All three Honest HR hosts Amber Clayton, Monique Akanbi, and Wendy Fong sit down at SHRM’s 2024 INCLUSION conference in Denver, Colorado to discuss their experiences, as well as their key takeaways and insights.
All three Honest HR hosts Amber Clayton, Monique Akanbi, and Wendy Fong sit down at SHRM’s 2024 INCLUSION conference in Denver, Colorado to discuss their experiences, as well as their key takeaways and insights. Register for SHRM INCLUSION 2025 here.
This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires December 1, 2025.
Monique Akanbi:
Welcome to Honest HR, the podcast for informed and aspiring HR professionals intent on transforming workplace challenges into golden opportunities.
Amber Clayton:
Every week we chat with industry experts to bring you insights, trends, and actionable advice through relatable stories from the real world of HR.
Wendy Fong:
Honest HR is a SHRM podcast, and by joining us, you're helping to build a more engaged workforce and drive organizational success. I'm Wendy Fong.
Amber Clayton:
I'm Amber Clayton.
Monique Akanbi:
And I'm Monique Akanbi.
Now let's get honest.
Amber Clayton:
Now let's get honest.
Wendy Fong:
Now let's get honest.
Monique Akanbi:
Welcome to a special edition of Honest HR. This week, all three of your friendly hosts are together at SHRM's Inclusion 2024 Conference here in Denver, Colorado.
Wendy Fong:
So we wanted to take the next few minutes to just talk and share our experiences and what we've gone through these last few days, share it with you.
Amber Clayton:
And to keep the conversation flowing, we've actually created some questions that we're going to ask each other and answer. And I think we'll just go ahead and jump right into it.
Wendy Fong:
All right. Let's do it.
Amber Clayton:
All right. So the first question is, what have you seen and done at Inclusion 2024 so far?
Monique Akanbi:
Recording amazing podcasts with some of our presenters that have been here. That has been my primary responsibility, but also working the SHRM booth and the Civility Cafe in the marketplace. It has been great to interact with our attendees and just hear their experiences and their expectations and also some of their key learnings from attending the conference. So between the SHRM booth and the recording podcast, that's what I've been doing, running all over the place. What about you, Wendy?
Wendy Fong:
So being on the core events team, now there's 14 of us that put on all of these conferences throughout the year. I'm just running around behind the scenes. I'm getting my steps in.
Amber Clayton:
And you still look fabulous.
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Wendy Fong:
Thank you. Always, you know, got to make sure you look good. Heading Attendee Services with event registration, checking in over 2,000 attendees in person and over 800 online, which is amazing, live here from the Denver metro area. Also making sure all the livestream is running smoothly. So we're livestreaming all the general and concurrent sessions. So that's, I've lost count, but each concurrent session block is up to 10 different concurrent sessions. So if you attend the conference in person, you can live stream it. You could watch the recording. If you attend virtually, you can also live stream and watch the recording, too. So that's a really great benefit either way you attend.
Amber Clayton:
I'm going to say that you probably have been the busiest out of the three of us because-
Monique Akanbi:
Yes. I know. Right? You get the crown for that.
Wendy Fong:
Thank you. I'm going to relax and rest and sleep after this, too.
Amber Clayton:
As you should. As you should. Like Monique, I actually have been most of the time here doing the podcast with the guests, which has been awesome. And also working at the SHRM booth as well as the Civility Cafe. And I just attended a round table discussion that a couple of my advisors had actually facilitated, so that was a lot of fun.
Wendy Fong:
Well, because I'm behind the scenes, I haven't had a chance to even step in the marketplace or-
Amber Clayton:
Yes.
Wendy Fong:
the Civility Cafe.
Monique Akanbi:
Oh gosh.
Wendy Fong:
So can you tell me more, what is Cafe Civility?
Monique Akanbi:
Sure. So we are promoting 1 million civil conversations in the workplace, and the SHRM booth here at Inclusion shares all of the resources that we have available, not only just to our members of SHRM, but workplaces in general, so that whether that is our civility playbook or our policy or politics and conversations in the workplace, political conversations in the workplace playbook, releasing that, our latest research on our Civility Index, in addition to just some really cool swag. And at the Civility Cafe, our partnership with Inclusive, Jen has been doing mini sessions around civility.
