, they don't truly feel like they belong there, they don't feel like they are valued or respected for who they truly are. They're always in that state of fight, flight, freeze or fawn. And they're not really able to just relax and be them and be themselves. And so it really is part of well-being. And I think overall, inclusion and belonging really need to be part of corporate wellness programs or wellness programs in many different spaces because it really is a part of wellness for people.

SPEAKER_01: 4:50

So thank you for that because, you know, you often hear about psychological safety in relation to DEI. Can you explain, and you touched a little bit upon it, but can you explain what that actually is and why it's not a Yeah, absolutely. So there's

SPEAKER_00: 5:06

a couple different parts to psychological safety, right? There's, like I mentioned, you know, who can I be in this space? How psychologically safe am I to be who I am authentically to bring everything about me into this space? Do I need to edit the way that I'm wearing my hair? Do I need to edit the jewelry that I'm wearing? Do I need to edit the clothes that I'm wearing? Do I need to edit the way that I speak? And so there's that part of the psychological safety where I don't feel psychologically. So part of my brain is constantly working to remind myself who I who it's safe to be in this space. And then the other part is when things happen to individuals, when something is said, when something when an action is done, how safe do I feel to respond to that in the way that is either educational for someone is because I also have to check my emotions, right? I have to be emotionally into And so how safe do I feel to respond to that in this space with the folks who are around me? So do I feel safe enough to say, hey, Dr. Cooper, you said something that was really harmful and I wanted to share that with you. Can I give you some ideas on how you can say some things a little bit differently so it's not harmful to someone else? And so we think about the scale of harm, right? Is it harmful where I'm like, and the relationship that we have, right? I don't want you to harm someone else. I care about you. I don't want you to harm someone else. So I'm going to share this with you. Or we haven't built that relationship. And in my head, I'm like, who are you talking to? Who did you really just say that to me? And I have to check, is it safe to say, oh, no, you don't say that to people, right? So also, so it's the safety part of who can I be in this space? How can I be accepted in this space and really, truly understand that I belong here? And how can I respond to things? that are coming at me as well. So it's all of those together make up the psychological safety. And so that's where other folks in spaces need to do work to really step forward and say, you know what, because of your identity, whether it is as a woman, as a Black woman, if someone is part of the LGBTQ community, if they are a different generation than what is the majority in that space, whatever those identities, so many different identities that are talked about, whatever that identity is, usually that person who holds that identity is the one that is tasked or burdened with speaking up, educating folks, and shutting things down that are harmful. So that's where other folks who have that privilege, who are not part of that traditional minority within our society, have the duty to step forward and say, you know what, I'm going to say that for you because you shouldn't have to live this and always have to educate Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 8:03

So you actually have role modeled how to tell individuals like, hey, that's not that's not a good term. Let me tell you about the history. And you did that with me. And I was so grateful because I believe it was the term the peanut gallery. And I said it in a conversation that we were having. And you were like, hey, sis, that's not a good term to use. And let me tell you why. And it was an educational moment for me, an aha moment of, wow, our words have meanings and they have historical definition. they're defined historically, right? So really thinking about when it was created, why it was created and how harmful it could, it actually can be. So I thank you for that because I think about that day a lot. Whenever I go to use the word, the peanut gallery, because it's so ingrained, right? Of using certain terms. And now I think about it. I'm like, nope, I'm not saying that. So thank you for that. Because the other thing I'm taking away from what you're saying is when we feel that we can, when we feel safe to be our, Oh, I can't talk today. Okay, let me start over. Yeah. Oh, this is, this is

SPEAKER_00: 9:38

a good one. So I thought, I thought long and hard about this and thought really about what kind of, what story do I want to share? And so, so I'm going to share, I'm going to share two. I'm going to share one that gives, that really brings to life how not so great and it could have really, it could have turned around and made a big impact and one that was really good. So I'm going to start with the not so great. So I'm going to start with the not so great. So that I leave people on a more positive note at the end of the stories. And in this one building, there is an elevator that is very pronounced and it is a glass elevator that sits in the middle of the building. It's attached to this big brick column in the middle of this one building. And the unspoken rule, because it's not written anywhere, but you go into a space and people will teach you verbally and non-verbally some things. And so the unspoken rule is that that elevator is only for the executives. And if you are not an executive member, you are not to ride that elevator. Now, I was brought in, right, I was brought in as the inaugural chief diversity officer for this organization. And so my role is to break down those barriers, create a more inclusive environment. So I started riding the elevator. I was not part of the executive team, but I was, you know, very close to the executive team. I reported to one of the executive members. And So I get on the elevator one day and I was taking another employee with me on this elevator and the employee was like, they were really afraid. And I was like, no, no, no, this is, we should be doing this to break down those barriers to stop creating that us and them kind of mentality, right? And as just so happens on this day, we're getting on the elevator and the person from the executive team that I reported to was on the elevator and the elevator stopped. And the person I reported to looked and said, oh, I was wondering why the elevator stopped on this floor. What are you doing? And I said, I'm breaking down barriers. I'm pushing the envelope. And as the other employee and I stepped onto the elevator, the person I reported to, my leader, looked me straight in my face, eye to eye and said, don't push too hard.

