Inclusive leadership training assists leaders in understanding their implicit assumptions and preferences. It also seeks to improve their motivation and ability to empower diverse talent and integrate difference into work practices and decision-making.
Studies show that when leaders succeed in cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace, the organisation will be rewarded with better decisions, creative collaboration, motivated and engaged employees, and improved individual, team and organisational performance.
Capabilities
Inclusive leaders possess the knowledge, traits and abilities required to:
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Build a diverse team: Workforce across rank and function is diverse. Lived experience of fair progression.
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Foster interpersonal safety: Employees bring their authentic self to work. Lived experience of respect.
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Integrate difference: All employees contribute fully to work practices and decision-making. Lived experience of belonging and empowerment.
Defining Traits
Inclusive leaders embody six core traits:
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Optimism: Having the belief that others are well-intentioned and competent
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Curiosity: Approaching interactions with a learner rather than judger mindset
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Humility: Letting go of the need to be right; accepting there is more than one way to interpret and respond to the world and that your view is limited
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Mindfulness: Consciously reflecting on how bias is influencing your interactions and decision-making, and acting with a conscious intent to be fair
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Flexibility: Willingness to flex expectations and interpersonal/leadership style
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Emotionally Intelligent: Responding to others with empathy and regulating your emotional response to bad news and challenge
Program Objectives
Our Inclusive Leadership program has three main objectives:
(i) engage leaders in behavioural and cultural change
(ii) strengthen leadership capability for fostering inclusive workplaces where diverse talent are able and willing to contribute fully to work practices and decision-making
(iii) embed learnings through action learning and accountability
Workshop Outline
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Identifying organisation-specific business drivers for diversity and inclusion
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The four-factor model of inclusion—respect, belonging, empowerment, progression
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The role of leaders in driving cultural change
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Leadership strategies for building a diverse team, fostering interpersonal safety, and integrating difference
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The defining traits of inclusive leaders
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Mapping inclusive leadership traits to one’s leadership shadow
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Developing an action and accountability plan linked to business strategy
Learning Outcomes
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Respect for and willingness to embrace individual differences and diverse perspectives
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Appreciation of the value of the contributions of all employees
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Linking diversity and inclusion efforts to business strategy
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Knowledge of the characteristic traits of inclusive leaders
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An understanding of the nature, origin, and consequences of cognitive blindspots and bias
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Awareness of one’s own ingrained preferences and assumptions
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Strategies for fostering interpersonal safety including upstander skills
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Techniques for eliciting and integrating diversity of thought and fostering a collaborative culture
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Willingness and ability to flex leadership styles
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Techniques to manage bias in oneself and others
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Understanding of solutions for empowering diverse talent
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Action and accountability plan linked to business strategy and personal strengths and developmental areas
Consistent with research on adult learning, we believe that the best learning outcomes result when participants engage holistically with program content. All Include-Empower learning and development programs incorporate experiential learning techniques, including opportunities to reflect on and apply learnings to the real-life challenges facing participants.
Leaders and people managers seeking to improve the diversity and inclusion capability of themselves and their organisations.
Recommended workshop size is 8-20 participants.
Developing an inclusive mindset requires commitment. The recommended length of the workshop is a half-day (3-hours). The workshop may be run face-to-face or delivered virtually over two 90-min modules. During formal training, leaders are encouraged to reflect on their real-life leadership context, identify challenges and opportunities facing their particular business area, and develop an action plan for addressing those challenges by identifying specific inclusive leadership behaviours introduced during the workshop that they can practice back in the work-setting. To drive accountability and embed learnings, we offer a facilitated debrief six to eight weeks post the initial workshop for the purpose of sharing learnings, and extending commitments or setting new commitments.
We have a transparent fee structure. Please contact us for details.
Related Reading
- How to develop inclusive leaders
- Developing inclusive leadership: Helping leaders to see themselves as others see them
- Inclusive leadership: Have the courage to seek feedback
- “Just tell me what to do”: Useful frameworks for thinking about inclusive leadership
- Before sending female talent to confidence training, consider inclusive leadership
- Inclusion fundamentals: How to foster work settings where employees feel respected
- Having trouble engaging men in gender equality? Try these tips
- Inclusion fundamentals: How to nurture psychological safety and a speak-up culture
- Mind your micro-biases: Subtle slights that exclude
- Nudging bias out of your workplace: Inclusion learnings from social psychology
- CEO’s with diverse networks create higher firm value
- Flip your world: Cultural intelligence and adaptive leadership
- Taboos & Trepidation: How to be colour brave and support cultural diversity at leadership in Australia
- Deloitte’s six signature traits of inclusive leadership
- How to debate ideas productively at work (HBR)
- How men can become better allies to women (HBR)