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Measuring and Creating a Sustainable

Circular Innovation Culture of Diversity,
Inclusion, and Belonging
Published on February 19, 2020

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D. 27 articles Following

Crusader for Sustainable Circular Innovation l Imagineer | Disruptive Innovator
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Based on the Author's Holistic Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Life Cycle Scan

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

The US does not have a sustainable innovation culture. It is therefore not so surprising that
the US is ranked number 9 in the top 10 world ranking of 2020, read this article "These are
the most innovative economies in the world". This does not benefit a sustainable circular
economy and social innovation. I refer to my recent article "What Stanford, Harvard, and
MIT have not taught you about Sustainable Innovation". The truth is often painful and
unfortunately this is not thanked to me by these three best universities in the world.

Circular Economy Requires

Sustainable Circular Innovation

In a circular economy, creative,

intuitive and systems thinking are
the preconditions for creating
closed cycles. Circular cycles in
which raw materials, components
and products lose as little value as
possible and renewable energy
sources are used. Circularity is
therefore not only based on
systems thinking, as most experts
claim. Above all, it also requires
holistic design thinking that is
related to creative and intuitive thinking. Systems thinking is a top-down integrated
approach, while traditional design thinking is innovation based on a bottom-up human-
centered approach.

Sustainable circular innovation requires a holistic approach that makes the link to personal
innovation, corporate innovation and social innovation, as I have indicated in this figure. I
have defined these three forms of innovation as follows (Rampersad, 2020):

Personal Innovation; the process of unleashing your creative potential, creating

new personal opportunities, disrupting your existing target market, that lead to
a significant social impact.

Corporate Innovation; the application of new ideas to create new products,

processes, or services, that lead to increased corporate value.

Social Innovation; the process of developing and implementing new ideas and
solutions that aim to meet social needs and strengthen civil society.

This Figure shows how in my sustainable circular innovation model personal innovation,
corporate innovation, and social innovation are interrelated, and associated with self-
learning, organizational learning, and community learning, respectively. I also refer to my
article "Reimagining Innovation & Rethinking Design". From the above it can be
concluded that circularity entails social innovation.

Circular Economy Requires Authentic and Holistic Design Thinking

Traditional design thinking approaches are not suitable for a sustainable circular economy
because they are not authentic and not holistic. In this article “Design for Sustainable
Circular Economy; An Authentic and Holistic Design Thinking Model that Inspires
Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation”, I have introduced a new design model that
goes beyond traditional design thinking, that is more suitable for sustainable circular
economy.

Circular Economy Requires Sustainable Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Diversity, inclusion and belonging have a major impact on sustainable circular innovation.
Because the successful creation of closed cycles in which raw materials, components and
products lose as little value as possible and renewable energy sources are used requires
above all diverse thinking and a culture of inclusion and belonging. In this organizational
culture differences and similarities between people are valuable and in which there is
synergy between different types of people, talents and skills, and a sense of belonging
among these people. It is a culture in which people have the opportunity to develop their
talents and feel involved, accepted, respected and connected. It is a culture where people
interact in an ethical, harmonious and respectful way in a synergetic culture of trust,
learning, open communication and innovation, in order to achieve the best results. It is about
diverse thinking of people with different backgrounds, perspectives and perspectives.

Social, Honest, Ethical, Decent, and Empathic

Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are not only necessary for a sustainable circular
economy. They are needed above all because it is social, honest, ethical, empathic and has to
do with decency. They are also needed for sustainable social innovation. It is therefore time
to wake up and finally take diversity, inclusion and belonging seriously, and approach this
aspect holistically. Most large-scale diversity, inclusion and belonging projects globally have
failed so far, resulting in enormous financial waste and many missed opportunities. This
hampers a sustainable circular economy. The so-called personnel shortage is a HOAX.
Remember: "There is no Talent Shortage if you have a Sustainable Organizational
Culture of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging"--Hubert Rampersad.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Life Cycle Scan

Traditional approaches to diversity, inclusion and belonging are not successful because they
are not authentic, not holistic, and not measurable. That is why I introduce here my unique
diversity, inclusion and belonging life cycle scan, that I have trademarked. This new tool is
an assessment system to measure the degree of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and
innovation in an organization integrally and systematically. This system is intended to know
where you stand with regard to diversity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as
personal/corporate/social innovation.

