Building & Sustaining Inclusive Teams for the Insight

An inclusive work environment promotes a sense of belonging and acceptance among employees, which can improve engagement and job satisfaction.  It also can foster diverse perspectives and experiences which can lead to innovation and creativity as well as improved decision-making and problem solving.  In addition, an inclusive environment can help attract and retain talent.  This CAP will help you demonstrate that you are an inclusive leader and serve as an advocate for an inclusive culture. 

Leveraging Experience 

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As a leader who identifies with being a woman, person of color, or a part of another marginalized group, you may have had experiences where you felt that your voice was not heard, or your opinion did not matter. Or you may have been excluded from a social event, either during work hours or off-hours.  These situations can not only be frustrating and demotivating for you or the person directly impacted but can also have a negative impact on others who experience this exclusionary behavior.   

 

By creating an inclusive culture and demonstrating behavior that values opposing viewpoints in constructive dialogue, you can create an environment where people at all levels in the organization can contribute.  This diversity of thought can increase innovation, creativity and strategic thinking by leveraging people’s unique experiences and a wider range of knowledge. 

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Serving as an Inclusive Leader 

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One of the first ways to serve as an inclusive leader is to create a safe environment for others to share diverse perspectives and be a good listener. 

 

Creating a safe environment: 

There are many elements needed for people to feel that the environment is safe: 

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• Demonstrate that you are a trusting and trustworthy leader.  You can do this by assuming good intent from the members of your team; assume that the input provided is intended to contribute to a successful outcome.  

• Create norms with the team about how everyone should share and receive input to set expectations among the team.  Some potential norms might be share ideas succinctly, it is (or is not) ok to call on people who have not spoken, don’t interrupt, don’t critique ideas when team is brainstorming. 

• Reflect on your leadership style and potential triggers and identify ways you will mitigate the impact on the team.  Identify a way for you and the team to share your leadership styles and/or triggers. Share how each of you will take accountability to control your triggers when working together. 

• Be clear about the input you are seeking.  This allows others to be successful in meeting your needs.   

• Suggest that people build on ideas that have been shared by others as well as proposing new ideas. 

• Be clear if you are asking people to brainstorm or plan ideas.  Be clear if you will ask everyone to provide input in advance.  Don’t call on people before they are ready. 

• Be open to innovative solutions; potentially explore an alternative that has never been discussed and ask for team input to build on an idea shared. 

• Ask people who haven’t contributed to provide their input. 

• Thank people for sharing their perspectives, even if you disagree with the idea.  Explore your potential biases with regard to the idea to see if they are valid. 

• Ask clarifying questions to understand the ideas fully. 

• Check in to see if you have created a safe environment. Observe behavior and see if everyone is engaged or quiet.  If no one responds when you ask for feedback, you may not be clear about the input you are seeking, or you have not created a safe environment.  Potentially ask if there should be any changes to the norms to encourage inclusivity. 

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Seek diversity 

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• Bring new voices to the conversation.  Invite someone from another department into the meeting to get a fresh perspective. 

• Ask the team who else would have good input on this subject who might be in another department or potentially outside the company. 

• Identify people who have unique experiences and a wider range of knowledge.  

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Be a good listener: 

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• As information is shared, restate the ideas in your own words to validate understanding. 

• Avoid evaluating the ideas as they are shared (i.e., saying “that’s a good idea” because the next idea may not be worthy of a compliment thus unintentionally creating frustration and potential hostility). 

• 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 (i.e., towards immediate action vs planning and documenting). 

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To be an inclusive leader, it is necessary to look for opportunities to create an inclusive environment all the time, not just during a specific meeting.  Demonstrating these behaviors consistently will allow people to see that this is an authentic part of your leadership style and trust that the environment is safe, even outside of structured meetings where the norm is established. 

Creating an Inclusive Culture 

 

Demonstrating inclusive leadership does not automatically create an inclusive culture.  It is important to reinforce the elements of an inclusive environment and call out behavior that does not contribute to inclusivity. 

 

How are others creating a safe environment, getting diverse opinions and listening openly to people with new or potentially conflicting ideas?  Are you coaching people to encourage these behaviors or accepting the status quo? 

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