Are You Unintentionally Excluding People in the Decisions You Make and How You Lead Them?
You are likely reading this blog because you either want to validate that you are an inclusive leader, or you want to see if there is something you can do differently to be more inclusive. You might be surprised to learn what inclusion looks like when it comes to making talent decisions and leading your team.
It is only natural to automatically think “I don’t need to work on this; I’m already inclusive.” Or “My team is doing great; there’s nothing I need to change”
But when was the last time you took an objective look at the way you think about talent?
To take an honest look at this, one must be willing to do a thought audit. When you inventory your decision-making process and keep an open mind, you not only open yourself to learning how to be more effective, but you also actively practice the servant led leadership philosophy. It is about saying, “I might be wrong, or I can do better” and invest in serving the greater good of your people and your organization.
If you are immediately resistant to an idea or a new way of thinking, it is important to be willing to examine why you are reacting that way. This form of resistance can be viewed as being dishonest. Not in the sense that you are lying to others, but it is the lies we tell ourselves that prevent us from seeing a new perspective.
This is key to seeing how you can be more of an inclusive leader. If you cannot acknowledge where you can grow as a person, you limit yourself and your team to your current level.
Want to learn more about how to become an inclusive leader? At Unified in Coaching, we offer leadership coaching services with an emphasis on inclusivity. Book a consultation with us to get started.
A Visual Experience
If I came to you and said, "While I was making my way into work this morning, I saw the police struggling to arrest someone while waiting at a stop light. They were yelling and it was a bit unnerving. I just sat there anxiously waiting for the light to turn green so I can quickly drive away."
What details came to mind as you read that experience?
Did you envision a man or a woman? Did any physical attributes come to mind? (i.e., race, age, disability, etc.)
There are no right or wrong answers. Whatever you imagined, that is where your unconscious mind naturally takes you. Each of us will have a different interpretation of these details because they are dependent upon our experiences in life that form these thoughts and beliefs.
They are shortcuts our mind takes that are so automatic and subtle, that we do not even notice them. And our brain works like this all the time. But I want to emphasize that this automatic thinking is normal, and we are all wired this way. In fact, 95% of our thinking is unconscious. It makes up who we are.
So as leaders, we must learn how objectively examine our beliefs because our unconscious thinking might exclude others based on where our minds automatically take us.
Inclusion Questionnaire
Maybe I have convinced you that examining your thoughts and beliefs is beneficial, but you are not quite sure if you need to dig deeper into being a more inclusive leader.
Take a moment to review the inclusion questionnaire. Ideally, take some time to mull these questions over. You may realize you have additional or more nuanced observations after spending time with your teammates and revisiting the questions after your initial thought process.
Have you ever passed up an opportunity to help someone develop because you didn’t have time?
Have you ever been hesitant to give your time to someone whom you didn’t have a connection with?
Have you ever passed over giving someone a promotion or opportunity because of a past experience (i.e., because they didn’t contribute in a past meeting, or contributed an idea you didn’t find valuable)?
Do you avoid difficult conversations or giving people feedback? Have you ever received feedback that you avoid confrontation at work?
Do you tend to listen to some people more than others?
Do you tend to go to the same people whenever you need help?
Do you discuss ideas with people who think differently than you? And are you truly listening to what they are saying, or are you just waiting to get your point across?
Are you consciously expanding your network to include people to whom you don’t feel naturally connected to?
Have you ever made a talent/people decision based on subjective or hearsay information rather than objective evidence?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have an opportunity to improve yourself as an inclusive leader.
At Unified in Coaching, we offer leadership coaching services with an emphasis on inclusivity. Book a consultation with us to get started.
Final Thoughts
A company that doesn’t take stock of their goods is a company unlikely to succeed. The same goes for the leaders who don’t continuously assess their processes and viewpoints to see what needs to be refreshed or revised.
In AA, we have a saying that an alcoholic is a cucumber that has been pickled. Once you have been pickled, you can never be a cucumber again (that is, a non-alcoholic again). Fortunately, when it comes to being a leader, you are not pickled in non-inclusive ways.
The first step of this work begins with an acknowledgement that there are opportunities for you to lead more inclusively. The remaining five steps can be found in Stepping into Inclusion, which is a book that provides leaders with a framework to lead more inclusively.
I hope that in the brief time it took to read this, I have created enough awareness or curiosity to encourage you to dig deeper into how to become a more inclusive leader.
Visit steppingintoinclusion.com to learn more about this book and how author Jaclyn Weitzenfeld uses her positive experience with Alcoholics Anonymous to develop a framework that brings inclusion to the forefront of how one leads.