Amber Clayton:
Yeah. Which has been great. And I'll just say in addition to what you said, Monique, have given a shameless plug to the Ask An Advisor series, which is my baby, the knowledge center. And so, of course, having the opportunity to be able to talk to attendees about what this member benefit is has been great. But also we are looking for people to do some research following the conference, individuals who are in the IND space, DEI, whatever they use as their titles and what they do, we're looking for people who work in this area so that they could help us do some research later on. So I've been talking to a lot of people about that.
Monique Akanbi:
Yeah.
Amber Clayton:
Yeah.
Wendy Fong:
Nice.
Monique Akanbi:
But I do want to share, one of the things that I thought was pretty unique in the marketplace is that we have live flowers.
Amber Clayton:
I know they're beautiful.
Monique Akanbi:
And so the attendees have been tasked with paying a compliment and giving a flower to another attendee.
Wendy Fong:
Oh. I love that. Sweet.
Monique Akanbi:
And so it's been so great to see attendees walk around with bouquets of flowers where someone just randomly approached them and paid them a compliment. And so I really loved that.
Wendy Fong:
Oh. That is really sweet. Can that happen when I walked down the street? Can someone pay me a compliment and give me some flowers?
Amber Clayton:
Well, I'm going to say one of my employees actually gave me one yesterday and I was just like, "Oh, that's so sweet." I was very happy.
Wendy Fong:
Oh, that is nice. I love that that's a part of the message of promoting civility, not just in the workplace, but in our lives in the world, especially with this week being election week and how important civility is in all assets of our lives. And I know SHRM has civility campaign landing page to get all of those resources as well. So be sure to check that out on SHRM.org. So what are some of the special things that you've learned so far at this year's inclusion?
Amber Clayton:
Oh, goodness. I mean, I've learned quite a bit just speaking with the guest on the podcast here. I think when you come to this type of conference and see the work that everybody's doing, and they want to have inclusive workplaces and they want to have diversity and equity and inclusion in their workplaces and belonging, I just think it's always fascinating. And I learned something, this is kind of interesting. I can't say that I know everything, even though we work in the knowledge center and we are the SMEs of HR. I happen to learn something a little different with Ben Green, who was one of my podcast guests. And we talked about the transgender community.
And one of the things that he mentioned about policies and how you could support your employees, he had mentioned bereavement leave. And I never really thought about that before. And I don't know that I've had many members who have asked that question about bereavement leave and whether or not they would actually allow paid bereavement leave for transgender community or LGBTQ+ who may not have family, but maybe they have friends who have been supporters of theirs and allies and have passed away and allowing them to be able to grieve and take that time off paid.
And I just thought that was really interesting because a lot of the policies that you see with employers are around parents and grandparents and children and brothers and sisters, but that might not always be the case with everyone. So I found that really fascinating and it made me want to go back now and look at our templates and tools and see what they say and should we make some adjustments?
Monique Akanbi:
Yeah.
Wendy Fong:
Yeah, that makes sense. Redefining what family or community is that definition. It's not really standard in the box necessarily.
Amber Clayton:
Exactly.
Wendy Fong:
Or I just think about, well, my cat passed away a couple weeks ago.
Amber Clayton:
Sorry to hear that.
Monique Akanbi:
Sorry.
Wendy Fong:
Thanks. I mean, that is my child. That is my fur baby. And thankfully with SHRM, we have an open leave policy, so I was able to take a couple days off, but yeah, it was hard still to deal with.
Amber Clayton:
Pet bereavement leave is becoming more popular now, which I think it should be. Like you said, they are a part of our, I see my dog as my children, too. It would be devastating to me. So I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad that you were able to take some time to grieve.
Wendy Fong:
Yeah. Now, my daughter wants a new cat, so-
Amber Clayton:
Oh Jeez. Oh goodness.
Wendy Fong:
We're going to go in a few weeks.
Amber Clayton:
Okay.
Wendy Fong:
Yeah.
Monique Akanbi:
Well, I remember years ago when I practiced HR, I mean, it depends on the family, your upbringing, right? Because for me, my aunts and my uncles were more like my mom and my, they were extension of my mom and my dad as well. So that was, I read an article where there was this one organization that the employees defined family rather than the employer-
Amber Clayton:
Oh, I love that.
Monique Akanbi:
defining family. So however you define family, then you were able to take bereavement leave. I'll say for me, is one of my podcast guests as well on the topic of burnout. Because if you think about inclusion and diversity, you don't really necessarily connect the dots of burnout with that. And so just having that conversation and then just even learning my guest's journey through burnout as well and how organizations really should think about, from an inclusion standpoint, burnout of their employees in ways to support them in that space.
Wendy Fong:
Yeah, that's an important message to stress and not forget. The sessions that I enjoyed were on authentic leadership. And some things that, one of the sessions, it was authentic leadership lessons to build high-performing teams by Jim Fielding. He was actually a past president of Disney's products that they sell. And he had talked about humility, integrity, gratitude, and grace as some things to remember to be an authentic leader to serve your teams. And I know these are things we hear all the time, buzzwords. But we know it, but are we actually doing it every day in practice? And especially as people managers, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, but really empowering our teams and uplifting our teams is so crucial in how we increase productivity, increase that culture of safety and trust. And we spend so much time at work that we want people to feel safe and comfortable being there.
Amber Clayton:
It kind of goes along with the psychological safety. I know Jim Graham with the Civility Cafe had done a session on that as well. But I think having that empathy and that grace is so important, not just for your employees, but for yourself.
Monique Akanbi:
That's important. So speaking of safety, this is a no judgment zone, correct?
Amber Clayton:
Of course.
Monique Akanbi:
Well, this is my first time attending inclusion. Don't judge me.
Wendy Fong:
First timer.
Monique Akanbi:
Don't judge me.
Wendy Fong:
I'm not judging. I think we find maybe about half of the attendees are usually first timers. So welcome first timer.
Amber Clayton:
Yes. That's awesome.
Monique Akanbi:
So I have a question for the two of you. Being that you both attended inclusion before.
Amber Clayton:
Yes.
Monique Akanbi:
What has been your most memorable or impactful moment?
Amber Clayton:
So I'll say for me, this is the second time that I've been here in Denver for Inclusion. And the second time I've been to an Inclusion conference in 13 years, which again, don't judge me either.
Monique Akanbi:
I'm not judging you.
Amber Clayton:
But I'll say when I was here the last time, it was great because I was part of the Better Workplaces Challenge Cup. And we actually judged that. And I believe this was the same place that Damon John from Shark Tank was actually one of our judges.
And so that was the first year that we had had the BWCC Challenge cup, and I was actually in the green room with him and with the other judges, and we had a pitch from each of the companies, and it was just really cool experience to be a part of that. And the winner actually received money, and I can't remember the name of it, so sorry about that. But I just remember that experience was really great, and I had advisors who were working here as well in the SHRM booth. And I always enjoy being able to come to the conferences and work with other team members, especially those that I don't work with on a regular basis. So anytime that I have that opportunity to do that at one of the conferences, I enjoy it.
Monique Akanbi:
Yeah. What about you, Wendy?
Wendy Fong:
Oh, nice. I was trying to count. Well, you asked that question. So this is my fifth conference.
Amber Clayton:
Inclusion?
Wendy Fong:
Inclusion conference.
Amber Clayton:
Oh, wow.
Wendy Fong:
No shame in that.
Monique Akanbi:
Okay. I'm feeling better. Okay.
Wendy Fong:
I was just thinking about how they always make me feel. I feel like the group that comes here are just so warm and friendly and open because it's the Inclusion conference. So I feel like the people here are the ones that are very aware of just the background of it. They come here with knowledge, eager to learn, to create that place of belonging, having IND on top of mind that you feel warm and fuzzy inside. I don't know how else to describe it. And people remember, not what you say, but how you make them feel.
Amber Clayton:
Exactly.
Monique Akanbi:
Yeah, I was thinking about that as well, especially with this being my first time and our annual conference can sometimes be overwhelming, right?
Amber Clayton:
No.
Monique Akanbi:
This year we had 26,000 attendees. But if you think about inclusion and just the variety of attendees and their experiences and backgrounds and perspectives, that has been most impactful to me. I've probably learned more engaging with our attendees versus even sitting in a session. So...
