Dr. Bill Howatt
In the CEO Health + Safety Leadership Network white paper, The Role of Leaders in Building Diverse Workplaces, Michael Bach, Founder, and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, noted that "Diversity is a fact. It has been here since the beginning of time. Inclusion is a choice. Inclusion is about getting the mix to work-creating places where people can come to work and do their jobs and be successful."
In a psychologically safe workplace, people are not rejected or punished, or left out because of their gender, orientation, ethnicity, experiences or viewpoints. They are encouraged to speak up, and individual perspectives are valued. Employees feel safe to raise concerns and respectfully disagree without fear of reprisal or exclusion.
Creating this environment requires commitment at all levels of the organization - starting with leaders.
What does inclusive leadership look like?
Inclusive leadership is not about perfection. It is about continuous learning and being mindful of blind spots.
The Center for Creative Leadership describes inclusive leaders as:
"...individuals who are aware of their own biases and actively seek out and consider different perspectives to inform their decision-making and collaborate more effectively with others. Inclusive leadership also means that leaders commit to ensuring all team members:
- Are treated equitably,
- Feel a sense of belonging and value, and
- Have the resources and support they need to achieve their full potential."
Leaders can take training to become more psychologically safe and inclusive, but success will only come to those who are open to feedback and willing to learn how to support all workers equally. Every interaction is an opportunity for a leader to hold themselves accountable and become more inclusive.
10 inclusive leadership behaviours you can start practicing today
- Be self-aware - Accept the possibility that you may have some degree of implicit bias that can prejudice you against an employee or colleague who is different. Complete the bias-free and confidential Harvard Implicit Association Test to assess yourself and learn more about implicit bias.
- Be curious - It's okay if you do not understand everything about diversity or inclusion. Leaders can actively work toward building psychologically safe connections and creating a sense of belonging by being interested, asking open-ended questions, reading relevant articles and books, and completing inclusion training, if necessary.
- Be compassionate - Recognize that there will be growing pains along the way. Show compassion for employees who are frustrated by inclusion gaps. Don't punish people for mistakes, foster acceptance, accountability, and learning.
- Demonstrate empathy - Do not assume you understand what another person feels. Show you care about employees' experiences and what they mean to them. Accept that you don't have to have all the answers to show you care and avoid trying to fix what you may not fully understand.
- Listen - Hearing is not the same as listening. When you're really listening, you are taking time to understand. Slow down and be clear on others' meanings as a sign of respect.
- Be consistent - Inclusion requires all workers to feel treated fairly and equally. Adhere to organizational values, codes of conduct, policies, and processes, including applying a standard approach to evaluating performance and measuring success.
- Focus on building strong relationships - Get to know people and what is important to them. Focus on building trust and respect. Remember, relationships are all about making deposits and withdrawals. When you break trust, you clean out the account, and it can take much longer to rebuild. It takes time and effort to build and maintain strong relationships.
- Demonstrate vulnerability - Accept that you are not perfect. Sharing concerns and worries and owning mistakes are essential to demonstrating humility and openness.
- Follow up - Today's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world has many priorities and moving agendas. Leaders should ensure all workers get the same level of support and follow-up. Employees notice if others are getting more attention or support than they are, creating feelings of fear and inequality.
- Beware of behaviours and approaches that can derail diversity and inclusion - The Center for Creative Leadership also points out three common mistakes made by diversity initiatives that can derail efforts to be inclusive:
- Assimilation happens when a minority feels their culture is not represented and tries to fit into the culture by code shifting. They change their speech, appearance, behaviour, and expression to blend in, in the hope of fair treatment, service, and employment opportunities.
- Tokenism happens when organizations intend to be inclusive but hire a small number of people from underrepresented groups. This practice can be defined as trying to do something to avoid criticism and give the appearance of being fair. It does little to create inclusion and often does more harm because it comes off as not authentic.
- Dehumanization happens when an unrepresented group member is recruited or hired through organizational diversity initiatives. They are treated like they don't have the same level of intelligence or capability as their colleagues and were hired only because of a diversity initiative. This practice treats some people in a degrading way and has been a terrible flaw in how humans have evolved.
To create a psychologically safe workplace you must be steadfast in your commitment to treat all team members equitably. Be sure you have values, policies and procedures in place to guide the organization and hold all workers to the same standard. When you provide this level of support and sense of belonging, you are demonstrating that you respect all employees equally and want them to achieve their full potential in your workplace.
Get to know the author – Dr. Bill Howatt
