Inclusion: What every leader needs to know

At Diversity Matters™ our definition of leadership is “the capacity to inspire and enlist others to want to work toward a set of shared aspirations.” Given this definition, we firmly believe that everyone, no matter what position they hold in their family, community, organization or in the world has the potential to lead. That said, with regard to promoting inclusion, individuals who are in positions of leadership have a particular responsibility when it comes to inclusion. Here are some of our basic leadership tips:

1. Inspire a shared vision of inclusion by knowing about others

Enlisting others to put in the energy and effort to work toward a common set of goals requires you as a leader to paint a clear picture of what inclusion looks like. The leader as narrator means you must describe what the pathway to inclusion looks, sounds and feels like with such clarity and conviction that others are compelled to take the journey with you. As a result of your words, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind as to where you’re organization is heading, and what their role is in getting it there.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is probably the best example of a clearly articulated vision. His words left no doubt that the movement Dr. King was mobilizing was to create a world where his four little children are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

As a leader you must communicate your inclusiveness vision excessively and redundantly. The greater the distance required to travel toward inclusion, means that folks will need constant reminders, words of encouragement and guideposts along the way.

Inspiring others also means that as a leader you have to know your followers. Your vision for inclusion must align with the aspirations of the people you’re trying to enlist. Rather than answering “what’s in it for me?” inspiring a shared vision means you are able to answer “what’s in it for us” with regard to inclusion. Linking the organization’s values about diversity and inclusion with each person’s individual values means that as a leader you must know what those values are and what matters most to others.

2. Authenticity trumps skill deficit

People have very fine tuned B.S. detectors and want to know that as a leader you believe, truly believe in where we’re going and that the effort it will take to get there is worth it. You must align your actions with your rhetoric so that the inclusiveness vision does not appear to be simply good P.R., fluff or something nice if we have time after all of the other things that really matter are attended to. As a leader you must be willing to tell your story so that others know why inclusion matters to you. Authentically sharing what situation, event or relationship helped you to “get it” at a deeper level and serves as a source of your motivation for working hard on behalf of inclusion helps others to “get it” and ups the ante on their willingness to do the work necessary to get there.

As leaders, none of us are competent at everything. I’m not great at being succinct. Someone else may not be great at listening for subtleties, and others may not be great celebrators. Being honest about your strengths as well as your weaknesses improves your credibility as a leader. People are often very forgiving of certain skill deficits when coupled with your authentic recognition of this limitation and willingness to try anyway.

3. Care about people – celebrate them and their successes

Creating a climate of inclusion takes work. Celebrating people and their successes along the way builds momentum that sustains the process. Encouraging others authentically, means as a leader you have to care about the people you’re leading. If you don’t care about them and they don’t care about you, good luck. At best you’ll get a series of programs that may or may not be well attended, but a climate of inclusion that drives business results will be much harder to create and sustain.

Caring about others also requires that you know them as individuals. This means seeking out and listening to their ideas, stories and experiences. In hearing their voices, as a leader you learn new information that will help you fine tune and re-calibrate your strategy as well as inform creative ways to reward and acknowledge folks in a way that matters.

Celebration of others and their successes must be both personal and mission related. When traveling from point A (status quo) to point Z (inclusion), have a clear picture of what point B looks like and then C, D etc… This is a critical element of the planning and moving phases of change described in tip #1. Once people have moved from point A to point B, as leader it’s important that you acknowledge this success in getting the organization closer to Z. Celebrate the movement in a way that has meaning to people and then raise the bar. With success under their belt, and meaningful praise as nourishment, as their leader you can now expect even better results in moving to point C, and so on.

In many traditional top/down organizations, celebration and reward are given in the form of money or position (e.g. bonus, promotion, prime parking spot). These types of rewards however, often reinforce the status quo rather than inclusion and may not have the type of personal meaning that truly inspires others. Knowing what will have the impact of appreciation and linking this reward to the results desired with respect to inclusion, is a key leadership task. As you get to know people better, keep track of the kinds of things that you’re learning that could serve as a reward later. Maybe you discover someone on your team is a bee keeper, or someone else loves to cook Thai food. When it’s time to celebrate their extraordinary performance, a book on bee keeping or an assortment of seasoned cooking oils lets them know that their effort matters, and that you took the time to let them know that THEY matter.

4. Consciously choose to develop people who stretch you; then judge your success based on theirs

Effectively managing and developing human capital is a critical component of your job as a leader. Ensuring that your organization has the best people both today and into the future means that you have to actively work to enable others and yourself to continuously grow and develop.

With respect to diversity and inclusion, as an effective leader you must deliberately choose to develop and learn from people who are different from you. This may be through a formal reciprocal mentoring program which has benefits for both the mentor and the mentee; or more informally by building partnerships and relationships with people who differ from you along dimensions such as generation, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, professional field, social class, political ideology, gender identity/expression, etc…

Engage with others who are different and stretch yourself beyond your comfort zones with the purpose of increasing your understanding of yourself and others. In growing others, their success becomes a measure of your success. This is especially true with respect to inclusion when you develop people who are different from yourself.

5. Expect the best and hold people accountable

If you care about the people you work with and lead, you must expect them to demonstrate excellence. You must have the courage to step up to the plate and call them on it when they are not delivering their best otherwise you are selling out on the person, yourself and your organization. Caring about others allows you to build the kind of professional relationships where you can fully support others while holding them accountable to the highest standards of performance.

Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World ® Resort, talked about “manage like a mother” when he was a guest recently on Diversity Matters. Lee said, “mothers are tough and they’re sensitive. They straighten you out, on the spot - they don’t wait until your annual review and then they tell you they love you before you go to sleep. They do it for you, not for them… People aren’t going to get better unless we sit down and make them better.”

With the organization’s and the individual’s best interest at heart, give constructive feedback with candor and care. Hold people to the highest standard and issue tough love when needed.

6. Leadership development is ongoing and lifelong

By definition, development and learning at its best is never done. Preeminent Harvard leadership scholar John Kotter, reports that life long learning is a trait that distinguishes exemplary leaders from others. This means as an inclusiveness leader you must be willing to seek out new challenges and reflect honestly and candidly about both your successes and daring failures. Solicit the opinions and ideas of others, especially those who are different from you and demonstrate a propensity to listen fully and with an open mind.. These traits are the foundation of life long learning that promotes inclusive leadership.

If you practice the tips highlighted here, your success as a leader of inclusion will be enhanced. While effective leadership is a necessary component of creating an inclusive culture, it is not the only key ingredient. However, without it inclusiveness efforts will fail to come to fruition with speed or sustainability.

Stay tuned!

Richard Friend, Ph. D.

Co-Founder & Co-Host