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Companies increasingly rely on diverse, multidisciplinary teams that
combine the collective capabilities of women and men, people of
different cultural heritage, and younger and older workers. But simply
throwing a mix of people together doesn’t guarantee high performance; it
requires
inclusive leadership — leadership that assures that
all team members feel they are treated respectfully and fairly, are
valued and sense that they belong, and are confident and inspired.
Inclusiveness isn’t just nice to have on teams. Our
research
shows that it directly enhances performance. Teams with inclusive
leaders are 17% more likely to report that they are high performing, 20%
more likely to say they make high-quality decisions, and 29% more
likely to report behaving collaboratively. What’s more,
we found
that a 10% improvement in perceptions of inclusion increases work
attendance by almost 1 day a year per employee, reducing the cost of
absenteeism.
What specific actions can leaders take to be more inclusive? To
answer this question, we surveyed more than 4,100 employees about
inclusion, interviewed those identified by followers as highly
inclusive, and reviewed the academic literature on leadership. From this
research,
we identified 17 discrete sets of behaviors, which we grouped into six
categories (or “traits”), all of which are equally important and
mutually reinforcing. We then built a 360-degree assessment tool for use
by followers to rate the presence of these traits among leaders. The
tool has now been used by over 3,500 raters to evaluate over 450
leaders. The results are illuminating.
These are the six traits or behaviors that we found distinguish inclusive leaders from others:
Visible commitment: They articulate authentic
commitment to diversity, challenge the status quo, hold others
accountable and make diversity and inclusion a personal priority.
Humility: They are modest about capabilities, admit mistakes, and create the space for others to contribute.
Awareness of bias: They show awareness of personal blind spots as well as flaws in the system and work hard to ensure meritocracy.
Curiosity about others: They demonstrate an open
mindset and deep curiosity about others, listen without judgment, and
seek with empathy to understand those around them.
Cultural intelligence: They are attentive to others’ cultures and adapt as required.
Effective collaboration: They empower others, pay attention to diversity of thinking and psychological safety, and focus on team cohesion.
These traits may seem like the obvious ones, similar to those that
are broadly important for good leadership. But the difference between
assessing and developing good leadership generally versus inclusive
leadership in particular lies in three specific insights.
First, most leaders in the study were unsure about whether others
experienced them as inclusive or not. More particularly, only a third
(36%) saw their inclusive leadership capabilities as others did, another
third (32%) overrated their capabilities and the final third (33%)
underrated their capabilities. Even more importantly, rarely were
leaders certain about the specific behaviors that actually have an
impact on being rated as more or less inclusive.
Second, being rated as an inclusive leader is not determined by
averaging all members’ scores but rather by the
distribution
of raters’ scores. For example, it’s not enough that, on average,
raters agree that a leader “approaches diversity and inclusiveness
wholeheartedly.” Using a five-point scale (ranging from “strongly agree”
to “strongly disagree”), an average rating could mean that some team
members disagree while others agree. To be an inclusive leader, one must
ensure that
everyone agrees or strongly agrees that they are
being treated fairly and respectfully, are valued, and have a sense of
belonging and are psychologically safe.
Third, inclusive leadership is not about occasional grand gestures,
but regular, smaller-scale comments and actions. By comparing the
qualitative feedback regarding the most inclusive (top 25%) and the
least inclusive (bottom 25%) of leaders in our sample, we discovered
that inclusive leadership is tangible and practiced every day.
These verbatim responses from our assessments illustrate some of the
tangible behaviors of the most inclusive leaders in the study.
- Shares personal weaknesses: “[This leader] will openly ask
about information that she is not aware of. She demonstrates a humble
unpretentious work manner. This puts others at ease, enabling them to
speak out and voice their opinions, which she values.”
- Learns about cultural differences: “[This leader] has taken the time to learn the ropes (common words, idioms, customs, likes/dislikes) and the cultural pillars.”
- Acknowledges team members as individuals:
“[This leader] leads a team of over 100 people and yet addresses every
team member by name, knows the work stream that they support and the
work that they do.”
The following verbatims illustrate some of the behaviors of the least inclusive leaders:
- Overpowers others: “He can be very direct and overpowering
which limits the ability of those around him to contribute to meetings
or participate in conversations.”
- Displays favoritism: “Work is assigned to the same top
performers, creating unsustainable workloads. [There is a] need to give
newer team members opportunities to prove themselves.”
- Discounts alternative views: “[This leader] can
have very set ideas on specific topics. Sometimes it is difficult to get
an alternative view across. There is a risk that his team may hold back
from bringing forward challenging and alternative points of view.”
What leaders say and do has an outsized impact on others, but our
research indicates that this effect is even more pronounced when they
are leading diverse teams. Subtle words and acts of exclusion by
leaders, or overlooking the exclusive behaviors of others, easily
reinforces the status quo. It takes energy and deliberate effort to
create an inclusive culture, and that starts with leaders paying much
more attention to what they say and do on a daily basis and making
adjustments as necessary. Here are four ways for leaders to get started:
Know your inclusive-leadership shadow: Seek feedback
on whether you are perceived as inclusive, especially from people who
are different from you. This will help you to see your blind spots,
strengths, and development areas. It will also signal that diversity and
inclusion are important to you. Scheduling regular check-ins with
members of your team to ask how you can make them feel more included
also sends the message.
Be visible and vocal: Tell a compelling and explicit
narrative about why being inclusive is important to you personally and
the business more broadly. For example, share your personal stories at
public forums and conferences.
Deliberately seek out difference: Give people on the
periphery of your network the chance to speak up, invite different
people to the table, and catch up with a broader network. For example,
seek out opportunities to work with cross-functional or
multi-disciplinary teams to leverage diverse strengths.
Check your impact: Look for signals that you are
having a positive impact. Are people copying your role modeling? Is a
more diverse group of people sharing ideas with you? Are people working
together more collaboratively? Ask a trusted advisor to give you candid
feedback on the areas you have been working on.
There’s more to be learned about how to become an inclusive leader
and harness the power of diverse teams, but one thing is clear: leaders
who consciously practice inclusive leadership and actively develop their
capability will see the results in the superior performance of their
diverse teams.
