Marina Medvedeva: You’ve got to learn to accept people the way they are
23 december 2022
Marina, what does the term “inclusive society” mean to you?
- To begin with, an inclusive society is characterized by respect for and recognition of uniqueness of every individual, every partner. A society like this strives for creating the most comfortable environment to ensure that no one feels ignored or bound by any restrictions. In an inclusive society, potential barriers for each human being are removed rather than put up. Every individual is treated in a way that is unique just for him or her and is not demeaning or degrading because of one’s special qualities, but instead celebrates their uniqueness.
The concept of inclusivity is gaining popularity at the moment. Why do you think this topic is growing in importance?
- This is an idea that is growing in popularity, people have generally become more responsive to each other’s needs. This is probably a natural next step after people have had a chance to get a taste for comfortable living and exciting pastimes. People are getting more attentive to those around them.
A while ago it was not so easy or comfortable to talk about disability, the barriers that existed, and limited work opportunities. We have learned that a physical handicap does not automatically translate to a mental one, and vice versa. People with any kind of disability could still be very much in demand in certain fields. This is why society is going through this phase where the topic of inclusivity is gaining popularity.
Two things have come together. For one, people's readiness and willingness to create an enabling environment for their loved ones and to take good care of them has grown. Secondly, inclusive communities per se have grown more active, and more open about the problems they face.
Diversity and inclusion are unreservedly a priority for SIBUR in its activities. Why?
- Only an inclusive environment is capable of enabling the Company to achieve the ambitious goals that it has set for itself. An environment of mutual respect and trust in each other's experience and knowledge is conducive to retaining talent, generating new ideas, and developing new technologies. An inclusive environment helps forge a cohesive team made up of diverse individuals. That is why we strive to support an inclusive environment.
The company has put in place a policy of diversity and inclusivity. How does that translate to the way SIBUR’s employees and partners act and behave?
- Indeed, we do have in place a sustainability strategy through the year 2025 and a diversity and inclusivity policy as one of the elements of this strategy. For practical purposes, the strategy and the policy are being implemented through our various programs that actively engage SIBUR’s employees and partners. These are mostly outside initiatives of the Company's grant recipients and of our corporate volunteers. On a regular basis, our volunteers have been entering their proposals for helping people with special needs as part of a dedicated contest. In other words, the Company has been encouraging a general culture of "don't just pass by, get involved" as much as possible.
This year, a separate focus area of "inclusivity" was added to SIBUR's social investment program, the Formula for Good Deeds. What has triggered this decision?
- The addition of this separate focus area to the Formula for Good Deeds attests to our commitment to the topic of inclusivity along with other themes and fields of activity. That was our deliberate and conscious choice.
This year, your company launched its interregional “You can do anything!” project. Could we take stock of some initial results of the project?
- It would be safe to say that the project has been a success. The motivational sessions featured as part of the project have already drawn more than 450 participants from the cities of where SIBUR has a presence including Voronezh, Tobolsk, Nizhnevartovsk, and Dzerzhinsk. We invited fascinating speakers to these meetings to discuss their own experiences. We have all but helped roll out these new practices to the regions: by contrast, more than 80% of meetings’ participants had had no such experience. It is worth noting that thanks to these meetings, their participants have been able to build their new communication networks, and "the ripples started to expand across the water”. These meetings gave a strong emotional boost to everyone, and no one could remain indifferent.
The second part of the project consisting of our inclusive blog The City of Opportunities allowed us to unite all these active people with special needs into a broader interregional community. Obviously, this process would require some further facilitation, but the initiative will definitely live on, it will not fade away as yet another unneeded and unwanted idea. The project has truly resonated with its participants, we can feel their eager energy and that is indeed very important.
Just recently you had a chance to talk to the participants of a unique inclusive blog tour. Was that an interesting experience?
- I found it quite interesting to talk to those who went on this inclusive blog tour. When you talk to people like that, you start realize that all the problems in your life are nothing compared to what these people have had to overcome. You get your head around the kinds of mental and physical barriers they have had to overcome in order to find their place in the community, to get motivated, to boost their sense of self-mockery. I was struck by these peoples’ lust for life. It's just great that they are able to overcome their lives’ difficulties, to set goals, to find something that interests them and to respond to the invitation to participate in an inclusive blog tour eagerly and enthusiastically.
