Moving Past The Margins

Understanding how organizational marginalization impacts access to resources, opportunities, and decision-making is a key component to inclusive leadership. How can awareness, coalition-building, and action-oriented policies transform the IT channel ecosystem, breaking down barriers and paving the way for a reimagined future?

I must confess a personal pet peeve: marginalization. Specifically organizational marginalization. As an equity and inclusion scholar, I am consistently looking for ways to reframe ideologies that will create more business opportunities for those in the IT channel. What ways can we collectively think about leadership and organizational development that will contribute to an ethical ecosystem of solution providers, vendors, and distributors. Whose opinions and ways to do business remain the standards – and whose creative thinking is placed in the wings, waiting to be discovered?

So of course, understanding marginalization is key – so let’s define it. Marginalization is the act of treating a person or group as less valuable, pushing them to the margins of society and culture. It is from the margins that groups have limited access to resources, opportunities, and decision making.

The act of marginalization has several forms: social, economic, and political being the most common. Exclusion from full participation in policy making, having less access to capital and economic mobility, or specified exclusion from social groups or activities have the potential to be endemic within every organization. Our goal as inclusive leaders is to limit the impact of marginalization within our channel ecosystem – allowing space for improved understanding and actionable equity has the potential to bring us closer to justice.

Thus, it is easy to see why marginalization is on my list of things to eradicate. Imagine a world where there are no margins, that we exist in a circle of harmony — a Venn diagram of understanding, cohesion, equity, and inclusion.

One can dream, right? And by dream, I mean find ways to build coalition through education and social connections within the IT channel community toward a future where we create space for all people with varying identities, backgrounds, and access to have a space whereby they can thrive, right?

Well, it’s more than a dream. By continuing to call attention to marginalization when and where it happens, we build the tools necessary to imagine a future we want – rather than settle for the present we have. It is in the unacceptance of marginalization as normative that allows for this reimagination of the future.

When we all reimagine the future, here is what we can take away in terms of understanding marginalization:

• Marginalization is a systemic issue that affects access to resources, opportunities, and decision-making, requiring a deliberate focus on dismantling exclusionary practices.
• Inclusive leadership is crucial in addressing marginalization, with leaders playing a key role in fostering a more ethical and just organizational culture where diverse voices are heard and valued.
• Despite the challenges of marginalization, there is potential for change through reimagining a future that prioritizes equity and inclusion, achieved through education, coalition-building, and challenging the status quo.
• Raising awareness about marginalization is a critical first step. Acknowledging where and how it occurs creates opportunities for meaningful change, while ignoring it allows it to persist.
• Once a leader is aware of marginalization, they have a responsibility to act—creating policies that remove barriers and foster an environment where equity and justice thrive, bringing us closer to that Venn diagram of understanding, cohesion, and inclusion.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash

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