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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Five everyday scenarios that call for inclusive leadership – and how to go about it

Published 24 October 2024 in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion • 7 min read

The workplace is crying out for more inclusive leadership. Discover the top five situations where it’s needed the most and the everyday actions that can help you elevate your leadership from good to great.

Making all employees feel heard, valued, and included has always been a hallmark of effective leadership. In our post-pandemic world, the importance of doing so is only increasing. Research has found consistently that inclusive leaders drive up work engagement, creativity, and performance.

However, inclusive leadership is easier said than done. Oftentimes, leaders are overburdened with avalanches of demands and rely on instincts and habitual responses when it comes to managing people. But inclusion frequently defies habits. To be inclusive, leaders need to be able to discern hidden barriers and deliberately choose actions based on inclusive principles.

To find out when inclusive leadership behaviors are most needed, and what sets apart insufficient, good, and great leadership for promoting inclusiveness, we collected insights from 104 diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) experts from a wide variety of industries in the US. They are award-winning, peer-nominated, or experienced inclusive leaders. These experts provided 147 scenarios where inclusive leadership is particularly needed, along with 441 leader responses that represent low, medium, and high levels of leader inclusiveness.

“Good inclusive leadership is characterized by a desire to support individuals, listen for input in decisions, distribute information and resources equally, and help build team camaraderie.”

1. When is inclusive leadership most needed?

Inclusive leadership is needed not only when biases or discriminatory behaviors happen; they happen in the everyday operations of teams and organizations. Five common themes emerged.

  • Lost perspectives: Decision-making for the team (35% of scenarios) 

These scenarios highlight leaders’ decision-making related to issues such as hiring, dress code changes, and team members’ representation and participation at meetings. Some scenarios in this theme also speak to developing organization-wide strategic plans, creating work schedule changes, allocating professional development resources, and reorganizations. It is easy to utilize perspectives from those with whom a leader is familiar or close to, but it is a challenge to ensure all perspectives are heard and utilized in decisions that affect all members.

  • Transgressions: Microaggressions, discriminations, and exclusion (17% of scenarios) 

These scenarios involve situations where discriminatory comments, biases, and unfair treatment of employees from underrepresented backgrounds occur. Examples involve sexist comments toward women, dismissal of people with disabilities, exclusion of junior-level staff and religious minority employees, and societal or community events involving bias and discrimination.

  • Left behind: Uneven participation of diverse team members (14% of scenarios) 

These scenarios involve the potential disconnect or reduced participation of historically underrepresented group members (e.g., racial minority employees, junior-level members, women in male-dominated teams, and members in teams operating in remote environments). The scenarios can occur in everyday team interactions, including regular meetings, social events, task assignments, or the formation of a new team or task force.

  • Sticking out: Clash of member needs and mainstream practices (13% of scenarios) 

These scenarios capture situations wherein members from historically underrepresented groups have non-mainstream needs and face challenges from mainstream practices. Examples include gender-non-conforming students lacking inclusive bathrooms, those with child or elder caregiving responsibilities challenged with fixed work schedules, LGBTQ+ and women employees not feeling comfortable with social event options determined by majority group members, employees celebrating holidays not in the dominant culture or context, members with multiple work shifts not having accessible professional development opportunities, and members with disabilities with unhelpful standard office equipment.

  • Tangled up: DE&I initiatives (11% of scenarios) 

Scenarios that fall under this theme involve launching new DE&I initiatives whose positive intentions may be derailed by unclear processes and unintended consequences. Questions abound such as who should be involved in developing DE&I action plans, what DE&I strategies should be developed, how to address a wide variety of needs and goals from diverse stakeholders, how to encourage participation in DE&I initiatives from all employees, and how to facilitate conversations around issues such as pay equity.

2. What sets apart insufficient, good, and great inclusive leadership?

Based on the results of our survey of exemplary inclusive leaders, we identified and categorized them according to their inclusive behaviors:

  • Insufficient inclusive leadership: Autocratic efficiency driver

Insufficient inclusive leadership is marked by a priority on efficiency, control, and task completion over individual and relationship concerns. Insufficient inclusive leaders do not recognize or affirm the diverse needs and challenges faced by individual members. They apply unilateral decision-making, give minimal attention to equity considerations, overlook the invisible challenges of non-mainstream individuals, and avoid getting involved in relationship building as they view it as a non-critical aspect of task completion. Such behaviors may help meet shorter-term business goals but may also lead to longer-term problems, such as an increased turnover risk for individuals out of the mainstream due to inadequate support, lower decision quality because not all perspectives are considered, and the shortage of camaraderie that is necessary to build trust and bind group members together through challenging situations.