Amber Clayton:
I would agree. I had a nice conversation yesterday at the Civility Cafe with someone who works with individuals with intellectual disabilities, and we were talking about one person who was afraid to go to work because they felt like they needed to have their parent with them. And it was a really interesting conversation. And this individual was working with her to try to get her more comfortable to go to work and be at work on her own. So we had some conversations about what she could possibly do, and it was really interested and she was very helpful, and she said I was helpful to her, and I just thought that was really, really nice.
Wendy Fong:
Compared to our other SHRM conferences, I believe the Inclusion conference, even though our target audience is Human Resources, those that work in HR, the Inclusion conference draws more non-HR folks to our conference, which makes sense because this topic can apply to really any industry, which is great. And I love that this conference is hybrid, so it's been hybrid since 2021. So you have the option if you can't travel here, to watch it online virtually for a variety of reasons. And I love that flexibility we offer, so you can still get the content that you need.
Amber Clayton:
Yeah, absolutely. And you kind of touched on this already, Wendy. Is there a particular area of IND that's really important or meaningful to you personally?
Wendy Fong:
Oh, you put me on the spot there.
Monique Akanbi:
I'll give you time.
Wendy Fong:
Okay.
Monique Akanbi:
I'll give you time to respond.
Wendy Fong:
Sorry.
Monique Akanbi:
So my number one strength, in StrengthsFinder, is inclusion. It's number one.
Wendy Fong:
Oh, okay.
Monique Akanbi:
I get in trouble with my friends often because I'm the type of person that will invite everyone to an outing, right?
Amber Clayton:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Wendy Fong:
Oh, like that analogy. Inclusion is when you, is it invite everyone to a party or?
Monique Akanbi:
What is it?
Wendy Fong:
You know what I'm talking about?
Monique Akanbi:
I know exactly what you're talking about.
Wendy Fong:
I'm trying to think about...
Monique Akanbi:
But I don't know. Just for me personally, I have always, and I don't know if it's just being an oldest child, but I've never wanted anyone to feel left out. And so it didn't surprise me that inclusion was my number one strength. But then also just in itself is that no one feels left out. And so for me, I would say just the point, and that's why I love that we are leading with inclusion, right? Because if you lead with inclusion, you'll get diversity, you'll get equity, you'll get accessibility, you'll get justice. And so if everyone feels that they're seen and that they're heard, so for me, the word inclusion in itself is probably the most important for me.
Wendy Fong:
I mean, being a woman of color with that intersectionality and different layers of just what everyone goes through, just my personal experiences, I know that I've experienced racism, sexism in the workplace. I remember early on in my career, I was in a board meeting and it was all older white males in the room, and I felt silenced or not in a safe space to speak up. And just being able to recognize those instances and being able to put words to what I was feeling, but also finding the right resources and tools to reflect and empower myself and find allies to be able to learn the tools that we need to be inclusive and to also advocate for yourselves and others as well, that you shouldn't have to feel alone in the struggle if you're struggling with inclusion. And to make sure we lean on those allies, those sponsors, those champions in the inclusion space.
Amber Clayton:
And for me personally, my mother, actually, she has polio. She's had it since she was two years old, so she's always had braces or crutches or she's been in a wheelchair, and so growing up, life was a little bit different for myself and my sister, but my mom could do anything. And oftentimes she might be excluded from something that she really could do. People would make an assumption that she couldn't do it. I mean, she was actually a power, a weightlifter. She actually competed in competitions with others who did not have disabilities. And so for me, it's always been, inclusion has always been really important for me and understanding and not just making assumptions based on someone's outward disability. And I'm like, you, too. I actually was somebody that would invite everybody to the party.
Monique Akanbi:
I know, I know. I get in trouble. It's like Monique will invite everyone. It's a party of five. And next thing you know it's a party of 12 after.
Amber Clayton:
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
Wendy Fong:
One thing I've been thinking about, so there's a lot of things that we're learning these past few days, and it can be information overload at times. I keep that real. But if you could narrow it down to just one thing that you think HR professionals should take away from this conference or really anyone in the workplace to take away from this conference, what would your little nugget be?
