As companies strive to foster more inclusive cultures, leaders play a pivotal role. They should present the business case for diversity and inclusion at meetings, set diversity as a priority target, measure progress to track improvement over time and support continuous improvement initiatives.
To achieve DEI requires the combination of commitment, courage and humility. Committed leaders demonstrate an authentic dedication to DEI by making it their personal priority and challenging entrenched organizational attitudes and cultural stereotypes.
1. Celebrate Diversity
Hire people of various cultural, ethnic or other backgrounds; then make them feel appreciated and respected in the workplace. That way, employees will be more committed to your company’s success and engaged with their work.
Diversity at work improves your company’s competitive edge and facilitates innovation and customer relationships, while simultaneously increasing employee retention and engagement rates, thus making your organization more cost-efficient over time.
Leaders need to initiate Diversity & Equality Inclusion plans (DEI), make diversity part of their leadership approach and prioritize marginalized employees’ needs while understanding ways to mitigate and remove systemic barriers as well as supporting Employee Resource Groups for leader development purposes. In order to foster an inclusive workplace environment, leaders must put DEI plans into action and integrate diversity as part of their management style.
One effective way of celebrating diversity in the workplace is creating an informational board that presents all of your employees’ cultures, backgrounds, and lifestyles. This can be accomplished using either a bulletin board or wall space; everyone in your office can contribute photos and information regarding their culture.
An effective way to promote diversity at work is through organizing an annual cultural holiday celebration, where workers can learn more about traditions and culinary staples of other cultures in your community.
Diversity within your workforce provides your company with access to an abundance of ideas and perspectives, leading to creative, out-of-the-box thinking that can make your company more profitable by helping it better understand its customers and respond to their needs.
Inclusion can also be achieved through storytelling sessions, multicultural film festivals or encouraging attendance at cultural art exhibits – just to name a few methods of celebrating diversity in the workplace! There are countless others as well.
2. Consider the Needs of All
Inclusive leaders focus on building teams where all employees feel valued and heard, while simultaneously encouraging team members to explore all areas where their professional abilities lie.
Research shows that inclusive leadership facilitates work group belongingness, uniqueness appreciation, and psychological empowerment. Researchers have identified this distinct model of leadership through a framework which addresses five categories of inclusive leader behaviors which lead to positive results among diverse workgroups.
These behaviors foster member work group identification, psychological empowerment and behavioral outcomes such as creativity. A study published in Management Science by Amy E. Randel of San Diego State University and a team of business and management researchers demonstrated that leaders who exhibited these behaviors were more successful at leading diverse teams than other models of leadership.
As well as being curious, inclusive leaders must also be empathic. By listening and trying to understand other people’s perspectives, emotions, and ideas they can better consider all individuals when making important decisions or changing work processes.
Leaders leading teams which are underrepresented at work will find inclusive leaders especially helpful for helping their members flourish professionally. People from these groups often face additional barriers that impede their growth as professionals; inclusive leaders are essential in aiding these groups’ progress and success.
Leaders need to prioritize DEI plans as part of their overall priorities and demonstrate their dedication through consistent actions and communication, whether this includes encouraging conversations around differences, seeking feedback on your approach, challenging status quo status quos, actively listening and more. It can also be beneficial to set goals for their initiatives and assess results.
3. Put DEI Plans into Action
Inclusive leadership is an indispensable asset to companies seeking to adapt to an ever-more diverse customer base, market environment, ideas and talent pool. Furthermore, inclusive leadership fosters an atmosphere that facilitates honest dialogue and team collaboration within an organization.
Implementing DEI plans requires the commitment of all leaders within an organization. This involves setting DEI goals and initiatives, creating training programs, and allocating resources.
Establishing metrics to track success and share them with senior leadership can also help secure further buy-in for DEI initiatives and allow for expansion.
As part of inclusive leadership, cultivating awareness about your own personal and systemic biases is vital. Although this can be challenging to do, identifying them and actively challenging them are vital parts of fostering inclusive environments.
If you find that you’re being biased against women or people from certain cultures, it is time to change that behavior. One approach would be changing your hiring process or encouraging employees to speak up when they have concerns – both are effective methods of creating an environment in which it is safe for all parties involved to express themselves freely.
Assimilate their experiences by speaking to others outside your workplace about managing diverse teams and applying what you learn into your leadership style.
Inclusive leadership is about encouraging others to bring their best selves and share their perspectives without fear, which can be achieved by creating an encouraging work environment, encouraging honest communication and increasing productivity.
4. Be Empathetic
Empathetic leadership skills are crucial to creating inclusive environments in diverse teams, meaning being able to comprehend others’ needs and feelings and acting upon them accordingly.
Empathy in the workplace is a positive, supportive skill that can have lasting impacts on productivity and employee satisfaction. Furthermore, empathy fosters connections built on trust and understanding between colleagues.
Empathetic managers need to listen closely and pay attention to nonverbal communication cues such as tone, pace of speech, body language and gestures in order to create an atmosphere of psychological safety within their team members.
Team members find it easier to support each other and feel connected regardless of any challenges that may arise, while building trust between co-workers which ultimately results in more productive work and improved customer service.
Empathy can help bridge gaps that form among teams working remotely, across time zones or from different generations. For example, managers need to show empathy when dealing with women colleagues experiencing menopause.
Managers that exhibit empathy can make employees feel understood, which increases the odds that they will adhere to their instructions in a way that benefits the business.
Managers who practice empathy can also contribute to creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace, which is crucial for employee retention. A study by Businessolver found that one out of three employees would leave for more compassionate workplace environments.
Empathy can be demonstrated in multiple steps, so leaders can start by providing training and encouraging empathetic practices like one-on-one check-ins with employees. They could also conduct surveys to gauge how their team practices empathy.
5. Be Accountable
Inclusive leadership involves harnessing the diversity of your team to reach better results, which means setting clear expectations, holding individuals accountable for their actions and consistently upholding your rules.
Accountability means accepting responsibility for one’s own behavior, whether that’s making mistakes or acting upon suggestions that would have led to different results. By acknowledging their mistakes and shortcomings, taking ownership helps build resilience that can carry you through difficult times to success.
Accountability in the workplace is essential to building a strong team culture and increasing your company’s competitive edge. Accountability helps your team work more efficiently and collaboratively, which in turn results in higher productivity and enhanced team performance.
Attaining long-term relationships is also easier when your team members see you taking responsibility for both words and actions, encouraging team members to openly share their experiences. Doing this helps foster an inclusive working environment as well as foster positive working relationships between you and colleagues.
Being accountable can be challenging for some leaders, yet it is one of the key tenets of effective leadership strategies. Accountability shows that you care about meeting the needs of your team members while prioritizing diversity and inclusion within your organization, as well as respecting individual employee strengths and backgrounds.
