Inclusive leadership is one of the keys to sustainable talent management. Only through inclusive leadership can diverse talents truly thrive and become empowered. The path to inclusive leadership takes two things: 1. Organizational structures and policies that prioritize and reward inclusive leadership 2. Leaders who take ownership of building an inclusive culture. These are two sides of the same coin and reinforce one another.
For organizations to harness the benefits of inclusive leadership, formal processes and programs must be in place that enable and champion inclusive leadership in a psychologically safe environment. The key is unwavering organizational support, transparency, and documentation around critical mechanisms.
To reach organizational goals and KPIs regarding inclusion, the organization must create the conditions for leaders to be empowered with the knowledge of inclusion. This empowerment enables all employees to work towards the company’s shared vision of an inclusive culture.
Teach leaders what it means to be inclusive
Utilize (internal or external) experts to empower leaders to understand what inclusion means, in a setting where they can ask questions and learn without the fear of repercussions.
Tie inclusion indicators into performance criteria, reviews, and rewards
Inclusion indicators should be known and agreed to by all managers, so leaders fully understand what is expected of them. Goals should be specific and measurable.
Organizations need to hold leaders who consciously choose to exclude others accountable. Excluders may create more inequality through disadvantages in hiring and promotions and workplace policies (Gloor et al., 2021). What can organizations do about these managers?
Establish a clear and transparent definition of inclusion and exclusion
While creating an inclusive environment, let employees know what actions are inclusive and not inclusive. This means explaining clearly what is not acceptable. For example, such actions as inviting only certain team members to after-work drinks or ignoring certain religious holidays to schedule work events can result in employees feeling ostracized and undervalued.
Use an intersectional focus in your gender equality efforts
Keep in mind that excluders can be other women as well, who are in key management or token positions (Derks et al., 2016). They may purposefully and unconsciously prevent other women from getting hired. For example, in Switzerland, a common excuse used by excluders to avoid hiring women of color is, “there just aren’t enough of them who speak German.” This statement shows the ignorance that comes with the assumption that there are not enough women of color who speak German. The dismissal of women of color, even if the assumption is correct, precludes excluders from taking action. That is: make the effort to look for women of color who speak German or creating a pathway (i.e., German classes) for non-German speakers to enter the organization successfully.
Enact policies that immediately address overt discrimination
For inclusive organizations, it is vital to immediately handle overt acts of discrimination in a way that ensures victims know they are valued. Have a proper reporting procedure for the victim, either anonymously or not, to raise the issue (Sue et al., 2007).
As seen in the Big Picture results, organizations have more diversity than inclusion initiatives. While there may be programs that focus on increasing diversity, there is a lack of those that directly impact inclusion. So, what do programs that champion inclusion look like in practice?
Incorporate traditional mentorship to enhance inclusive individual development
For leadership and talent retention of women, utilize a formal traditional mentorship program that specifically targets them. A company which is using mentoring strategically is KPMG, whose cross-divisional program targets mentees to build the senior female leadership pipeline. For inspiration click here.
Leverage reverse mentorship to live inclusion in practice
Reverse mentorship uses the perspective of an employee from an underrepresented group (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, disability, or an intersectional approach) to help a senior leader (the mentee) gain a deeper understanding of their employees’ experiences. The knowledge from these experiences enhances the mentee’s decision-making, allowing them to be more inclusive and equitable.
Support diverse employees through ERGs – with leaders on board
Through ERGs, the organization formally acknowledges underrepresented groups and values the uniqueness of those employees. Inclusive organizations can leverage the collective voices from an ERG to improve the work environment and experience for those people (Green, 2018).
Once a culture of inclusion is established, potential employees should notice this culture upon seeing the company website, advertisements, or job postings. This external display of championing inclusion will help attract and hire inclusive candidates who will become the leaders that sustain this culture. What comprises this inclusion when hiring diverse talent?
Make gender-inclusive language the norm
Gender-inclusive language goes beyond the use of pronouns and word endings (though this is crucial). It’s about communicating your company’s inclusion values and addressing a vast, diverse candidate pool. How the role and ideal candidate are described can communicate unconscious biases and inadvertently address only a small segment of the diverse candidate pool (Walters, 2017).
Focus on (inclusion) skills, not proxies
Focus on the actual skills your ideal candidate would bring to the table to fill the role rather than proxies, such as a specific type of education or years of experience, which says little about an employee’s actual skillset.
