A leader who encourages the team to embrace fresh ideas is inclusive. They strive to reduce their personal prejudices and preferences after becoming aware of them. Diversity in ideas, nationality, or socioeconomic status is seen by inclusive leaders as a competitive advantage for their company.
A CEO that is inclusive also desires a diverse staff and wants that workforce to be active in the company. They actively work to include everyone and promote the exchange of fresh ideas.
To develop an inclusive leader and improve your organization, here are some steps that you can follow:
Establish a welcoming environment
A supportive environment must be fostered by a leader who is inclusive. Each team member should experience emotional support. To accomplish this, listen actively and invite your team to discuss its present challenges. This also pertains to the difficulties individuals are having in their personal life, not only at work. Your team will feel more at ease with their leader and feel like they belong in the group if you create a friendly environment for them.
Clear vision that values and celebrates everyone
A sense of belonging must be fostered before each person can be their best selves. Create a compelling team vision and mission along with your team to boost engagement and establish common objectives. Appreciate differences and sincerely invite various points of view to help create that goal.
Put self-awareness and humility as a priority
Being aware of their own biases, inclusive leaders persistently seek out more information (such as input from peers and direct reports) on their own areas for improvement. They intentionally provide opportunities for people to contribute their best selves and are ready to acknowledge and own their faults.
They are aware that they are not the only person in the room who is intelligent or the only source of truth, and they have no desire to be. They support good ideas no matter who or where they come from.
Encourage collaboration
Encourage your diverse team to discuss ideas once you’ve assembled them. You must aggressively encourage everyone to collaborate and share ideas as an inclusive leader. Asking for assistance with anything you’re working on is a wonderful place to start. Choose a coworker and invite them to work with you on the project while outlining the advantages for both of you. As you set an example and promote teamwork, others start to follow suit.
Consider a range of viewpoints when making decisions
Intentional practises are established by inclusive leaders to ensure that all opinions, viewpoints, and personalities are considered in team decisions.
By seeking out other viewpoints and making room for those that disagree from their own, they prevent group thinking. Leaders that are inclusive understand that this begins with utilizing the talents of a varied team, one that makes use of the entire range of individual characteristics and diversity in all its forms. In order to achieve this, they create their teams with equity, inclusion, diversity, and inter-sectionalism in mind.
In addition, those who are entering the workforce now or in the near future view diversity as a crucial consideration when choosing a place of employment. Establishing an inclusive workplace will benefit your present employees and make your business a desirable place to work for individuals who are either seeking for a new job or will soon be entering the workforce.
Millennials make up more than one in three American workers, and 44% of them are people of colour. More workers from this generation will be retained if the workplace fosters diversity and inclusion. According to studies, this group values diversity when choosing an employer, and just under 40% of respondents said they would quit their current job for one with more diversity.
Show both interest and cultural awareness
Leaders that are inclusive exhibit an open mind and a deep interest in other people. They are aware of other people’s cultures and are skilled at engaging and interacting with others who hold different worldviews, identities, viewpoints, and belief systems than they do.
Encouraging the development of relationships through the sharing of private information, facilitating inclusive meetings to ensure that everyone on the team participates, actively seeking out different points of view when making decisions, promoting psychological safety, including keeping track of and controlling one’s stress response, and creating a safe environment for smart failure.
