"I’d always been in the room. But this was the first time they actually listened."
This is how the story begins for an employee in a large European company. For years, their presence was acknowledged, but their voice was barely heard. Not for lack of ideas, but because the company culture simply didn’t know how to include them. This is what happened when the organisation finally decided to look within…
2/10/20252 min read
“I had always been in the room. But it was the first time I felt truly heard.”
This sentence may sound simple, but it holds a profound truth about what inclusion in the workplace really means. For years, Lamine was part of the executive team at a major European multinational. He was efficient, competent and respected. Yet his voice rarely influenced key decisions. He often noticed that his ideas only gained weight when repeated by others, and that his contributions were met with politeness, but little real engagement.
Far from being an isolated case, his experience reflects a reality shared by many people in workplaces that promote diversity on paper, but have yet to take the leap towards a truly inclusive culture.
Everything changed when his company decided to embark on a cultural transformation process with the support of OneWave. The first step was a participatory audit: anonymous surveys, in-depth interviews, internal process evaluations and active listening sessions. It was not just about gathering data, but about understanding the everyday experiences of those within the organisation.
The results were telling. Diversity—present in the teams—did not translate into effective inclusion. There were subtle but persistent inequalities: people who stayed silent for fear of being judged, ideas that were routinely overlooked, and a general sense that only some were allowed to lead.
Based on this diagnosis, OneWave designed a tailored action plan: inclusive leadership training, redesigned meetings to ensure genuine participation, protocols for recognising contributions, and a cross-mentoring system. Gradually, the workplace began to change.
Lamine puts it like this: “It wasn’t me who changed. The space changed. The way people related to my words changed. For the first time, I felt that my presence was not symbolic, but transformative.”
This is not just a story of personal success. It is a concrete example of how inclusion can turn invisible talent into a driver of innovation. Of how organisational cultures can evolve from mere compliance to genuine conviction, and from static diversity to living, breathing inclusion.
At OneWave, this is exactly what we strive for: to ensure no one has to fight to be heard. To make every voice count. To ensure that being in the room truly means being part of the conversation.
