Whose experience is more valuable? In order to answer this question, it is important to first define the term.
The importance of lived experience is highlighted by the importance and value of personal stories and insights derived from personal knowledge and understanding.
We forget too often the most important part of an organisation’s culture: the people. It is not just about the collective actions in the workplace, but also the lived experiences of each individual.
Culture has many facets and can be described by ‘what we do here and who we are here’. Could we describe our organisational culture in the same way?
Look beyond the default lens
All leaders, but especially those who are responsible for aligning and defining organisational culture should ask themselves: “Who chooses the lens that we use and are some lived experience more important than others?”
In most Western organisations, the default lens is often one that prioritizes the perspectives of a able-bodied male white (insert dominant nationality) with the female equivalent being of secondary importance. In the UK, for example, the default perspective is that of the white British man, with other perspectives being considered as ones we could or should accommodate.
This dominant perspective – which is often invisible – forces many employees to abandon their true selves when they’re at work. They maintain their professional persona during the Christmas party but not at home.
Code Switching
To achieve the desired future, many people decide to change their work style to match what they think they should be. Being yourself can be dangerous to your future.
One way people can change their identity is by switching to a code that they perceive as acceptable. The practice of switching languages is a manifestation of this phenomenon. This phenomenon also includes the decision that an individual makes to change from the speech they use when around friends and family to a speech they feel necessary to adopt at their workplace. Check out this video for multiple examples of code switching.
Your lived experience is irrelevant
You may have wondered what it would be like to hide your true identity from work and pretend you are someone else at the weekends and holidays. For many people, especially Black and Minority Ethnic Individuals, this is the reality. This reality can create environments where employees are left feeling unheard, unvalued, and disconnected.
This can lead to blind spots in decision-making and policy development. This can lead blind spots to be created in policy and decision-making. Ignoring lived experience often impacts marginalised groups disproportionately, reinforcing power imbalances and preventing efforts to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces.
Diverse lived experiences are needed now.
As leaders, we need to help our people leverage their lived experiences. We must make them more influential to achieve this.
I’ve determined that influence has four components: power, impact, and decisiveness. If you increase an individual’s influence, they will be more willing to share their experiences to benefit the organisation and for themselves.
Source: Influence – The four components – (c. Judith Germain
Leadership is nothing but influence – John Maxwell
We can only lead when we truly seek and enable all lived experiences to be given the same weight.
Make all your lived experiences count
Six key strategies can be deployed by leaders to make all lived experience count.
- Develop emotional Intelligence among your leaders
- Encourage transparency and trust
- Spend time developing your leaders to ensure they understand the nuances of leadership and cognitive diversity
- Create a belongingness culture
- Support a culture based on allyship
- Adopting the Four Components of Influence Model will enable everyone to be influential
It is impossible to get through the day without making an impact on those around you. You have to decide how you want to impact the world.
