Why inclusive leadership matters in a crisis

COVID-19 presents the biggest social and economic shock to our way of life since World War II. The short-term human cost - particularly for society’s most vulnerable groups – will include psychological harm in the form of increased anxiety and stress. Long-term, we may see emotional trauma, resulting from the dual impact effects of social isolation and economic inactivity.

?In such times, inclusive leadership matters now more than ever. Based on our research at VERCIDA Consulting here are 7 core principles for promoting inclusive leadership.

?Respect for difference:

Leaders find similarity of working and thinking comforting. However, prioritising the ideas from in-group members creates blind-spots in leadership decisions. Inclusive leaders actively widen their virtual decision-making circles by ensuring representation from diverse stakeholders, and valuing different voices in equal measures.

?Collaboration in decision-making:

Research by Scott E. Page has demonstrated how the power of collective wisdom leads to more intelligent decision-making. Leaders should work to break down silo working and seek to promote authentic social bonds. They should seek to promote first-name term practices and genuine virtual open-doors policies.

Practice EQ and Cultural Intelligence (CQ):

Emotions, as stressed by Daniel Goleman are contagious. The problem is, many of today’s leaders have traditionally been taught that showing emotions is a sign of weakness. In the current crisis leaders should let go of this out-dated leadership notion and instead practice radical empathy. This means seeking to experience the moods and emotions of those around them by developing active questioning and active listening skills.

?Empowering others:

In times of uncertainty effective leadership requires speed and clarity of decision-making. Traditional leadership is underpinned by assumptions of the leader-knows-best attitude. This attitude harms the psychological contract. Empowering employees through involvement in decisions which impact them is critical firstly to maintain honest dialogue, and secondly to ensure any adjustments to working patterns meet the different physical and emotional needs of diverse workers.

Insight:

Inclusive leaders require high levels of perspective-taking. As stressed by Gillian Ku, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School (LBS): perspective-taking is “the active cognitive process of imagining the world from another’s vantage point”. To build perspective taking leaders should seek feedback from employees using 360 degree loops and reverse mentoring.

?Psychological Safety:

As stated by Amy C Edmondson from Harvard Business School - psychological safety is the belief that the environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. Psychological safety is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able, even obligated, to be candid. When we all need to work in a new way, inclusive leaders promote ideas and innovation through trial and error. The inclusive leader encourages all team members – not just those in their in-group –to offer alternative perspectives to a leaders’ own views. These actions helps to promote social bonds in times of isolation.

?Trust building:

According to David M. Long, assistant professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary, there are three pillars that create bonds of trust between leaders and followers – one of them is integrity. This aligns to our research on inclusive leadership. Inclusive leaders promote trust-based relationships by aligning their personal behaviours with organisational values. These leaders work with the principle of congruence. In times is crisis and uncertainty, inclusive leaders generate team bonds and trust building by always telling the truth; they are radically open and transparent in their communications to all employees – even when the message may be difficult.