Seven Considerations for Inclusive Leadership (Teaser)
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Seven Considerations for Inclusive Leadership (Teaser)
Transcript
Inga Carboni: I'm Inga Carboni. I'm an associate professor of organizational behavior at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William and Mary. The topic of leading inclusively is absolutely important and relevant today, more so than ever. I think that we as a nation and a world have had a shock to our system over the last couple of years about realizing just how much lack of representation and exclusivity has been happening in the workplace. And there's been strong attempts to remedy that. First attempt, the first wave has been representation, getting people in the door, getting people in the door at different levels in the organization. And that is super important. You can't have a voice unless you're actually in the room. That work still needs to continue to increase representation, but we're also ready to start thinking much more seriously about how to create a workspace that's inclusive. And by inclusive, I mean a place where everyone feels that they belong, that everyone's just as much a member of that organization and that setting as anyone else, and that also each person can share their authentic, real self while at work. Those two things add up to an inclusive work environment.
Inga Carboni: And there's a lot leaders can do to help foster that kind of environment. And they really have to, because if they don't, people might come in the door, but they'll walk right back out a couple of years later when they feel like this is not a place that values me or this is a place where I don't feel like I really belong. So it's really important that leaders get this right. A psychologically safe environment means that I can take some risks. I can throw out a half-baked idea. I can have an opinion that nobody else in the room shares, and nobody is going to silence me, nobody is going to reject me. There's not going to be any of that. I can be who I need to be and the team can benefit from hearing from me. And that core aspect of psychological safety, that idea that I can take that interpersonal risk-taking, that is central to creating an inclusive workplace. That is central to helping people feel they can voice who they are and still belong in this group, in this organization. And when they do that, they're able to take a look at the work and they're able to meaningfully contribute to it.
Inga Carboni: And that has two impacts, right? So number one, performance and innovation. We start seeing that on teams. But number two is the people in the room feel that their voice is heard, they feel connected to the organization, it builds their organizational commitment, and it increases their likelihood that they're going to stay and be a productive member of that organization.
Inga Carboni: Oftentimes we're told what not to do. Don't be disrespectful, don't shoot someone down. But we're often not told what to do. And there's a number of things that leaders can do to create a more inclusive workspace. So number one is mind your mindset. Take a look at this as something that's part of your responsibility. Whether you're a team lead or just another member of the team, it is everyone's responsibility to make sure this is an inclusive environment. Adopt a growth mindset. You will get better at this the more that you move forward and keep trying to get better at this. You don't need to get it all right the first time. So understanding that you're gonna grow in your abilities and your skill set is also a very important idea. So accepting responsibility, adopting a growth mindset, and then also really understanding that although people may look similar on the surface, they are all very different.
Inga Carboni: Even if people look dissimilar on the surface, they have some things in common and they have some things that are unique about them. So treat everyone as having a different and unique experience that's valuable and needs to be considered when talking about a work project. So number one is mind your mindset. Number two, and this is particularly important in this new world of hybrid work where there's a lot of workers who are hybrid, is inviting quieter voices into the conversation. It's in some ways very unfortunate that the idea of having an inclusive environment is an imperative now. Really, we should have had it all along. But one of the legacies of not having had it all along is that there are people who are used to sort of self-censoring, people who are already used to keeping their voices quiet. So it's on all the rest of us to invite those quieter voices into the conversation. Very simple moves. "I haven't heard from you. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. You mentioned something earlier. Could you repeat that? 'Cause I don't know if everybody heard what you had to say." Everybody can do that on the team.
Inga Carboni: So inviting those quieter voices into the conversation and waiting a beat. Maybe they're not always used to having their opinions solicited. So you wait a beat, you make sure that they have that moment to share their ideas. Asking good questions. You wanna ask good questions. You wanna help people bring their voice into the conversation. And one way to ask good questions is to make sure they're open-ended. Don't say, "Do you agree with this or not?" Say, "Can I hear an alternative perspective? Could someone give me a different way of looking at this? What does your experience say about this?" You wanna make sure that you're not asking yes and no questions. You wanna ask open-ended questions so people can explain the reasoning behind the positions that they're taking or their perspective. It's another way of encouraging people's voices to get out there. That's where you get a lot of the interest and certainly the personal experience.
