EDI experts often exhort leaders to hold themselves accountable for creating change on equity, diversity and inclusion, and for becoming more inclusive leaders themselves.
A lot of leaders I speak with want to do so but struggle to know where to start and how to make it practical. Many leaders also feel fearful of doing the wrong thing. They face huge expectations from colleagues and this can feel intimidating.
The key to holding oneself accountable is not to overcomplicate things. Below are three practical suggestions.
1. Be clear who is responsible for what
Too often colleagues look to the most senior leaders to create change, but others have a role to play too, such as middle managers and frontline colleagues. Their behaviour and mindset is what affects every day experiences of equity and inclusion. It is first and second tier managers for example who do most of the recruiting. If they are not clear about what is expected of them, an organisation will struggle to become genuinely diverse and inclusive.
This is not a call for senior leaders to wash their hands of EDI, but for organisations to be precise about what roles are need to be played to genuinely progress on EDI and be clear who will play those roles.
It is essential that these roles are built into formal systems such as job descriptions, performance reviews, performance related pay (if you have this).
2. Commit to and support inclusive leadership development
One of the biggest myths leaders comfort themselves with is: “I am a good person therefore I must be an inclusive leader”.
Wrong. Whether or not you are a good person is not relevant. There. I’ve said it.
Inclusive leadership is a specific skill set which most traditional leadership development programmes do not teach, despite the mountain of evidence that inclusive leaders are more effective and deliver better results for organisations.
If you don’t know the practical competencies of inclusive leadership, there are plenty of books out there, or you could commission inhouse programmes specifically tailored to your organisation’s needs. If budget is an issue, there are some great coaches out there who will support you as an individual leader or your leadership team as a group to reflect on and evolve your leadership practice.
If leaders don’t role model genuinely inclusive leadership, colleagues will read this as you not being serious about EDI. That’s where distrust can fester and grow.
3. Set clear, realistic and measurable EDI Goals
Making progress on EDI is no different from other change programmes. Where many organisations and leaders go wrong is they set huge goals but do not match their ambitions with sufficient resources (time, money, expertise etc.) It is crucial to base any goals on sound data about your starting point and tell people what this starting point is. Make the timeframes realistic and regularly report on progress.
Being realistic and specific on what you aim to achieve and report honestly, not just on progress but on what is not working and what you are learning along the way is key. And it doesn’t have to be complicated and involve lots of report writing. Record a short video for example to share your progress.
One thing: there will be a time lag between taking actions and an organisation “feeling” different. It is important to be clear about this to minimise distrust and cynicism.
Can we help?
Full Colour specialises in helping leaders get the best from people and from themselves so they can deliver high quality results and create a workplace culture people love. We do this by helping leaders build equitable, diverse and inclusive organisations.
Do you want help with any aspect of your leadership and inclusion journey? Reach out to Izzy Taylor on [email protected] to arrange an informal, no obligation chat with Srabani Sen.