Daily Times

In today’s postmodern, ever-changing, and highly globalized world, there are pressing demands for creating more diverse and inclusive organizations. There is plenty of research scholarship available on the subject to propound that diverse and inclusive organizations are far more likely to capture new markets and, thus, outperform their competitors. Although there is an increased focus on promoting a culture of equality, inclusion, and diversity, only some organizations have achieved their loftier goal of becoming inclusive and diverse in letter and spirit. One of the strongest reasons for this failure is that most organizations tend to overlook the pivotal role of inclusive leadership. Therefore, inclusive leadership is very rare, with merely a dwindling minority of leaders across the globe categorized as truly inclusive. Furthermore, research evidence testifies that businesses that excelled at employee sense of inclusion achieved an increased perceived team productivity, positive decision-making, and enhanced growth in collaboration rates. Thus, in workplace culture, inclusive leadership is emerging as a popular and necessary form of company growth and organizational success. The secret to this competitive advantage over others is that inclusive leaders are able to establish open, clear, and transparent communication within their teams that enables them to interact, empathize, and personally associate with their team members across the horizontal and vertical lines. Thus, they are able to build bridges and bonds, instill trust, and build personal relationships with the people around them. These abilities increase their effectiveness and the impact they have on the people and organizations they lead. Hence, through the inclusive style of leadership, leaders seek collaboration and communication with colleagues to carry out effective decision-making and problem-solving in the workplace. All the team members feel valued and involved in decision-making and thereby develop a sense of belonging to the organization they serve. Likewise, inclusive leaders capitalize on the knowledge, skills, aptitude, and experience of their entire team when making important decisions to pursue and achieve their shared vision. Hence, inclusive leaders are far more likely to be accepted and welcomed by employees as their voices are heard, valued, and respected.

Inclusive leaders have some unique qualities that make them very popular within their teams and they lead as impactful and inspirational leaders. They are able to put themselves in others’ shoes and feel for their situations, limitations, failures, and low moments. Therefore, empathy is the hallmark of an inclusive leadership style. By establishing a very personal bond with their team members, they are able to develop a deeper understanding of their social, professional, and cultural backgrounds and how these diverse experiences have contributed to shaping their unique perspectives, attitudes, and skills. They not only embrace differences in a heterogeneous group but also celebrate this rich diversity through their acts and utterances. Similarly, humility is yet another rare trait that inclusive leadership manifests by accepting their personal and professional limitations, welcoming suggestions, soliciting feedback from their team members, and, thus, always displaying a strong commitment to personal learning and mental growth. Moreover, they are imbued with immense resilience, and they are capable of bouncing back sooner than expected. They rise to challenging occasions, meet the crises halfway, and come back stronger than before. They evoke confidence in turbulent times and take urgent but informed decisions to calm the storm. Resilience is not possible without the courage to take calculated risks and seek difficult and bold decisions. Similarly, they stand up against biases, discriminatory policies, and delinquent behaviors. Their principled stance contributes significantly to promoting a culture of inclusion, equality, and diversity in the organization they lead. Furthermore, inclusive leaders are effective communicators and are able to develop, promote, and drive a shared vision. They mobilize, motivate, and inspire their team members towards that higher purpose, and a lofty aim to achieve in the largest interest of the organization they serve together as a team.

It is a pertinent question to ask as to why inclusive leadership is important for individuals and organizations. The answer lies in a wide array of benefits attached to this specific style of leadership. The inclusive leaders believe that every team member in the organization is a unique human resource. This gives them the confidence to capitalize on the pool of diverse talent and make bold and innovative decisions to solve problems and find solutions through collective wisdom. Therefore, inclusiveness is the rare ability to rise above the divides, biases, or prejudices and lead and manage people and organizations to foster an enabling work environment in which all the team members feel safe, recognized, respected, and valued for their intrinsic abilities and talents. Thus, inclusive leadership is one of many leadership styles that can be effectively leveraged to maximize performance, achieve optimum growth, and build high-performance teams. By promoting a culture of personal engagement, individual attention, and social connection, inclusive leaders can successfully motivate teams to work harder, and achieve far greater outcomes because of the inspired team spirit. Likewise, by active listening, empathy, and compassion, they use soft language that inculcates a sense of unity, oneness, and a deeper sense of belongingness in the entire team. There is no denying the fact that motivated people and inspired teams can easily outperform their competitors and win victories with teamwork, collaborative spirit, and a formidable unity forged through fairness, equality, and inclusion. Therefore,  inclusive leadership can unleash individual talent and unlock the potential of the organization by harnessing the immense diversity of knowledge, experience, attitude, skills, and abilities shared by the team members.

Inclusive leaders employ various techniques and find innovative ways to maximize the gains in a truly inclusive work environment which they can create through conscious and consistent efforts. They encourage collaboration, embrace differences of opinion, and respect different ideas shared by the group members. They empower their team members to take innovative initiatives and reassure them of their continued and unconditional support even when the desired outcomes are not achieved in the first phase. They are fully aware of the intrinsic power of mentorship and constant guidance. Thus, they build confidence in each individual and instill a sense of self-belief in the team that they are capable of overcoming odds and surmounting challenges by their hard work and sincerity of purpose. They are cognizant of the possibility of mistakes, failures, and sub-optimal results in adverse conditions. They are able to create an environment where all talent can thrive and grow in an equitable, inclusive, and resilient manner. Thus, in the final analysis, it can safely be inferred that in today’s volatile, uncertain, and challenging environment, it is immensely important to build inclusive teams and foster diversity in the organization. There is no better way or stronger factor in realizing this aspiration than inclusive leadership at the top. The sooner an organization realizes this secret to success the better.

The writer is a civil servant, published author, and communication specialist. He is currently enrolled as a PhD Scholar at the University of Leicester, UK.