Inga Carboni: Another good step is stating your own opinions in a way that invites conversation. So, "Here's what I think." "Have I explained it right?" And I'm inviting people to give me feedback on what I think. So that you're not coming forward as, "This is the be-all and end-all," "I'm the expert and everybody has to listen to me." Invite conversation around your ideas. So that also encourages people to listen to you respectfully and then also to share their ideas. Another thing that you can do is reinforce belonging whenever you can. I see this a lot. So one of the things that people don't realize is when you get diversity of opinions and thoughts, you're basically asking for conflict. That's what conflict is, right? Differences of opinion. And that's a good thing. You want that. And in order to sort of foster and maintain that, you got to keep reminding people, "We're all in this together. We all want the best solution. We all want to problem solve. We all want to get the great new product out." So using those terms: we, us, our. "Let's us figure out how to deal with this problem. We all have the same goal." Reinforcing that idea: we all belong.
Inga Carboni: Another important piece is active listening. We talk about this a lot in the MBA program in a lot of different classes because it is such a fundamental skill. Active listening is listening not just to the words other people are saying, but the meaning they're trying to convey. Are they trying to convey that they're frustrated through these words or that they're upset or sad? So for instance, somebody might say something like, "Here's your report." And you can say that in such a wide variety of ways, right? You can say, "Here's your report." You can say, "Here's your report." You can say, "Here's your report." You can say it in ways that are frustrated, angry, happy, sad, waiting for acknowledgment and things like that. If I was just to respond to you to try to let you know that I heard you. And one way to do that is to sort of voice back what you heard, if I just voiced back the words you said and I didn't include the emotion under it, I'd be missing like 90% of what you were trying to communicate. Me saying, "Well, that's the report," is almost useless. But me saying, "Sounds like there's some frustration around that report," or, "Sounds like you're really proud of what you did on this report,"
Inga Carboni: That helps the other person know that you really heard them. You really heard what they had to say. So you're listening for that meaning to what they're saying, you're paraphrasing it back, and then you're checking for understanding. "Did I get that right? Have I understood you?" This is the way, when people talk about sharing your diverse perspectives, this is how you understand them, how you let the other person know that you are truly listening and that you're listening to their experience and trying to understand it in the way they're presenting it. It helps in sales, it helps in entrepreneurial thinking, it certainly helps in managing conflict because a big piece of de-escalating conflict is just to feel that the other person hears you and understands where you're coming from. Even if they don't agree with you, at least they understand where you're coming from.
Inga Carboni: The last thing that I would advise team leaders to do is to accept that when creating an inclusive workspace, you're gonna make mistakes. In fact, we're all gonna make mistakes. We don't all know it all, and identities and people are evolving and finding their voice and sharing what it is that's important to them. And we're learning new things every day. All of us are in this. Nobody has the hands-down expertise. You may feel that you are really grounded, for instance, in understanding gender issues or race and ethnicity issues, but are you also equally grounded in ability and disability issues, veteran issues, national origin issues? There's just a lot of different starting points for all of us, and we have to accept that. We have to accept that we're all coming at this with an opportunity to learn and that part of learning is making mistakes. And I think that can be really hard in our current culture of contempt and cancellation to take those sort of risks. And this all goes back to this whole idea of psychological safety. If you can create an environment where people feel that they can take those sort of risks, where they can try to connect with each other even if they don't always get it right, that we're okay, that we're a learning community. "I'm gonna help you understand. You're gonna help me understand because we're both in this together." We're both learning together and we're both making mistakes together.
