Inclusive leadership

Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leadership is a set of behaviors demonstrated by organizational leaders that leverage diversity of thought and experience to positively impact business results. Leaders who wish to employ inclusive leadership value the variation of talents, experiences, and identities of their employees. When employees feel unique and feel a sense of belonging based on shared attributes and goals, organizations increase the chances of reaping the business benefits of a diverse workforce.

Research indicates that inclusive companies increased cash flow per employee by 230% over a 3 year period due to employees' greater focus on team work and business impact, resulting in improved higher performance as measured by business, financial, and talent outcomes. When effective inclusive leadership is present in a company culture, employees are significantly more engaged, able to work as a team, and capable of better solutions for navigating business priorities. These outcomes cultivate an environment where employees can openly contribute their objections, maintain a sense of belonging, and believe their opinions are valued in the workplace, creating conditions for new insights to emerge and diverse perspectives to be heard, and ultimately benefit the bottom line.

Several studies have identified characteristics of inclusive leaders:

Deloitte has identified 6 personality traits that characterize an inclusive mindset:

1. Commitment: Leaders committed to diversity and inclusion because the objectives align with their personal values and belief in the business case, a combination of emotion and intellect, respectively.
2. Courage: Challenging the status quo or going against the norm, invites vulnerability of a leader who is practicing courage, another extensions of a highly inclusive leader. Feedback is also a component of courage, and should be sought and given on a regular basis.
3. Cognizance of bias: Inclusive leaders are self aware and aware of their environment and how it affects themselves and others. Subtle biases of stereotyping, confirmation, and groupthink can narrow a leader's vision and reduce objective decision-making.
4. Curiosity: Employ an open mindset, and have a desire to understand how others experience the world. They are also tolerant of ambiguity.
5. Cultural intelligence: Inclusive leaders experience effective, authentic cross–cultural interactions. The ability to communicate well across cultural settings is dependent on one’s understanding of cultural differences and similarities.
6. Collaboration: The process of working together to build on one another’s ideas to produce something new or solve complex problems. The challenge of collaboration is accounting for diverse groups to foster sharing of perspective and thinking, which is critical to effective collaboration.

Catalyst identified 4 leadership behaviors linked to inclusion:

1. Empowering: Enabling direct reports to excel
2. Humble: Admitting mistakes, learning from criticism and different points of view. Acknowledging and seeking outside opinions to effectively overcome one’s limitations. Humility was found to be among the most significant indicators of an inclusive leader.
3. Courageous: Leaders putting their personal interests aside to achieve what needs to be done. Acting on convictions and principles even when it involves personal risk.
4. Accountable: Demonstrating confidence in direct reports by holding them responsible for performance they can control.

Lead Inclusively, Inc. identifies the three R's of inclusive leadership:

1. Receptive: Curious about the viewpoints of others and welcoming of team member differences. When leaders are more receptive, teams are more engaged and increase ideation toward critical business changes.
2. Reflective: Aware of personal biases that may impact their decisions and interactions. Listening for silence, specifically from quieter employees and considering ways to benefit from increased talent retention and diversity of the talent pipeline.
3. Revitalizing: Keeping decision-making honest and transparent, empowering employee ideas whenever possible, and providing recognition to all team members, especially those who demonstrate learning agility and creative ideation. All of these traits inspire teams to innovate, achieve, and contribute at every level of the organization.

Inclusive Leadership and Innovation

In a study conducted by Boston Consulting Group, researchers found that there is a positive relationship between management diversity and innovation, which they define as revenue from new products and services. The relationship between diversity and innovation is not one to one, instead these factors affect each other in complex ways, including creativity of the Research and Development department, the executives team's attitude toward risk-taking, and the support that new ventures have among shareholders. The more diversity that is included within those environments and others, the more innovation can occur.

Furthermore, Catalyst research found that when employees feel included they are more likely to innovate, identify opportunities for new products and processes, and try out new ideas and approaches to problems. Specifically, an employee perception of inclusion contributed to more than 40 percent of innovation. This suggests that employing inclusive behaviors has a great impact on innovation within the workforce.

It is important to note that there are various types of diversity that affect innovation. Research by Hermann found that diversity of thought is an emerging focus shaping the conversation surrounding diversity and inclusion, specifically in terms of innovation. Diversity is not the cause of organizational innovation; rather, the extent to which diverse people feel included has the capacity to increase organizational innovation.

Increased innovation is possible when employees at all levels of the organization feel included. Employees that have a sense of belonging and yet set themselves apart from the group as unique individuals are more inclined to take risks and suggest new processes and systems within their working environment. Harvard Business Review reported that employees with inclusive managers are 1.3 times more likely to feel that their innovative potential is unlocked. An environment of diverse informed views, fueled by inclusive leadership behaviors, enables more efficient objections and alternatives to come forth and more innovative solutions to emerge.

