Inclusive leadership - A new leadership capability.

WHAT will it take to be a great leader in the future? In five years, ten years, even fifteen years?

Say those numbers slightly differently—2020, 2025, or 2030—and your imagination takes you somewhere else entirely. To the realm of science fiction in which books and films paint vivid pictures of a future that looks vastly different from that which we know today. There is the devastated world and its dystopian societies, the artificial world with synthetic humans, and myriads of other worlds scattered throughout foreign galaxies.

In these books and films, there’s always a quest, and there’s always a hero. Smart and strong, they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They have a sidekick, if lucky, but rarely are the leader and the sidekick equals, and they almost never operate as a team. The decisions these leaders make—the actions they take—culminate in the restoration of humanity.

What’s curious is that this iconic image of the heroic leader remains constant despite the vastly changed environment. It seems we can easily imagine different future contexts, but when it comes to thinking about leadership differently, we are on a repeating loop. It makes for great entertainment, but it is not the stuff of reality. Yes, the context will change—it is changing already—and this will demand adaptation by those playing a leading role.

So what is this different context? In a volatile and complex world, predicting the future with precision is a risky business. We can be sure, however, about four global mega-trends that are reshaping the environment and influencing business priorities:

First, diversity of markets: Demand is shifting to emerging markets. With their growing middle class, these new markets represent the single biggest growth opportunity in the portfolio of many companies around the world.

Second, diversity of customers: Customer demographics and attitudes are changing. Empowered through technology and with greater choice, an increasingly diverse customer base expects better personalization of products and services.

Third, diversity of ideas: Digital technology, hyper-connectivity, and deregulation are disrupting business value chains and the nature of consumption and competition. Few would argue against the need for rapid innovation.

Fourth, diversity of talent: Shifts in age profiles, education, and migration flows, along with expectations of equality of opportunity and work/life balance, are all impacting employee populations.

Diversity of markets, customers, ideas, and talent: These simultaneous shifts are the new context. For leaders who have perfected their craft in a more homogenous environment, rapid adjustment is in order. Of course, the core aspects of leadership, such as setting direction and influencing others, are timeless, but we see a new capability that is vital to the way leadership is executed. We call this inclusive leadership.

Inclusive leadership is about:

1.      Treating people and groups fairly—that is, based on their unique characteristics, rather than on stereotypes

2.     Personalizing individuals—that is, understanding and valuing the uniqueness of diverse others while also accepting them as members of the group

3.     Leveraging the thinking of diverse groups for smarter ideation and decision making that reduces the risk of being blindsided.

To achieve these aims, highly inclusive leaders demonstrate six signature traits—in terms of what they think about and what they do—that are reinforcing and interrelated. Collectively, these six traits represent a powerful capability highly adapted to diversity. Embodiment of these traits enables leaders to operate more effectively within diverse markets, better connect with diverse customers, access a more diverse spectrum of ideas, and enable diverse individuals in the workforce to reach their full potential.

These six traits and fifteen elements are not a meaningless or aspirational laundry list. As our interviews and formal 180-degree assessment of leaders and peers/followers revealed, they are very tangible and developable.

 

Commitment

Courage

Cognizance of bias

Curiosity

Culturally intelligent

Collaborative

What can organizations do?

The six signature traits of an inclusive leader have important implications for how organizations select and develop leaders. Below, we provide some possible actions to help organizations develop inclusive leadership capabilities and build a culture of inclusion.

Strategic alignment 

·         Highlight inclusive leadership as a core pillar within the organization’s diversity and inclusion strategy.

·         Articulate a compelling narrative as to why inclusive leadership is critical to business success. For example, how may inclusive leadership drive innovation and prevent the organization from being blindsided, support greater customer connectivity, optimize talent, and/or enable leaders to operate more effectively in a global marketplace?

·         Make symbolic workplace changes to signify the importance of inclusive leadership. For example, incorporate inclusion into an organization’s values to guide behaviors, and appoint senior leaders who embody inclusive leadership.

Recruitment 

·         Ensure that job advertisements emphasize inclusive leadership capabilities (for example, collaborative, curious) and the organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

·         Incorporate inclusion into behavioral interview questions. For example, an interviewer could ask, “Describe a situation where others you were working with disagreed with your ideas. How did you respond?”

Capability and competency management 

·         Integrate inclusive leadership capabilities into the organization’s leadership competency model.

Performance management 

·         Link KPIs to inclusive behaviors and diversity and inclusion outcomes. For example, establish a metric around employee perceptions of leadership commitment to diversity and inclusion and their inclusive behaviors.

·         Ensure that those appointed to senior-level positions embody inclusive leadership or demonstrate a genuine commitment to developing the capability for inclusive leadership.

·         Hold leaders to account for non-inclusive behaviors.

Rewards and recognition 

·         Reward leaders who role-model inclusive behaviors.

·         Showcase highly inclusive leaders across the organization as well as the benefits derived from their inclusive behavior.

Leadership development 

·         Formally assess inclusive leadership capabilities across senior leaders and people managers. Identify individual and organizational developmental gaps and create development plans.

·         Encourage leaders to seek informal feedback from others on their capability for inclusive leadership.

·         Integrate development of the six signature traits of inclusive leadership into leadership development programs.

System integration 

·         Integrate inclusive leadership into the organization’s global mobility strategy in order to help assess participant readiness and to develop current and future leaders.

·         Consider how inclusive leadership—as well as the broader principles of diversity and inclusion—fit within the organization’s innovation strategy and processes. For example, in undertaking ideation or problem-solving activities, ensure that leaders assemble teams that are diverse in their thinking and that individual and group biases are mitigated in group discussions.

Diversity—of markets, customers, ideas, and talent—is an inescapable part of today’s business environment. When leaders have clarity about what it means to be highly inclusive—through the six signature traits and fifteen elements—they are positioned for success.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Are you Leading?

Dr. Deepak A. Patil

CEO, Lead ThySelf