SPEAKER_01: 12:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_00: 12:19

Yeah. So that let me know that the work that was being done, you created this position because no one, as I mentioned, I was the inaugural person in this position. I was recruited very heavily to come and create this culture, help change this culture. And that in that moment, let me know that this was performative work and it was not true work that they wanted to be done. And when we talk about well-being and inspiring, right, I was no longer inspired to do the work that I knew I was capable of doing and bring all the expertise I had with me. So from that point forward, I started, one, I started looking for another job. Two, while I was still there, while I was looking for, while I was waiting to be hired somewhere else, I basically, what they call quiet quitting, right? I quiet quit. I did the minimum necessary to do my job and still get a paycheck and fly under the radar and not have any disciplinary actions or anything like that because I wasn't doing my work. So I did my work, but I did minimum necessary. And so that was not inspiring. And especially from a leader, that was not inspiring at all. So counter to that, another organization that I worked in where I also led DEI efforts, what was very inspiring was in this organization, the executive leaders had, they always talked about having an open door policy, right? And they really did. When you walked up to the floor where all the executives sat, they did have their admin assistant sitting like in the middle. So it was like they sat all around these, the doors were all around the hallway. And so in the middle of the walkway area where you would walk, each of their executive assistants sat there at desks. And from the beginning, you would get the feeling like, oh, I have to stop and see this admin assistant and ask permission. And so what happened was what I saw was I went up one day to talk to one of the executives and I stopped at the executive assistant and And just also because also we have to be respectful. Right. I didn't want to just walk into their office, even though their door was open. And I said, hey, is such and such in their office. Are they open to can I make an appointment to see them? And they're like, oh, no. Looked at the calendar really quickly because they were the executive admin. Right. Looked at the calendar. Oh, he's not in a meeting or anything right now. Go right in. Oh, wow. What? Oh, oh, I can just. So I went in and, you know, he was doing some work and he looked up and he was like, oh, hey, come on in. And I went in. And so I got to share that story with other people so that they knew you can also do this. And so people started doing that. And the executives started to be so much more involved in the work that was coming. So here they are, if we think about hierarchy, right? They're here. And the frontline employees even were able to do that. And so frontline employees were like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I need to talk about some things and wanted to just check in. And so they're getting this exposure. And so they felt much more inspired to do the work because they started to understand how they, the work, even at the front line, how the work that they did fed into the mission and the goals for the organization. And so I like to believe that was a factor in increasing engagement scores and reducing our turnover.

SPEAKER_01: 15:46

That's incredible. Thank you for sharing the impact of a performative versus an authentic, inclusive organizational culture. As you mentioned, you're directly linking it to our well-being. And we'll pause here for a moment of reflection. In the first half of our conversation, Dr. Carter has really illuminated what it means to learn about the foundational need for psychological safety. We've defined what it is, the feeling of security to be our authentic self without fear of negative consequences. And just as importantly, what it is not. It's not about being nice all the time, but about creating a culture of respect where candor is possible. Then she truly inspired us by connecting the dots between psychological safety and the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We heard how a lack of safety disproportionately impacts marginalized groups through, for example, the daily weight of microaggressions, which prevents employees from doing their best work. So we're going to break our episode up into two parts. This is a crucial conversation, and Dr. Carter will guide us through how we take these principles and begin to flourish by actually creating psychological safe environments and how we can evolve into leaders who champion this work. Thank you for being part of our circle. Be sure to join us in 48 hours this Wednesday for the conclusion of this conversation over the next couple days take a moment to observe your own workplace where do you see psychological safety in action where are the opportunities for growth until then remember that creating a healthier more inclusive world starts with you keep learning stay inspired continue to flourish and never stop evolving I am your host Dr. C and this is the life podcast

UNKNOWN: 17:46

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