How to Become an Inclusive Leader and Build Inclusive Teams

As we conclude Celebrate Diversity Month in April, let’s take some time to discuss how Diverse, Equity,? Inclusion, and Belonging, (DEIB) initiatives create more productivity, profits, and peace in our workplaces. For those unaware of Celebrate Diversity Month, it’s a recent holiday coined 20 years ago to recognize and honor the diversity of cultures, beliefs, backgrounds, and traditions in society. As a Ghanaian American woman executive and entrepreneur, I strive to promote understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of different perspectives and experiences on a daily basis.?

Through my executive coaching and fractional CHRO advising, I spend time working with leaders striving to be better at Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in an ever-changing world. We are seeing DEIB become a topic too hot to touch these days. Although it is a sensitive topic for some to broach, I truly believe our world is and will be a better place when we start and continue being more intentional about embracing diversity. When we honor the richness of diversity in all its forms (race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, religion, disability, etc.) we communicate that people are safe to show up as their authentic selves. When you do this in our communities, you start to see people in a new light and can stand for inclusivity, equity, and respect for all.

Let’s peek behind the curtain of DEIB in action…

As an Executive Coach, many of my coaching and corporate clients struggle with creating inclusive workplaces and developing inclusive leaders. These challenges often cause executives to miss business milestones, lose top talent to competitors, and become burnt out as well as disengaged.?

Meet Umal. In a past executive coaching session, she was challenged with describing how she showcased cultural competency and DEIB in her leadership role. She said, “I know that I am an advocate for all things Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, but I don’t know how to say it in a way that proves it to my boss and HR.

She said, “If I don’t figure this out, it’s going to cost me the internal promotion to Chief Operating Officer that I’ve been working towards for the last 5 years….and I can’t mess this up!”

After reassuring her that we would co-create a solution, I asked, “What does DEIB mean to you”?

She said, “When I think about Diversity, it's about embracing the differences in my colleagues to make our workplace and patient care better for everyone. When I think of Equity, it’s about my team and I showing up to do the work needed to make sure everyone has a fair shot and gets the support they need, no matter who they are or where they come from. In terms of Inclusion, it’s my active effort to want everyone to feel like they belong here, that their voice matters, and they don’t feel the need to hide parts of them. And Belonging, it’s how I have built a community on every team I have managed to ensure they feel valued so we can all do our best work and make a real difference.?

She lit up as she answered the question.?

When I asked her if she speaks about her DEIB efforts regularly in her interactions with her boss, team, and colleagues. She said, “No, not at all. I guess I don’t want to be seen as the DEIB broken record.”

I saw the light bulb go off for her once she realized the detrimental impact her not sharing her commitment to DEIB was having on her ability to achieve her career acceleration goals. Umal left the coaching session with a plan to continue making an impact on the DEIB front in her current role and felt much more confident about her internal promotion strategy to land her first C-suite role.?

To become an inclusive leader and sustain inclusive teams, try these tips:

Creating a Safe Environment

1. Demonstrate that you are a trusting and trustworthy leader
2. Create norms with your team
3. Reflect on your leadership style and potential triggers
4. Be clear about the input you are seeking.?
5. Be clear if you are asking people to brainstorm or plan ideas.?
6. Thank people for sharing their perspectives, even if you disagree with the idea
7. Ask clarifying questions to fully understand the ideas of others.?
8. Check in to see if you have created a safe environment frequently

Seek Diversity

1. Avoid nepotism and cronyism by filling your candidate pool with diverse talent.
2. Build a hiring team or interview panel with leaders from diverse backgrounds
3. Ask the team who else would have good input on this subject who might be in another department or potentially outside the company.
4. Bring new voices to the conversation by seeking out insights from diverse cross-functional colleagues and external stakeholders.
5. Identify people who have unique experiences and a wider range of knowledge to join your team

Be a Good Listener

1. Be present and show you're engaged by saying no to distractions during interactions.
2. As information is shared, restate the ideas in your own words to validate understanding.?
3. Avoid evaluating the ideas as they are shared
4. Check your own biases.? Do you have a bias towards the ideas of some team members and against the ideas of other team members?? Why?? Do you have a bias towards a certain work style??
5. Look for blind spots. Check your mindset, tone, and privilege. Keep equity at the forefront of the amazing work you, your team, and your organization are focused on.?

In my opinion, one of the most important keys to leadership success is your ability to assess your own inclusivity. Be honest with yourself about the ways you are shining and where you hope to grow. These are the first steps to showing up as an inclusive leader and building a more psychologically safe work environment.?

If you are a leader, executive, or entrepreneur who has felt lost when it comes to inclusive leadership, workplace equity, and belonging, I completely understand. As a former corporate executive, I’ve wrestled with each of these while leading teams and managing my career. The way I have learned how to fail forward and inspire others to do the same is to lead outward and to lean inward. When you can master these two skills with authenticity, you’ll be sure to develop a leadership brand that makes any one you encounter feel welcomed, known, included, supported, and connected.?