Inga Carboni: So these are things, very concrete steps that leaders can do. I'm not saying they're easy, but they are steps that leaders can do and that will have huge payoff in terms of performance, innovation, commitment, lower turnover, and just a better and more meaningful workspace for the people that you are surrounded by. All of this is part of our online MBA program. It's part of how our teachers approach their classrooms and using some of these principles, but it's also something very explicitly that we teach in our classes. We believe that we're preparing students to go out and be principled professionals, principled leaders who are going to be achieving things in ethical, inclusive ways.
Inga Carboni: And there's a lot leaders can do to help foster that kind of environment. And they really have to, because if they don't, people might come in the door, but they'll walk right back out a couple of years later when they feel like this is not a place that values me or this is a place where I don't feel like I really belong. So it's really important that leaders get this right. A psychologically safe environment means that I can take some risks. I can throw out a half-baked idea. I can have an opinion that nobody else in the room shares, and nobody is going to silence me, nobody is going to reject me. There's not going to be any of that. I can be who I need to be and the team can benefit from hearing from me. And that core aspect of psychological safety, that idea that I can take that interpersonal risk-taking, that is central to creating an inclusive workplace. That is central to helping people feel they can voice who they are and still belong in this group, in this organization. And when they do that, they're able to take a look at the work and they're able to meaningfully contribute to it.
Inga Carboni: And that has two impacts, right? So number one, performance and innovation. We start seeing that on teams. But number two is the people in the room feel that their voice is heard, they feel connected to the organization, it builds their organizational commitment, and it increases their likelihood that they're going to stay and be a productive member of that organization.
Inga Carboni: Oftentimes we're told what not to do. Don't be disrespectful, don't shoot someone down. But we're often not told what to do. And there's a number of things that leaders can do to create a more inclusive workspace. So number one is mind your mindset. Take a look at this as something that's part of your responsibility. Whether you're a team lead or just another member of the team, it is everyone's responsibility to make sure this is an inclusive environment. Adopt a growth mindset. You will get better at this the more that you move forward and keep trying to get better at this. You don't need to get it all right the first time. So understanding that you're gonna grow in your abilities and your skill set is also a very important idea. So accepting responsibility, adopting a growth mindset, and then also really understanding that although people may look similar on the surface, they are all very different.
Inga Carboni: Even if people look dissimilar on the surface, they have some things in common and they have some things that are unique about them. So treat everyone as having a different and unique experience that's valuable and needs to be considered when talking about a work project. So number one is mind your mindset. Number two, and this is particularly important in this new world of hybrid work where there's a lot of workers who are hybrid, is inviting quieter voices into the conversation. It's in some ways very unfortunate that the idea of having an inclusive environment is an imperative now. Really, we should have had it all along. But one of the legacies of not having had it all along is that there are people who are used to sort of self-censoring, people who are already used to keeping their voices quiet. So it's on all the rest of us to invite those quieter voices into the conversation. Very simple moves. "I haven't heard from you. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. You mentioned something earlier. Could you repeat that? 'Cause I don't know if everybody heard what you had to say." Everybody can do that on the team.
Inga Carboni: So inviting those quieter voices into the conversation and waiting a beat. Maybe they're not always used to having their opinions solicited. So you wait a beat, you make sure that they have that moment to share their ideas. Asking good questions. You wanna ask good questions. You wanna help people bring their voice into the conversation. And one way to ask good questions is to make sure they're open-ended. Don't say, "Do you agree with this or not?" Say, "Can I hear an alternative perspective? Could someone give me a different way of looking at this? What does your experience say about this?" You wanna make sure that you're not asking yes and no questions. You wanna ask open-ended questions so people can explain the reasoning behind the positions that they're taking or their perspective. It's another way of encouraging people's voices to get out there. That's where you get a lot of the interest and certainly the personal experience.
