Q3 Newsletter Pt 3: How to be Inclusive?
Now when we have learned what is inclusion, we can move forward to the final section of the Women Empowerment Council (WEC) newsletter Thought Leadership and find out how to be inclusive.
How to be Inclusive?
Inclusive leadership is a powerful capability that anyone can develop. Because a survey of over 2,100 employees at large corporations found that a manager’s behavior accounts for 50% of an employee’s experience of inclusion. The more inclusive the manager, the more employees feel valued, trusted, authentic, and psychologically safe at work.
To build inclusive leadership, you can take actions today:
- Don’t Equate Diversity with Inclusion: While a diversity of perspectives is important, it does not automatically mean that everyone feels safe to collaborate or contribute. Build and maintain an environment where everyone feels fully included. Diversity is always changing as the team shifts and grows, but inclusion needs to be constant and continual.
- Get Comfortable with Discomfort: Getting it wrong is an integral part of being committed to inclusion. Mistakes and missteps are par for the course. Be humble, curious, open-minded, self-reflective, and show compassion and grace to yourself and others along the way.
- Role Model Inclusive Behavior: Be responsible for changing old mindsets and behaviors. Listen to problems without trying to fix them, ask questions to invite different perspectives, encourage and elicit honest feedback, admit to failures and share lessons learned, know your values and stand up for them, be a guide and empower independent decision-making.
- Be a Vocal Ally: Start by understanding and then speaking up. Be diligent about reducing personal biases and raising self-awareness. Seek out opportunities to learn from and about people who are different to you. Do your research and trust employee feedback. Speak out against bias and discrimination, and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
For the full newsletter, please visit our website www.womenempowermentcouncil.com
Sources:
Getting Real About Inclusive Leadership: Why Change Starts with You | 2020 Catalyst
The Women Empowerment Council (WEC) is an engaged network of leaders and decision-makers that aims to advance gender equality in businesses in China and beyond.
女性赋权委员会是由领导者和决策者组成的社群，旨在促进中国及其他国家企业的性别平等。