In addition, I have also developed various tools to successfully guide organizations in

creating a related culture of sustainable circular innovation. These tools are intended to
create a work environment in which the expression and openness of different perspectives
are encouraged and people interact with each other in a respectful way. They are also
intended not to exclude anyone on the basis of his or her 'otherness' in order to reach his or
her highest potential. These tools are also meant to work smarter and empathize with others.

The diversity, inclusion and belonging life cycle scan is a reference for the set of
characteristics that an organization must have in order to effectively utilize and cultivate
divers talents in the organization. This scan is based on my books "Authentic and Holistic
Design Thinking for Personal, Corporate, and Social Innovation; A New Design
Thinking Blueprint that Inspires Imagination, Creativity and Innovation", "Total
Performance Scorecard" (published in 20 languages with a foreword by Harvard Business
School innovation professor) and "Authentic Governance", as well as "best practices".
This unique system, in the pursuit of excellence in diversity, inclusion, belonging, and
innovation, is a framework to measure progress in these areas integrally and systematically.
This system is also intended to provide tools to successfully implement a sustainable culture
of inclusion, belonging, and innovation.

Systematic Self-Diagnosis

The scan is a systematic self-diagnosis and is intended for organizations from both the
public and private sectors to guide individuals and organizations towards excellence in
diversity, inclusion, belonging, and innovation. After all, a high degree of diversity
stimulates creativity, more innovation power, and thus smarter working. This results in
achieving the best results for your organization, customers and the community. Because a
rich variety of ideas, differences, backgrounds, cultures and perspectives results in more,
better and smarter ideas. This also results in more value for the organization in terms of
share in the job market, image and financial performances. For example, research shows that
the financial results of teams with diverse backgrounds are much better than those of
homogeneous teams (Harvard Business Review, August 2018). Furthermore, various studies
show that attention to diversity and inclusion not only yield more insights, perspectives and
networks, but also better quality and a strong corporate brand.

This life cycle scan is a yardstick that is placed along the organization to see in what
development stage it is in and what the related total score of the organization is. By making
diversity, inclusion, belonging, and innovation measurable in this way, one can better control
the related processes and services and try to increase the score step by step each year. This
gives direction to improvement activities aimed at striving for excellence in diversity,
inclusion, belonging, and innovation.

Five Development Phases and Eight Focus Areas

The life cycle scan distinguishes five development phases and eight focus areas, each with
six sub-areas, which indicate the diversity, inclusion, belonging, and innovation maturity of
the organization, that are important to excel. The Five Development Phases are:

1. Exclusivity; The organization employs a dominant majority group. The workforce is

homogeneous and there is an exclusive culture.

2. Multiculturalism; Ethnic minorities need to adapt to the dominant majority group of the
organization. The workforce is starting to become heterogeneous.

3. Cultural Diversity; A variety of cultures work in the organization. The organization is in

the process of gaining a place within the diverse consumer and labor market and the
workforce is beginning to reflect society. The workforce is heterogeneous.

4. Inclusive Diversity; The organization reflects society, diversity and inclusion are part of
the work. A pro-active and structural diversity and inclusion policy has been developed that
is embedded in the strategic policy of the organization and is implemented at all levels,
based on proportional opportunities for everyone. Diversity and inclusion are an added value
for the organization and awareness for belonging begins to arise. Norms and values of both
minority and majority groups coexist and openness and interest create new patterns of
behavior, ideas and increase the innovative capacity of the organization.