  • Good inclusive leadership: Ad hoc compassionate

Good inclusive leadership is characterized by a desire to support individuals, listen for input in decisions, distribute information and resources equally, and help build team camaraderie. However, these actions are carried out on a case-by-case basis within entrenched practices. For example, they tolerate the needs of non-mainstream individuals and provide help when called upon. They rely on general approaches (e.g., mass distribution of email messages) to gather decision input from the majority without considering the actual participation of different individuals. They are committed to addressing equity concerns by evoking general policies or tackling bias incidents on an individual basis.

  • Great inclusive leadership: Systematic barrier-breaker

Great inclusive leadership follows four behavioral principles: (1) affirming differences – assuming differences among individuals and affirming their unique value, (2) striving for full participation – enabling actual participation of all members not just majority members, (3) adopting systematic approaches – using structured processes and group level interventions to normalize inclusive practices, and (4) maximizing flexibility – leveraging a variety of approaches, formal and informal, to solicit perspectives and build relationships.

Two examples

Scenario 1: Lisa, a dedicated team member on Jose’s team, approached Jose with a request to adjust her work hours to accommodate her new childcare responsibilities. This request is not common in the organization as most employees follow a strict 9-to-5 schedule.

Insufficient inclusive leadership: Jose expresses skepticism about Lisa’s request given that all others follow the 9-to-5 schedule. He conveys concerns about how it might disrupt the team’s workflow and create inconsistencies. This leaves Lisa feeling unsupported and anxious about her ability to balance her responsibilities.

Good inclusive leadership: Jose considers Lisa’s request and, after discussing the details and potential impacts on work tasks, he approves it, with no additional follow-up actions. While Lisa appreciates the flexibility, she feels that she is left to manage the changes on her own.

Great inclusive leadership: Jose not only affirms that Lisa’s need is reasonable but also expresses his commitment to supporting Lisa’s well-being and work performance. After engaging Lisa about her specific needs and challenges, he approves the request and offers additional resources, such as remote work options. Lisa feels supported and confident that her transition will set her up for success.

Scenario 2: Aisha notices that some members of her team are not actively participating in meetings when the group is making important decisions.

Insufficient inclusive leadership: Aisha chooses not to intervene. She proceeds to make decisions based on the input of those who speak up. This approach leaves the quiet members feeling disengaged and uninvolved.

Good inclusive leadership: Aisha intentionally calls on the quiet members to share their thoughts and opinions when they do not speak up in meetings. While this approach encourages participation from quieter team members, it puts them on the spot and makes them feel singled out or pressured.

Great inclusive leadership: Aisha adopts structured meeting processes, such as a round-robin format, pro-con discussions, or using anonymous polls to gather input from each member during meetings. Additionally, she seeks input from quieter members outside of meetings, including one-on-one discussions or email exchanges.

Summary

Differing from existing thinking highlighting inclusive leaders’ functions when biases happen, our findings suggest that inclusive leadership behaviors are needed more in normal operations than in exceptional situations. And distinct from common conceptions of inclusive leaders as being nice to others, great inclusive leadership is deliberate, principled, and systematic. It involves assuming and affirming differences, ensuring full participation, leveraging formal and informal channels, and innovating out of entrenched practices. It is a superpower leaders can acquire to elevate the well-being and performance of their people, teams, and organizations.

Authors

Wei Zheng

Wei Zheng is the Richard R. Roscitt Endowed Chair Professor in Leadership at Stevens Institute of Technology. Her research, teaching, and practice focus on leadership and diversity, exploring topics such as how leaders develop, how women leaders thrive in organizations, and what inclusive leaders do. Her work on thought leadership was recognized as a finalist for the 2021 Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award for Leadership.

Haoying Xu

Haoying (Howie) Xu, Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, researches leadership, workplace relationships, and emotions. His work is featured in Harvard Business Review and Fortune. He holds a PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Peter G. Dominick

Peter G. Dominick is a Teaching Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, specializing in leadership development. He coordinates MBA programs and consults for organizations like ExxonMobil and NASA. Peter holds a PhD in Applied Psychology and has received multiple awards for teaching excellence.

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