Inclusive Leadership and Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the the extent to which employees are emotionally and psychologically attached to their work and workplace (Gallup). It is an issue that affects companies globally and is a priority for Human Resources. It is linked to to higher levels of individual productivity, increased employee retention and satisfaction, and improved business outcomes. Studies suggest that there is a significant relationship between inclusive leadership behaviors and employee engagement. However, in the U.S. only 33 percent of employees are engaged at their jobs, and 51 percent of employees are actively looking for new jobs. One reason employees do not feel engaged in the workplace is a result of organizations implementing diversity programs without relying on inclusion to create engaged teams. Employing diversity practices alone will become increasingly problematic as the values of diversity and inclusion continue to change due to the influence of millennials entering the workforce.

Millennials, who will comprise nearly 75 percent of the workforce by 2025, define inclusion as "support for a collaborative environment that values open participation from individuals with different ideas and perspectives." This definition is much different from prior generations' view of inclusion from a perspective of representation and assimilation. As a result of feelings of empowerment and being true to themselves, millennials report higher levels of engagement when operating in an inclusive culture. Leaders of today and the future will have to employ inclusive leadership as a strategy to retain and attract talent in the new millennial-driven workforce.

Inclusive Leadership and Global Trends

As global shifts affect how organizations do business, it has become increasingly critical for leaders to effectively manage organizational diversity. Understanding and being adept at inclusive leadership will help leaders thrive through increased diversification of their talent pool, customer profile, and supply chain. For example, when leaders are not inclusive, it results in lower revenue, performance, and slower decision making, negatively impacts employee morale and well being and consequently positions organizations to fall behind in global market. Recognition that global trends affect the relationship between diversity and performance will continue becoming more pronounced. While diversity positively impacts key aspects of organizational performance, inclusive leadership provides the support a diverse employee environment needs to effectively approach challenges resulting from global trends.

Deloitte identified 4 global diversity trends that influence organizational business priorities:

• Diversity of Markets: Markets are diversifying on a global scale across cultural, political, and economic segments. These specific markets are characterized by ethnic population growth and increased income levels that present growth opportunities for companies around the world. Because market diversity presents a major growth opportunity, it is important to reach consumers authentically to profit. Leaders who demonstrate inclusive leadership behaviors and adapt a global mindset will be more successful than those that do not.
• Diversity of Customers: Customers are the center of all business. They are technology driven, hyper-personalized, and demand to have a voice in the products they consume. The complex challenge for businesses is personalizing and delivering individualized insights while simultaneously scaling the product. Adapting to better understand the customer is imperative to successful business outcomes.
• Diversity of Ideas: Innovation is at the forefront of business priorities and requires a wide set of ideas from individuals and organizations to achieve business goals. Digital disruption has created a new space for emerging thinkers who are now competition for organizations. Thought diversity is important in order to avoid groupthink and continue generating a range of ideas. Leaders' understandings of how thought diversity works and ability to effectively manage the diversity is critical to success.
• Diversity of Talent: Changes in the population in areas of age, education levels and migration flows, among others, should be reflected in an organization's ability to better respond to societal shifts. The increase in diversity of views and attitudes toward work based on generational diversity are shaping organizational cultures, as new views emerge with younger generations entering the workforce. Organizations are challenged with maintaining a diverse talent pool to meet and mirror demographic diversity.

Inclusive Leadership and Diversity

Few organizations distinguish between diversity and inclusion. Many lump the terms together and participate in hiring practices to achieve diversity metrics, but few take the time to cultivate the environment needed for diversity to reach its highest potential. Boston Consulting Group identified participative leadership behaviors as the number one environmental factor that amplifies the impact of diversity in a workforce or team. Inclusive leadership is the bridge that connects diversity and inclusion. When Verna Myers says, "Diversity is being invited to the party, and inclusion is being asked to dance", essentially the "ask" is the application of inclusive leadership within a diverse workforce. Employing inclusive leadership clearly connects diversity and inclusion by acknowledging it as the driver of the results diverse work environments can yield.

Diversity is representation in the workforce; however, without inclusion, the continued attraction and retention of diverse talent, fostering of innovation, and resulting business outcomes won't happen. Organizations with diverse and inclusive cultures are 45 percent more likely to improve their market share. Inclusive teams out-perform their peers by 80 percent in team-based assessments. Diverse organizations do not perform well because they have a presence of people who are diverse in gender, ethnicity, generation, and other types of diversity including experiences, perspectives and opinions; it is to the extent to which organizations include employees in key decision-making activities and how they value their contribution that encourages an inclusive environment.

The meaning of diversity and inclusion in practice is changing as more is discovered about their impact on business outcomes. Millennials, who will comprise nearly 75 percent of the workforce by 2025 define inclusion as a collaborative environment that values open participation from individuals with different ideas and perspectives, whereas prior generations, view inclusion as representations and assimilation of diverse peoples in the workforce. For example, 32 percent of millennials are more likely to focus on respecting identities, where as 21 percent of non-millennials are more likely to focus on representation. The dichotomy between millennials and non-millennials' views of diversity is clear, and employing inclusive leadership to better navigate these perspective shifts can improve business outcomes.

Inclusive Leadership Submission

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