Inga Carboni: Another good step is stating your own opinions in a way that invites conversation. So, "Here's what I think." "Have I explained it right?" And I'm inviting people to give me feedback on what I think. So that you're not coming forward as, "This is the be-all and end-all," "I'm the expert and everybody has to listen to me." Invite conversation around your ideas. So that also encourages people to listen to you respectfully and then also to share their ideas. Another thing that you can do is reinforce belonging whenever you can. I see this a lot. So one of the things that people don't realize is when you get diversity of opinions and thoughts, you're basically asking for conflict. That's what conflict is, right? Differences of opinion. And that's a good thing. You want that. And in order to sort of foster and maintain that, you got to keep reminding people, "We're all in this together. We all want the best solution. We all want to problem solve. We all want to get the great new product out." So using those terms: we, us, our. "Let's us figure out how to deal with this problem. We all have the same goal." Reinforcing that idea: we all belong.
Inga Carboni: Another important piece is active listening. We talk about this a lot in the MBA program in a lot of different classes because it is such a fundamental skill. Active listening is listening not just to the words other people are saying, but the meaning they're trying to convey. Are they trying to convey that they're frustrated through these words or that they're upset or sad? So for instance, somebody might say something like, "Here's your report." And you can say that in such a wide variety of ways, right? You can say, "Here's your report." You can say, "Here's your report." You can say, "Here's your report." You can say it in ways that are frustrated, angry, happy, sad, waiting for acknowledgment and things like that. If I was just to respond to you to try to let you know that I heard you. And one way to do that is to sort of voice back what you heard, if I just voiced back the words you said and I didn't include the emotion under it, I'd be missing like 90% of what you were trying to communicate. Me saying, "Well, that's the report," is almost useless. But me saying, "Sounds like there's some frustration around that report," or, "Sounds like you're really proud of what you did on this report,"
Inga Carboni: That helps the other person know that you really heard them. You really heard what they had to say. So you're listening for that meaning to what they're saying, you're paraphrasing it back, and then you're checking for understanding. "Did I get that right? Have I understood you?" This is the way, when people talk about sharing your diverse perspectives, this is how you understand them, how you let the other person know that you are truly listening and that you're listening to their experience and trying to understand it in the way they're presenting it. It helps in sales, it helps in entrepreneurial thinking, it certainly helps in managing conflict because a big piece of de-escalating conflict is just to feel that the other person hears you and understands where you're coming from. Even if they don't agree with you, at least they understand where you're coming from.
Inga Carboni: The last thing that I would advise team leaders to do is to accept that when creating an inclusive workspace, you're gonna make mistakes. In fact, we're all gonna make mistakes. We don't all know it all, and identities and people are evolving and finding their voice and sharing what it is that's important to them. And we're learning new things every day. All of us are in this. Nobody has the hands-down expertise. You may feel that you are really grounded, for instance, in understanding gender issues or race and ethnicity issues, but are you also equally grounded in ability and disability issues, veteran issues, national origin issues? There's just a lot of different starting points for all of us, and we have to accept that. We have to accept that we're all coming at this with an opportunity to learn and that part of learning is making mistakes. And I think that can be really hard in our current culture of contempt and cancellation to take those sort of risks. And this all goes back to this whole idea of psychological safety. If you can create an environment where people feel that they can take those sort of risks, where they can try to connect with each other even if they don't always get it right, that we're okay, that we're a learning community. "I'm gonna help you understand. You're gonna help me understand because we're both in this together." We're both learning together and we're both making mistakes together.
Inga Carboni: So these are things, very concrete steps that leaders can do. I'm not saying they're easy, but they are steps that leaders can do and that will have huge payoff in terms of performance, innovation, commitment, lower turnover, and just a better and more meaningful workspace for the people that you are surrounded by. All of this is part of our online MBA program. It's part of how our teachers approach their classrooms and using some of these principles, but it's also something very explicitly that we teach in our classes. We believe that we're preparing students to go out and be principled professionals, principled leaders who are going to be achieving things in ethical, inclusive ways.