Interviews as “make or break” for inclusion
Interviews are the first face-to-face contact your diverse candidates have with your company, so it is the “make or break moment” where diverse candidates can be shown that they are valued and heard. Through listening, you may find in a non-traditional candidate an even more qualified candidate than one who seemed to “check the boxes.” These interviews are also an opportunity for your organization to see how inclusive candidates are. Notice what behaviors (inclusive or exclusive) candidates exhibit during the interview.
Emphasize representation
Can future employees see themselves in your organization? Even if there is a balance between men and women in company pictures, are these people all White? If so, you may be excluding potential talent without realizing it.
Spotlight
What does gender-inclusion require? When it comes to mind-set, it certainly requires courageous leaders. Leaders who will challenge the status quo, be open to question their own biases and are willing to provide safe spaces for leaders different to themselves to develop and demonstrate their capabilities. Yet, how prevalent is courage in leadership today?
In 2021, the management consulting firm Kienbaum did a study investigating courage at the workplace. Their research led them to define leaders as courageous when they demonstrated both determination and value orientation. The report confirmed a positive correlation of courage with business performance. However, they found that only 12% of participants in their study displayed courage as measured by their definition. This amounts to little more than 1 in 10 leaders. Why is courage rare?
The same study by Kienbaum linked courageous behaviors with companies’ corporate culture and particularly with having a clear purpose, encouraging trust, feedback, accountability and having the ability to handle setbacks. This aligns with the concept of psychological safety as studied by Dr. Amy Edmondson as well as with the findings by Dr. Brené Brown, published in her book «Dare to Lead». Yet, a 2017 Gallup study found that only 3 out of 10 US workers strongly agree that their opinions seem to count at their jobs. Corporate culture will have often stifled courage in the past. To turn this around, it is key to consciously invest into corporate cultures to encourage courageous behaviors.
We have not been developing (enough) the skill sets associated with courage. In 2021, The McKinsey Global Institute published a study into the required top future skills for leaders and to what degree these are associated with different levels of education. The study results showed that the skills required to develop the above-mentioned culture have low or even negative association with higher education levels: these include ‘courage and risk-taking’, ‘inspiring trust’ and ‘coping with uncertainty’. Our business education systems have not been developing these leadership skills adequately. This leads us to where to put our focus if we want to build courage and courageous cultures. We need to invest in building up courageous leadership skills. The good news is that these skills can be learned, measured, and observed. Dare to Lead TM is one approach to do so.
“Courage is contagious. A critical mass of brave leaders is the foundation of an intentionally courageous culture.” – Brené Brown
Going back to the above, courage links with better financial performance. So, under a traditional investment rationale, there is already a clear reason why organizations would want to invest in these skills. Similarly, the global challenges regarding climate change, the human challenges regarding wellbeing, plus the need for ensuring financial and political stability, highlight the need to be bold(er) in our societies and businesses to find new solutions in a collaborative manner. This requires courageous cultures, curiosity and (gender) diverse thought-leadership. – We are on the way. Let’s speed up together!
Though organizations may put in formal processes to drive inclusion, the catalyst for this cultural shift comes from leaders who choose to be inclusive and become multipliers of inclusion. By providing an inclusive and psychologically safe space, leaders create the conditions for more employee benefits (psychological safety is when employees know there is safety when taking risks in a business setting (Javed et al., 2019)). When employees trust their leadership, they are more willing to voice their opinion.
We propose to become a more inclusive leader by utilizing the CCDI’s House of Inclusive Leadership framework. The framework consists of four dimensions that allow leaders to understand the steps to become inclusive. These are: 1. Become Informed 2. Gain Insight 3. Mitigate Issues 4. Create Inspiration.
An inclusive leader values their employees. This value is derived from an understanding of individual employees and what those individuals may experience in professional and personal settings. It is essential to become more informed on past and present systemic and institutional injustices to create a better future for all.
Read and educate yourself
The key is yourself. Being an inclusive leader means taking the initiative to learn more on your own. Read literature written (or other media created) from the perspective of people from marginalized groups. Reading these perspectives allows empathetic employers to understand a topic’s history and context better without putting the burden on employees to educate their leadership about embodied experiences.