Amber Clayton:
Ooh, that's a good question. I mean, I think the one thing that I've heard repeatedly is education, education, education. I mean, really that's what it's about. It is being able to educate and communicate to people. I was just in that round table session, and one of the issues that came up at one of the tables was communication from the top down. And there was also communication around union and non-union. And really it's about educating people as to why things are happening the way they are. In this particular situation, they worked for a city government union, couldn't do anything that the non-union. And so there was this lack of understanding about why do they get this? And we don't get that? And really it's about just educating and being transparent and sharing the information with others so that they have a better understanding of why things happen the way that they do. So that's the takeaway that I have.
Monique Akanbi:
I'm thinking about my interaction actually maybe about an hour ago with an attendee. So shout out to Carol ann in Newman, Georgia. But she said something that I believe every HR professional or leader, the takeaway should be for them a walking away from this conference. And she said to me, "I'm here to get it right."
Amber Clayton:
Oh, I like that.
Monique Akanbi:
And so she's like, "I'm not here to be right, but I'm here to get it right." And so that's why I'm here and I'm attending this conference because I want to make sure that not only in my role within my organization, but I can then take back what I've learned to my leaders within my organization so that way we can get it right. As it relates to inclusion and diversity.
Amber Clayton:
I love that. Get it right.
Monique Akanbi:
Get it right.
Wendy Fong:
And I feel like the world is changing so fast that you have to stay on top of it, stay educated. I'm definitely an advocate for being a lifelong learner, to make sure you're aware of what's going on in the world, how this impacts you, your organization, your team, your employees, because there's a trickle-down effect. Whatever happens in the world, you want to make sure that your company's on top of it.
Monique Akanbi:
Well, ladies, I have enjoyed talking to you all.
Wendy Fong:
Yes, always.
Monique Akanbi:
This is like our first time.
Amber Clayton:
Is this our last question?
Monique Akanbi:
Together. I know.
Wendy Fong:
I know.
Monique Akanbi:
But I do have one more question for you all, and what's your take on why people should attend Inclusion, the Inclusion conference next year?
Amber Clayton:
Oh my gosh, I don't have just one.
Wendy Fong:
Well, we almost kind of answered it earlier, like lifelong learning, education. Getting-
Amber Clayton:
The networking.
Wendy Fong:
Networking.
Monique Akanbi:
Yes. We didn't cover the networking.
Amber Clayton:
Being able to just meet other people who are in the same space and maybe have the same challenges, and just like that round table discussion that I was just in. I mean, they were solving some of the issues that they had and just talking amongst themselves. And I love that piece of it is the networking piece of it.
Wendy Fong:
And even for the 800 or so people online, you can still network online, too.
Amber Clayton:
Sure, yeah.
Wendy Fong:
We have online discussion groups, chats. You could set up meetings, encourage virtual attendees. Don't be shy. Interact with people online, too.
Amber Clayton:
Yeah.
Monique Akanbi:
I have attended virtually the last two years, so, okay. I'll say that.
Wendy Fong:
Wait, that still counts.
Monique Akanbi:
But first time in person. Made me think about it because there was a lot of networking that was going on virtually as well.
Amber Clayton:
And I'm just going to say that HR people are fun. When we get together-
Monique Akanbi:
Yes we are.
Amber Clayton:
We are fun. Even the non-HR people coming to these conferences.
Monique Akanbi:
We're the cool kids.
Amber Clayton:
We have a great time.
Wendy Fong:
Its fun.
Amber Clayton:
It's really very supportive and just a lot of fun.
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Amber Clayton:
So yeah, definitely come to any, I would say any of the SHRM conferences. Absolutely.
Wendy Fong:
I'm glad we were able to get together. So me from California.
Monique Akanbi:
Florida.
Amber Clayton:
Maryland.
Wendy Fong:
Maryland, and all over the country representing.
Monique Akanbi:
We got it covered, right?
Wendy Fong:
Yeah. East coast, the west coast, right?
Amber Clayton:
Yes.
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Wendy Fong:
Well, that's going to do it for this week's episode of Honest HR. So glad you joined us here for Inclusion 2024, and we hope to see you next year at Inclusion 2025. I know registration is opening up real soon, and that'll be in Louisville, Kentucky, and virtually if you want to attend. So thanks for joining and catch you next time.
Speaker 5:
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