Inclusive leadership is essential to building a culture that enables success. In simple terms, happy employees are more productive, loyal and successful. So what role does inclusivity play in this equation?
The Core Values Of Inclusion
At the heart of the matter, inclusion is about creating an environment where everyone is respected, valued and treated as an equal. It is the belief that one person is no less valuable than another, and everyone should be evaluated based on competency. Nurturing healthy practices, psychological safety and initiatives to support diversity will all help build this kind of culture.
Inclusive leadership, therefore, is about leading by example. Managers who demonstrate the values of inclusion foster this in their team, also. Although the values of a business are dictated by a much wider team, it is possible for individual leaders to generate better inclusion among their direct reports.
7 Reasons Inclusive Leadership is Vital To Success
There are many reasons why inclusivity is important in the workplace, but here are 7 reasons why inclusive leadership matters so much to business performance:
Employee Engagement
It’s no surprise that treating people poorly will deliver poor results. Employees who feel valued and respected are happier and therefore more engaged. More engagement means better productivity and, in turn, better results. Inclusive leadership provides a solid foundation on which these values are built.
Improved Customer Relations
Building a diverse and inclusive team can impact your customer relationships in two ways. First, the customers who value diversity and inclusion will respect you prioritising it. People prefer to spend their money with businesses that share their values.
On top of this, with a more diverse workforce you can reflect a more diverse customer base. An inclusive team with diverse backgrounds has a much better chance of understanding and solving your clients’ needs.
Innovation
Innovation is a cornerstone of any business. The market is highly competitive and the businesses with the freshest ideas and most creative solutions are the ones that thrive.
The Harvard Business Review found a statistically significant relationship between diversity and innovation across 1,700 companies in eight countries1. How? Employees that operate in inclusive environments are encouraged to share their ideas. On top of this, their creative solutions are listened to and valued. Without inclusive leadership, your people might be sat on a gold mine of ideas without the confidence to bring them forward.
Attract & Retain Top Talent
In a 2020 survey, one researcher found that 76% of employees reported that diversity is an important factor when they are considering employers and job offers2. When so many people prioritise diversity and inclusion, and use it to make decisions about their employment, it makes sense that employers should prioritise it, too. Inclusive leadership plays a key role here. Managers are often the people with the most face-to-face time with prospective hires. If candidates can see an example of inclusive leadership at this stage, it can reassure them of the organisational values.
Encourages Empathy
Inclusive leadership can have a profound impact on empathy. Empathy is the driving force behind inclusivity. It is the thing that allows you to understand people and accommodate their experiences, differences and unique characteristics.
Modelling this behaviour as a leader has effects that ripple throughout your team. When employees see these qualities represented in management, they are more likely to adopt them themselves. This leads to a more inclusive, empathic team.
Better Decision-Making
Inclusive leadership makes everyone in the team feel valued. A team who are confident in sharing and debating ideas have a much stronger approach to decision-making. With everyone able to share ideas, better solutions can be uncovered with more robust decisions being made.
On top of this, with the diversity that inclusive leadership attracts come a diverse range of perspectives. This means that decision-making becomes fairer and more balanced. The best solutions are forged by taking different views into account and finding the common ground to move forward.
Increased Performance
Research shows that diversity and inclusion improve performance – in fact one study found that organisations with greater gender, ethnicity and cultural diversity are far more likely to outperform businesses with less diverse teams3.
When inclusivity is a priority in your leadership, employees feel like they belong. With a sense of belonging comes a stronger motivation to support the cause – in this case, working productively to help the business succeed. It also makes people feel more connected, which also helps with collaboration and productivity.
Inclusive Leadership 101
How can you make your leadership more inclusive?
Here are 5 things to consider in your leadership style that can facilitate inclusion:
- Increase your self-awareness
- Practise active listening
- Focus on your communication
- Be curious, with empathy
- Encourage collaboration in your team
Create Inclusive Leadership With Alchemist
Instilling key skills and knowledge in your leaders, a programme that build inclusive leadership can support your business in a number of ways. Delivered in an engaging way that inspires your people managers to bring out the best in their team with a more inclusive approach. Want to know more? Get in touch with Alchemist:
1How and Where Diversity Drives Financial Performance (2018) Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance
2Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Study (2020) Glassdoor https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/glassdoors-diversity-and-inclusion-workplace-survey/
3Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters (2020) McKinsey & Co https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters#/