5. Excellence in Inclusive Diversity & Belonging; The organization is a full reflection of

society and there is a sustainable circular innovation culture of diversity, inclusion, and
belonging in the organization. Diversity, inclusion and belonging are an organic learning and
change process. There is a sense of belonging and people are respected and valued for who
they are, with equal treatment and taking into account specific individual diversity
characteristics. The result is an open atmosphere of belonging, recognizing, acknowledging
and making maximum use of and harmonious learning from each other's diversity
differences. The end result is a culture of belonging, trust, learning, innovation, no fear, and
no mental absenteeism because no one is inferior to each other. Collective learning is a
natural and organic process in the organization.

The eight focus areas are: Personal Management, Strategic Management, Value
Management, Talent Management, Process Management, Knowledge Management,
Team Management, and Change Management, as shown in above figure.

Each subsequent phase towards excellence in diversity, inclusion, belonging, and innovation
can be seen as an increase in the organization's adaptability, responsiveness and degree of
sustainable circular innovation towards excellent inclusive performance. The total score of
each of the development phases per focus area is automatically determined and a spider's
web is generated for the entire organization or group and per focus area. Below you can see
an example of a spider web.

Authentic, Holistic, and Innovative

This scan is authentic, holistic and innovative. Why authentic? Because sustainable circular
innovation is about sustainable organizational change and this starts with changing yourself
first. Therefore, personal innovation, personal disruptive innovation, personal commitment,
personal integrity, and empathy are included. That's why the scan starts with personal
management, inclusive leadership, empathy and value management. I also refer to my recent
articles "How to Develop Personal Integrity", "Corporate Governance Sucks", and
"Design Thinking Code of Ethics".

Why holistic? Because

sustainable organizational change
needs to be an integral and
multidisciplinary process that
must be based on the strategic
organizational vision. This
requires buy-in throughout the
organization and commitment
from the top management. That is
why the scan also includes strategic management, process management, and change
management.

Why innovative? Because a high degree of diversity and a sustainable inclusive culture
must be related to more creativity, a rich variety of ideas, working smarter, personal
innovation, corporate innovation, and social innovation. Therefore, the scan also includes
talent management, knowledge management, and team management. I also refer to my
recent articles "Personal Disruptive Innovation", "What Does It Mean to be an
Empathic and Disruptive Design Thinker", "Creating an Innovation Culture in
Family Businesses", and "Female Innovative Entrepreneurial Leadership"

Reporting

After executing the scan, you will

receive a detailed, tailor-made
report incorporating the results of
this assessment, with tips for
successfully creating a sustainable
circular innovation culture of
diversity, inclusion, and belonging
in your organization. This scan can be used at individual, team, and organizational level; by
letting employees, managers and other stakeholders complete the scan, indicating how they
experience diversity, inclusion, belonging, and innovation in their team or organization.

Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging Life Cycle Free Trial Scan related to the Area "Talent
Management" only.

Register for FREE Live Webinar

Master Class: How to Create a Sustainable Circular Innovation Culture of Diversity,

Inclusion, and Belonging

Dr. Hubert Rampersad is a Crusader for Sustainable Innovation and author of “Authentic
and Holistic Design Thinking for Personal, Corporate, and Social Innovation” and
“Authentic Personal Branding for Design Thinkers” . He is author of 25 books on
innovation, management, and entrepreneurial leadership, published in many languages,
check this link. Read more about the author. He can be contacted at:

Center of Excellence in Design

Thinking

Miami, Florida, USA |

tpsi@live.com | phone: +1-
7542218946 |whatsapp:
+1330315242 | skype:
h.rampersad |

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Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D. 27 articles Following

Crusader for Sustainable Circular Innovation l Imagineer | Disruptive Innovator
Published • 1w

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Rajan Ananthanarayanan • 3rd+ 1w

Product Trustee

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.  liked "Circular Economy Requires Sustainable Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging"
-An investment in innovation is expected to deliver ROI...how does 'Accountability' applied in Innovation
environments... especially in different stages?  Any thoughts Dr. ? (edited)

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Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

Crusader for Sustainable Circular Innovation l Imagineer | Disruptive Innovator

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