Building An Inclusive Culture Through Our 21 Day Inclusion Challenge

In January we launched our 21 Day Inclusion Challenge designed to make an inclusive mindset a habit for our staff across the globe. Find out about the challenge and how we’re building an inclusive culture at Avalere Health.

Experts say it takes 21 days to establish a new habit. As part of our work to increase the diversity of thought and to build an inclusive culture, we launched our 21 Day Inclusion Challenge in January for all employees.

Our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) team developed a packed calendar designed to make inclusive thinking a habit across our 21 offices, including educational resources and live connection points to allow participants to discuss their learnings.

Each day, employees were assigned tasks designed to build an inclusive mindset, including practical advice for contributing to a positive culture and exposure to the experiences of people from diverse backgrounds.

Topics ranged from intersectionality and health to race and gender and the danger of microaggressions. On some days, our team members were presented with case studies on how to support our biopharmaceutical and medical technology clients in overcoming health inequalities. On other days, they heard deeply personal stories from our team members and external speakers.

Taylor, Senior Medical Writer, explains the impact the 21 Day Challenge had on her: “Many of tasks resonated with me. Two days that stood out were the TED Talk on ‘How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias,’ By Valerie Alexander and the article about workers keeping their disabilities secret. Through these daily activities, I learned that conformity and concealment are not only hurtful for the individual, causing stress and fear, but also for society overall. It’s difficult to truly know what it’s like being in another person’s shoes, and the distance of remote working makes that gap even harder to bridge than usual. These resources are both enriching and thought-provoking, so thank you to the Diversity & Inclusion team for raising awareness via the 21-day challenge.”

"It’s not about individual learning – it is a cultural shift to inclusivity."

Afshan, SVP, Client Services, and D&I Champion, pioneered The 21 Day Inclusion Challenge, piloting the initiative in our Pennsylvania office in December 2020. Based on the insight that it takes 21 days to establish a new habit, and inspired by her personal experiences, she curated a 21-day calendar with daily 15-minute activities.

“It is unusual to find a company with such an inclusive culture and I was inspired by this group of people. It’s not about individual learning – it is a cultural shift to inclusivity,” she explains.

“Staying committed for 21 days and opening ourselves up to new perspectives will help us adopt a growth mindset, a critical step in fostering a truly inclusive culture,” explains Sheena Amin-Leibman, D&I Director. “This exposure will encourage us to expand our ways of thinking and embrace other perspectives so that we value diverse opinions which will, in turn, facilitate a positive and productive working environment.”

Diversity and inclusion across every level of the organization

At Avalere Health, we are committed to developing a culture that empowers our team members to recognize inequalities. Our ambition is to equip our teams with the knowledge and skills to uncover opportunities that help our life science clients develop better solutions for diverse patient populations.

In addition to The 21 Day Inclusion Challenge, we have launched 6 dedicated employee networks to help foster a culture of diversity and inclusion. The networks cover gender equality, enablement, race and ethnicity, family, mental health, and LGBTQ+ colleagues. Each network is sponsored by a senior executive who provides advocacy, guidance, and support.

Our employee networks were crucial in supporting the challenge and driving participation across the organization. They offer employees an opportunity to collaborate with others around the world who share similar interests and drive educational initiatives across the company while keeping up to date on the latest external policy developments.

“The 21 Day Challenge is a fantastic initiative, providing important tools and opportunities to help our team foster education and action across all of our businesses,” says Jon Koch, CEO. “It is one of the many activities we are undertaking to empower our team members with the knowledge and skills needed to help our clients understand, reach, and engage marginalized patient groups. By equipping our teams with the tools to recognize inequalities, we can uncover novel opportunities for our biopharmaceutical and medical technology clients to build a healthier world for every patient.”

Find out more about our company culture and Diversity and Inclusion initiatives here.