3 Ways You Can Be An Inclusive Leader, Right Now
Now more than ever, we have an opportune time to make changes to be more inclusive in our workplace. Whether you are already in a leadership role, or want to be one soon, here are three tangible actions you can implement right now in quarantine to be a strong, inclusive leader.
- Right-Size Disproportionality
Our workforce is out of proportion. You’ve heard the statistics — womxn are 2x more likely than men (in heterosexual relationships) to manage the household and caregiving duties. Black studies in schools show that black students are 3x more likely to be suspended. Black womxn are 4x more likely to die during child bearing.
When you think about some of these disproportionalities and even drag that through an intersectional lens, you realize the deep complexities of our identity. What about womxn of color? What about womxn of color with a disability? What about womxn of color with a disability raising a child with special needs or caregiving for older parents? These characteristics of our lives and identities create different experiences and can have a disproportionate impact on what we are able to access.
So, when people are coming to the table with different stuff — different life experiences, access points, exposure, etc; we can’t just give them the same thing. We have to understand who they are, where they come from, and adjust what we provide accordingly.
We’re all inherently the same. Our environment creates disproportionate impacts. We can’t change that we’re born into a historical context of discrimination and oppression. What’s in our power as inclusive leaders is to adjust what we provide accordingly and do what we can to not perpetuate some of these narratives.
What you can do personally: build empathy for others, be open to making mistakes, let go of past plans, accept new ways of thinking about what’s possible at work.
What you can do structurally: center folks on the margins, adjust meeting schedule and norms, update “universal” language in your meetings, develop and use budgets to address differing needs, add demographic lens to your activities, and track trends to inform solutions.
2. Foster Psychological Safety
The term “safe space” has seemingly become ubiquitous but what does that really mean and how can we foster that?
Amy Edmondson’s research shows that true Psychological Safety shows up in identifiable characteristics that teams display and how they engage with one another. Behaviors of such a team show that the team experiments, engages in constructive confrontation, provides help and expertise, makes improvements and changes as needed, and seeks and gives feedback.
Members of a psychologically safe team are: respecting each other’s abilities, are interested in each other as people, aren’t rejected for being themselves or stating what they think, and believe other members have positive intentions.
Especially as womxn of color in our position as leaders, we can place ourselves in a situation to provide and create more psychologically safe teams because we know the experience of not having had that.
So, how do we do it?
What you can do personally: check in with your own values, evaluate your own biases, set boundaries and respect those set by others, allow space for people to change, use affirms to keep yourself aligned to your values, goals and areas of growth.
What you can do structurally: mindfully address any pre-existing challenges, address unmet needs, restructure workday to meet needs of the team, share control, open opportunities for innovation from others, provide a runway for people to learn and pivot, and ensure regular opportunities for structured and unstructured feedback.
3. Build Leadership Legacy
As an inclusive leader, building your leadership legacy involves addressing your brand, reputation, culture, and values. This encompasses what you say about yourself as much as what others say about you. It also means how you make decisions and what you make decisions for.
In this moment, how you show up in these realms will define you moving forward.
One exercise you can do to check if you are building a legacy for those following in your footsteps is to ask yourself: Am I being a good ancestor? Am I building something that will make it easier for someone to come up behind me? Here are some ways you can implement that:
What you can do personally: stay present in your learning, act with a spirit of generosity, move at the pace of trust, and be ready for permanent changes, positive or negative.
What you can do structurally: contain and interpret for those who follow you, document your process, ask whose needs are not being met, learn out loud, center people and workforce impacts as you balance business needs, innovate through collaboration, and share lessons learned widely.
Holding decision making power means that after you do something, things are going to look different. Starting to brainstorm and implement these changes now in your Zoom meetings can be your foot in the door to pivotal, systematic, and structural changes to create a more inclusive workforce for our future. Start with these three ways to combat exclusivity now and bring with you back to the workforce on the other side of the pandemic to make lasting, impactful changes.
Watch the full webinar recording here.
This post was adapted from our webinar lesson with Jodi-Ann Burey, Speaker, Writer, & Disrupter. Jodi-Ann has worked to build workplace cultures centered on shared values and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) core principles.
