Celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday with inclusive leadership

I’ve had many conversations with diverse colleagues and friends who wonder how others could possibly understand the challenges they face if they don’t have the same shared experiences.  I tell them I believe you can begin to understand the differing experiences someone encounters day to day -- but only when people are willing to share and listen to other people’s stories.

The benefits of creating meaningful personal connections between colleagues is why PwC asked the signatories of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion to join us in talking openly about diversity and race in guided conversations throughout December.  More than 150 organizations with more than 615,000 people participated in our one-day kick off Day of Understanding event on December 7th. And inside PwC, we held close to 300 sessions throughout the month with 17,000 managers, senior managers, directors and managing directors.

Many coworkers who participated in the sessions inside PwC said this was an eye-opening discussion.  Many dimensions of inclusion were discussed. In one of our offices, the discussion leader was transgender and talked about their experience transitioning at the firm, which helped two team leaders participating in the discussion develop tools to help support another employee on their transition journey.  In other conversations, people asked how to expand their networks to make them more diverse, and shared stories about how cultural differences have played out on their teams.

Our people often have stories to share but they’re not sure how to start talking about it. We encouraged our leaders to ask their colleagues more questions about the challenges they’re facing at work and at home - even if it was uncomfortable to start a conversation.  As one of our leaders said: “I want people to know I’m not perfect, but I care.”

For leaders today, caring is the first step to being an inclusive leader -- which is an essential skill in today’s workplace.  By 2030, a majority of young workers will be people of color. Gen Z is the most racially diverse generation in American history: Almost half are a race other than non-Hispanic white. To build a sustainable workforce, leaders need to apply strategies to foster inclusive environments and promote a culture of belonging, commit to tangible actions to help foster inclusivity and ask for regular feedback on their progress.

We encourage every business to host conversations like these that provide guidance to their leaders on how to best build this diverse workforce.  Today, on Martin Luther King Day, I’d like to share a few suggestions about inclusive actions leaders can take: 

1. Set “the bar” and keep it level:  document specific objective criteria when evaluating performance, including criteria for adding team members or assigning work to team members.
2. Make data-driven decisions.  Avoid relying on hearsay or unsupportable information.
3. Engage multiple voices: set the expectation that everyone present in a meeting will share his/her POV.
4. Encourage stretch opportunities and make failure a learning opportunity to support the growth and development of all.
5. Take the I Act On pledge today!

Above all: Be open. Be caring. Be supportive. Be inspirational. Be authentic. Be welcoming. And be OK with making a few missteps as long as you create a culture where people know you’re open to critical feedback about changes you could make in your behavior.  For PwC, these inclusive leadership conversations were just a jumping off point. We will continue to build upon the training so we remain an organization where everyone feels they belong.