Inclusive leadership: a strategic competitive advantage

Leveraging workforce diversity

Our global economy is powered by distributed global teams and talent. This creates opportunities for the sharing of ideas across borders. 

Advances in video conference technologies have lowered the accessibility barriers and made it possible to bring together teams from the four corners of the planet.

Tapping into generational diversity

Advances in medicine and technology are helping people live longer, more active, and productive lives. We have seen people enjoying longer, engaging careers as a result. Longer career spans will expand the number of generations in the workforce from five to six, seven, or eight.

Amplifying innovations

85% of enterprises point to the fact that diversity results in the most innovative ideas. 

Non-diverse teams are likely to approach a problem from a similar vantage point, narrowing the possible solutions. Conversely, a diverse team is better equipped to approach a problem from various angles. 

This allows the team to tap into lateral and disparate areas of new knowledge, so they can reimagine different ways of doing things. 

Rise above the competition

Companies with inclusive practices in hiring, promotion, development, leadership, and team management generate up to 30% more revenue per employee and greater profitability than their competitors. 

In other words, diverse teams led by an inclusive leader are statistically proven to outperform. Yet our own BetterUp data suggests most teams don’t have an inclusive leader -- only 31% of employees surveyed believed their leaders were inclusive.

BetterUp data shows that teams led by highly inclusive leaders see significant business results.

Success factors of inclusive leadership in action 

• Apply interventions consistently throughout the system to create more sustainable changes. 
• Approach the best practices with the lens of experimentation and a willingness to go back to refine and iterate. 
• Approaching these best practices with a holistic lens will lead to them being baked into an organization’s DNA. 

BetterUp research has identified six behaviors of inclusive leaders. The first, best, practice for organizations is to provide support, through coaching and peer support, to leaders and managers at all levels in developing those inclusive behaviors.

Individual leaders and managers can adopt these practices in their day-to-day work. When it comes to inclusion — every interaction matters, and consistency matters, for an employee to experience feeling included.

How to become a more inclusive leader

Develop basic skills that will position diversity as a competitive advantage

Coach and create strong synergy out of diverse, and even opposite individual elements. 

The challenge is less about attracting diverse talent than it is about ensuring they are treated fairly and respected. 

Ideally, differences are not just tolerated but celebrated. This may not happen if the focus is on hiring for a “culture fit,” unless that culture values uniqueness. 

Focus on the hiring process

Make sure that you can select leaders who embody the right values and have a track record of leading diverse teams.

Have a plan 

Work from a well-documented plan of action, complete with goals and objectives. However, don’t get carried away with plans and metrics — inclusion is about people and what they experience every day.

Inclusive practices must be integrated into product development, communications, training, professional development, recruitment, retention, and overall leadership, not to mention management practices.

Create opportunities for diverse work teams and interactions

Invest in team-building and leadership skills, as they can truly benefit from diversity and inclusion. 

Reward and promote the kind of collaboration and results you would like to see. 

Mind the middle

While some organizations show slow progress on the diversity journey due to the lack of support from senior leadership, many organizations find that it’s their middle management who's derailing progress.

Often middle managers have little preparation or guidance beyond a few canned training sessions. Hold them accountable for the degree to which people on their teams feel included, but, also provide significant support to help managers get there.

Recognize your unconscious bias

Work to understand your own unconscious bias regarding what you assume about others. 

Having assumptions isn’t wrong or bad: it’s part of how all people fast-track understanding. Problems arise when you’re not even aware that you’re making assumptions. 

One way to stop making unconscious assumptions is to learn more about different types of people and expose yourself to more diverse cultures and experiences. The goal isn’t to learn any one thing but to gain greater awareness and appreciation for the vast variety of human experiences.

Don’t overlook the “small” stuff

When you witness someone being rude or dismissive to someone else, call it out. 

Don’t focus on finding fault, but state what you notice and suggest alternatives that include everyone. 

Believe that all people have potential, not that they are the same

Inclusive leaders are able to notice and talk about differences without making anyone feel objectified or singled out. 

To boot, managers are more successful when they see the unique qualities of each individual on the team.