For organizations, these macro trends call for an increased focus on inclusion – not least because organizations are increasingly fact-checked and held accountable for their EI&D performance. This means that inclusive leadership at the organizational level is needed. Organizations need to take a stand – also in potentially heated debates – and back this up with broad and sustainable systems and processes to help organizations become visible allies.
Five steps to update inclusion measures
We recommend five steps to update the quality and reliability of inclusion measures to give them more meaning and provide a more accurate pulse in tune with employees’ perceptions of inclusion.
1. Update your existing inclusion index, or start an inclusion index that covers questions related to all components of inclusion
Organizations that already actively measure inclusion might start by asking themselves if they have updated their questions to reflect all the components of inclusion. Including those who have been added in the last two years.
2. Consider adding an Inclusion Net Promoter Score (iNPS) and Inclusion Nudges
Both tools are simple and easy to implement. The iNPS, a new tool developed as part of the Inclusive Future project, asks employees if they would recommend the organization to members of underrepresented groups. This score can give you a pulse on what employees think of your organization while nudges can spur employees to adjust their behavior and foster more inclusion.
3. Analyze your inclusion index and iNPS results to hear all voices, especially underrepresented ones, including intersections of employee groups
Ensure that results are analyzed by using several sub-groups to raise the voices of underrepresented groups, including those belonging to different underrepresented groups (e.g., people of color and LGBTQ+; or gender and management level and region) so that their input is not drowned in the majority group’s input. More often than not, the experience of inclusion is different based on different diversity aspects coupled with seniority, business, location and more.
4. Consider running an in-depth dedicated survey focused exclusively on inclusion
Several organizations have decided to spend time and effort to address inclusion in more depth and breadth than the inclusion index allows. These surveys are usually based on questions tested for their reliability and meaningfulness and are rolled out every two or three years.
5. Add qualitative insights to the quantitative inclusion measures and give both visibility
Qualitative insights offer a sense of what is happening right now and may raise topics unaddressed in yearly static surveys. Consider building in quarterly lunch-and-learns, blogs, digital boards, leader-led speaking sessions, or any other live engagement session and bring in burning inclusion topics to discuss and sense the pulse. This is a good opportunity to lead difficult conversations such as white privilege and patriarchy and understand what opportunities surface to address these.
In addition to the above steps, it is highly recommended that leadership development and talent frameworks list inclusive leadership as a core leadership and talent requirement and that leaders are held accountable to deliver.
Regular 360s including questions related to inclusive leadership will provide insights for further action and improvement. It is through the role modeling of leaders at all levels of the organization that culture changes, one conversation, one day at a time.
Here are some behavioral nudges that can lead to more inclusive leadership: