Australian and New Zealand beverage company Lion has some simple yet highly effective ways to help keep polarisation at bay within its culture.

Social polarisation is becoming more pronounced, driven by social, political and economic shifts that are reshaping how we interact with each other.

From the rise of social media echo chambers to widening economic inequalities and the erosion of trust in traditional institutions, the forces dividing us are pervasive. And while many of these forces are occurring overseas, the ripple effects tend to reach Australian shores.

Research from Amplify Australia shows that the majority of Australians feel our nation is more divided than ever before. There are many reasons for this: the us-versus-them mentality arising from disparate experiences of the cost-of-living crisis, the geopolitical tensions arising from the US and differing views on current global crises.

In the workplace, these divides don’t disappear; they manifest in tensions between colleagues, teams and even leaders. And these aren’t irregular instances of division: research from Edelman found that, in 2023, only 19 per cent of employees would be willing to work alongside someone whose views they strongly disagree with.

It’s therefore crucial for workplace leaders to foster environments that encourage dialogue, bridge differences and build common ground.

“This is particularly [important] when it comes to people who are in positions of leadership and who have the opportunity to have an influence over hiring decisions,” says Sarah Abbott, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Lion, who is speaking at AHRI’s DEI Week virtual webinar series in November.

“If they come across a potential new hire who thinks or looks differently to them, and they are influenced by that negatively, that’s a huge concern. It reinforces that continuation of staying in your bubble and not having exposure to different ways of thinking, being and doing.” 

Bring your whole self to work

The ‘bring your whole self to work’ movement once encouraged authenticity and inclusivity, helping employees feel valued for their true identities. However, as societal divides around political, social and religious issues intensify, this approach is creating new complexities for HR practitioners.

“I think we’ve grown out of the ‘whole self to work’ narrative,” says Abbott. “It’s okay not to share your whole self at work. Workplaces should provide an environment where people can share as much as they want.”

When personal beliefs and ideologies enter the workplace, they can spark tension and polarisation, making it harder to maintain cohesion and collaboration. This shift raises critical questions about how to balance individual expression with the need for a harmonious professional environment.

“There used to be an unwritten rule that there were certain things you didn’t go near at work: money, religion and politics,” says Abbott. “But I think people are now more outspoken, and that has changed the dialogue and the way we share our political views.”

“I think we’ve grown out of the ‘whole self to work’ narrative. It’s okay not to share your whole self at work.” – Sarah Abbott, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Lion

She refers to the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum as an example of this in action.

“[Some] workplaces did choose to take a stand, and that was sometimes at odds with the views of their employees – even more so than [during] the same sex marriage plebiscite [in 2017].”

Laying the groundwork for unity

As well as having robust reporting mechanisms in place, Lion has also made strides in creating the conditions for healthy and productive dissent in the workplace.

“We lean into candid conversations. It’s a risk for organisations to always agree with each other. If you’re not disagreeing, you’re not challenging each other and you won’t get the outcome that you need to succeed in the business.”

To give employees, managers and leaders the tools to have these healthy conversations, Lion supports its leaders to host four important conversations with their teams each year. They focus on:

• Identifying casual sexism
• Addressing casual racism
• How to be an upstander – which is Lion’s term for being an active bystander
• Exploring intention versus impact.

The latter is an important element of creating the conditions for healthy dissent.

“Each leader is given a two-page conversation guide, and it’s mandated that every single team does this 30-minute training,” says Abbott.

“In a team setting, people will chat about what intention versus impact looks like, and what you can do when you realise the message you’ve sent hasn’t landed in the way you thought it had. 

“So when that does happen [in their day-to-day], they can stop each other and ask, ‘What was your intent there?’ or ‘This was [the] impact [on me],’ ‘That wasn’t my intention…’ And then they can work towards a resolution.”

The development of this shared language is a critical way to normalise calling out these relatively innocuous misunderstandings before they snowball into larger issues.

They’ve also done similar with their ‘Upstander Framework’. This is a tool Lion developed to help employees position themselves as an ‘upstander’ when they see something that’s not right, such as someone belittling, bullying or speaking down to a colleague.

“It’s about not leaving it up to the person who is being impacted to stick up for themselves, because usually that person is a minority, and people in the majority should be sticking up for them by stepping in.”

The Upstander Framework has the following four aspects:

• Direct: In-the-moment intervention to stop the poor behaviour.
• Indirection: This is about talking to that person in private to let them know their behaviour isn’t appropriate.
• Distract: When someone is heading down an unproductive pathway with their language or behaviour, employees are encouraged to step in to change the direction of the conversation.
• Protocol: Referring to policy or code of conduct standards to reinforce expectations.

“The Upstander Framework has been really effective. I was at our Tooheys site [a brand within Lion] the other day and someone on the bottling line was talking about the Upstander Framework. When you hear it repeated back to you like that, you know it’s entrenched.”

Listening circles

Another way to address polarisation is for leaders to build safe spaces for employees to share their feedback. At Lion, they do this via a few methods, including via pulse surveys and in one-on-one settings with leaders. But the most effective approach has been their annual closed listening circle sessions.

“We do them in cohorts. We might focus on women in sales, women in supply chain, men who have returned from parental leave, or culturally diverse team members. We want to understand their lived experience. What is it actually like? What are they noticing? What’s challenging for them?

“The CEO and I conducted eight sessions across Australia and New Zealand, which was really powerful. People were open and honest about their experiences. From that, we had quite a shift in drawing a line in the sand around what respect looks like at Lion.”

Learn how Ford conducts listening sessions with its leadership team to shape its DEI initiatives.

Respect champions

Finally, to bolster Lion’s commitment to facilitating an inclusive and respectful workplace culture, it introduced the concept of ‘Respect at Lion’ champions, who are employees working in the breweries and corporate offices across Australia and New Zealand.

“We call these ‘tellable’ people. They’re someone you could go to if you saw or experienced a behaviour that wasn’t right. They’ve been trained to be a sounding board and support person for people.”

Lion’s champions act as an important triaging system to help employees know where to go should they need to escalate an issue.

“They’re also there for support for people who are experiencing domestic and family abuse. They’ve been equipped with understanding the support mechanisms we have in place and how to do that in an effective and confidential way.”

As polarisation becomes an increasing challenge for workplaces, it’s essential for leaders to create environments where open dialogue, respectful dissent and inclusive decision-making are not just encouraged but embedded in the culture. 

By equipping employees with the tools to have healthy conversations and fostering a workplace where diverse perspectives are valued, companies like Lion are laying the groundwork for unity in an ever-divided world. In the long term, these efforts will help businesses not only navigate polarisation but harness the power of diverse thinking to drive innovation and success.

Hear more from Sarah Abbott and other DEI leaders as part of AHRI’s DEI Week webinar series, running from 19-21st November, exclusive to AHRI members. Sign up today.