We know that you are actively involved in inclusive projects of your company. Why is this something that you find to be close to you personally?
- Life is very diverse. One should never assume that difficulties will only befall others but never themselves or their loved ones. Once you begin to understand and feel other people's sentiments and pain in a different way, if you can offer a little bit of help yourself, then you can begin to lead a more meaningful life in our daily "home-work-home" race. It's an opportunity to lift oneself above the routine and do something for your soul.
What are some initial steps that anyone could take to make a personal contribution to building an inclusive society?
- You just have to learn to accept people the way they are. People should not be classified into the ones that are good vs. bad, or mean vs. kind. Every individual is the way mother nature made him or her, with all of their weaknesses and strengths. Plus, it’s a person with his own outlook on life, with his own spirit and values. It’s when one can learn to accept a person with all their twists, values and interests, that becomes one’s first step toward an inclusive society.
You are a regular participant of the Formula for Good Deeds’ charitable campaigns such as "Back to School", or "Get to be a Santa Claus!”. Is this your answer to the call of your heart?
- It might indeed be my response to the call of the heart. If we all contribute to moving the world together with life’s little joys, we will eventually take it to a state of universal kindness. The energy that, for various reasons, we, sadly, end up wasting daily on negativity gradually builds up within us. Instead, this should be balanced out by nice little surprises, by offering others some kind of help. If you can afford to give someone a little gift, say, a gift to a first grader or to several children on the New Year's, then why not do it? To give is quite a natural thing for a human to do. The more you give away, the more you get back.
It's especially valuable when this happens as a team effort. We often discuss with our colleagues whether it is better to participate in such charitable campaigns on one’s own or as part of a team. We have come to the conclusion that while this is something that can certainly be done single-handedly, it could also serve as a very good team-building exercise. In addition to having to meet our work objectives, we should all also share some common values that would bring us closer as a team. Taking part in a charitable activity is a great foundation for sharing common values. Regardless of how well we do when performing our routine tasks or how we get spent our day, it's an opportunity to take a breather get closer to the others by supporting a common cause. The practices of the Formula for Good Deeds offer us an opportunity for this greater unity.
You took part in the SIBUR’s Third Forum of Corporate Volunteers. What were your impressions of the event?
- My foremost takeaway from the event was that SIBUR's volunteering movement is growing. More of our colleagues are increasingly responding to the call to action, feeling that they cannot stay aside and that there’s almost a physical need to do good. The movement’s geography is expanding, too, with new interesting projects and initiative coming online. I noticed that there were mostly females in the audience. I would like to see more of our men to get actively involved in this movement.
We could see the fruit of the hard work done by our colleagues from the Sustainable Development function and the Formula for Good Deeds team. The movement’s momentum is really good.
Marina, is there anything that would you like to wish to the readers of our interview on the New Year's Eve?
- First of all, I wish for them not to lose their faith in the power of kindness. Kindness and love will save the world from any turbulence. Yet, it is important to stay composed, to preserve one’s inner self, one’s core, something that every individual must have. Try not to lose track of your own values, no matter how challenging life may get, and be sure not to forget about your loved ones. And the best of health to all! And, of course, keep up your caring attitude remembering life is too complex to be looked at at over-simplistically and not be sharing it with others.
And finally, our traditional question about your next immediate plans. What projects are you planning to implement this year and next year?
- We have been joined by a number of people from our unit who are interested in the topic of intellectual volunteeringusing a platform that offers such an opportunity. This can take the form of providing legal assistance, or help with preparing presentations – it can really be anything not necessarily related to the Company's core activities but where we can still share our skills and practices.
As part of our briefings with the block’s team, we want to include special sessions on charity and volunteering, to give our colleagues an opportunity to share the practices they have already implemented as a way of engaging more members of our employees.
We would also like to conduct dedicated sessions and involve our colleagues from related functions, possibly from outside the company, the ones who are professionally involved in volunteering, to speak about how people get into this, what outcomes can be expected, where one can participate, and what are the various forms of participation. There are things one can help with financially but sometimes you need muscle power. So, these are our plans for advancing our volunteering movement.