In knowing the experiences faced by their employees, inclusive leaders gain fundamental insights into the experiences in their team and potential issues in the workplace. To gain insight, leaders need to become active listeners. Yet, upon listening to their employees, how may leaders best communicate their understanding, so employees know they are valued?
Listen to lived experiences
Personal stories allow leaders who actively listen to gain insight and better empathize with employees from underrepresented groups.
Practice nonviolent communication
Nonviolent communication assumes that all of us as individuals are inherently nonviolent and can communicate as such (Rosenberg, 1999). This type of communication is incredibly helpful in gaining insight into employees’ lives because it allows them to express a need and find a solution to that need.
Listening and talking aren’t enough – action is needed. After gaining insight into the lives of marginalized team members, mitigate the specific issues they may face. Mitigating these issues requires persistent action to achieve long-term cultural change.
Address your and your employees’ unconscious biases
Unconscious biases are often seen in the stereotypes people have about others who are either similar or dissimilar to themselves or in the stereotypes people have about groups of people (Sander et al., 2020). These biases can then manifest through discrimination in many ways.
Stop microaggressions when they manifest
An example of a microaggression is when a White woman clutches her purse tightly when a Black woman enters the elevator. The negative and incorrect stereotype the White woman has (that Black people are criminals) creates the microaggression. These types of actions come from unconscious biases and are displayed through subtle actions.
Don’t gaslight
Gaslighting often occurs when a person or the validity of their experience is questioned in a way that creates doubt in their reality (Abramson, 2014). A typical example of gaslighting in organizations is the question, “Are you really sure?” However, another question that gaslights people of color, yet may be initially seen as innocent, is “Where are you originally from?” This statement questions the person’s “Swissness,” making them question their level of belonging and inclusion.
Be an inclusive reviewer
Word performance criteria and reviews in a way that emphasizes non-discrimination and encourages inclusion (encouraging good behavior). A positive example is, “Employee exceeds the standard by including voices of all team members during meetings” (i.e., fair treatment of everyone).
The final key to being an inclusive leader is to create inspiration and be a role model. This inspiration is done through two inclusive avenues, valuing the uniqueness of each employee, and fostering a sense of belonging (Shore et al., 2011).
Be an ally
Allyship is a phenomenal way to demonstrate care, concern, and value for employees. To be an ally means that a leader is using their position of privilege to be an advocate for employees of marginalized or underrepresented groups. A company which offers a best practice on allyship and how to engage men in gender equality is UBS, through their All Bar None Male Allies program. For inspiration click here.
Step up to sponsorship
Sponsorship is the next level of allyship. Sponsors not only open the door to opportunities for employees, but they also pull employees up to opportunities not previously afforded. By being an ally or sponsor, a leader can create a more inclusive environment.
Spotlight
Male managers shape equality! Does that sound utopian to you? Or provocative? Or even laughable? In any case – hardly realistic? Then it’s time to think again. There is no question that the role of men in discussions about equality has been limited to being part of the problem. But they are an important part of the solution!
It is important to have male managers on board, because the majority of managers are still male. And the much-needed organizational change requires the commitment of executives. Without them, sustainable change is unthinkable. In addition, equality of opportunity has been commonly understood to mean that only women need to make changes. With this limiting focus, however, cultural change or a transformation of corporate structures are hardly possible. With this kind of approach, equality work remains a “women’s issue” that has nothing to do with men (and can have nothing to do with them!).
If you ask the executives directly – and this is what we have done with our project “Leaders for Equality: Managers Taking Opportunities” – a fascinating picture emerges: Men in executive positions consider the topic to be very important, are motivated and in many cases are already active! Male executives see the business case, the economic advantages that arise for the company from strengthening equal opportunities. And they see it as an imperative of fairness to work for equal opportunities. The status quo of underrepresentation of women is perceived as unfair by 90% of the men we surveyed.
However, often there is (for now) a lack of concrete knowledge about what exactly should or could be done. Men are often unsure whether they are doing the right thing. The comparison with their female colleagues also shows that they overestimate their commitment.
Knowledge of gender-inclusive leadership practices is an important lever here for making male managers fit for the current challenges of equal opportunity work.
Where in their companies are the managers already taking concrete steps? And how can that commitment be strengthened and expanded? The answers to these questions can be found and developed with an organizational diagnostics and professionally moderated dialogues.
Head of Diagnostics and Consulting, Leaders for Equalityleaders4equality@unisg.ch