The Pillars of Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leadership isn’t a singular trait, but a constellation of behaviours. While various models exist, a robust framework centres around four core dimensions: Humility, Awareness, Courage, and Commitment. These aren’t merely personality characteristics, but demonstrable behaviours that can be observed, measured, and cultivated.

• Humility: Inclusive leaders recognise their own limitations and biases. They actively solicit feedback, acknowledge mistakes, and demonstrate a willingness to learn from others, regardless of seniority or background. This isn’t self-deprecation, but a genuine openness to different perspectives.
• Awareness: This dimension encompasses both self-awareness and awareness of others. Self-aware leaders understand their own privileges, biases, and how their behaviours impact those around them. Awareness of others involves actively listening, empathising with diverse experiences, and recognising the unique challenges faced by different groups.
• Courage: Inclusive leadership demands courage – the willingness to challenge the status quo, speak up against injustice, and advocate for those who are marginalised. This isn’t recklessness, but a principled commitment to equity, even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular.
• Commitment: This final dimension represents a sustained and proactive dedication to fostering an inclusive environment. It involves actively championing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, holding others accountable for inclusive behaviours, and consistently modelling inclusive leadership practices.

Measuring Inclusive Leadership Behaviours with Divrsity

The Divrsity platform allows organisations to tailor DEI surveys to specifically assess these dimensions of inclusive leadership. Rather than relying on broad, generic questions, the platform facilitates the creation of targeted questions that probe specific behaviours. Crucially, the platform’s anonymity features encourage honest responses, mitigating the risk of social desirability bias.

Here are examples of effective questions, mapped to each dimension, that can be deployed within the Divrsity platform:

Humility:

• “My manager actively seeks out feedback on how their actions impact team members from different backgrounds.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s willingness to solicit feedback and acknowledge potential blind spots.
• “When a mistake is made, my manager is open about it and takes responsibility.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This gauges the leader’s ability to model vulnerability and accountability.
• “My manager demonstrates a willingness to learn from individuals with different experiences and perspectives than their own.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s intellectual humility and openness to new ideas.

Awareness:

• “My manager demonstrates an understanding of the unique challenges faced by individuals from underrepresented groups within the organisation.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s awareness of systemic barriers and inequities.
• “I feel comfortable sharing my perspectives and experiences with my manager, even if they differ from their own.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This gauges the leader’s ability to create a psychologically safe environment.
• “My manager actively listens to and acknowledges the perspectives of all team members, regardless of their seniority or background.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s ability to practice active listening and empathy.

Courage:

• “My manager is willing to challenge the status quo, even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s willingness to disrupt existing norms and practices.
• “My manager speaks up against unfair or discriminatory behaviour, even when it’s difficult.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This gauges the leader’s commitment to equity and justice.
• “My manager advocates for the needs of underrepresented groups within the organisation.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s willingness to champion diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Commitment:

• “My manager consistently demonstrates a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in their actions and decisions.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s overall commitment to DEI.
• “My manager actively participates in DEI initiatives and training programs.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This gauges the leader’s proactive engagement with DEI efforts.
• “My manager holds others accountable for inclusive behaviours.” (Scale: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree) – This assesses the leader’s ability to enforce inclusive norms and standards.

Interpreting the Results and Identifying Areas for Development

The Divrsity platform’s automated results analysis provides a wealth of data, but simply generating reports isn’t enough. Effective interpretation requires a nuanced understanding of the data and a commitment to translating insights into actionable strategies.

• Benchmarking: Compare results across different teams, departments, and levels of leadership to identify areas of strength and weakness.
• Segmentation: Divrsity automatically analyses results by demographic groups to uncover disparities in perceptions of inclusive leadership. For example, are women and people of colour less likely to agree that their managers actively listen to their perspectives?
• Correlation Analysis: Explore the relationships between different survey questions. For example, is there a correlation between perceptions of managerial humility and employee engagement?
• Verbatim Analysis: The Divrsity platform’s ability to analyse verbatim responses provides invaluable qualitative data, and our use of (UK Sovereign) AI enables us to automatically find recurring themes and patterns in the comments to gain a deeper understanding of the issues.

Once areas for development have been identified, organisations work with Divrsity partners to deliver targeted interventions. These might include:

• Leadership Development Programs: Design programs that focus on developing the four dimensions of inclusive leadership – humility, awareness, courage, and commitment.
• Coaching and Mentoring: Provide individual coaching and mentoring to help leaders develop their inclusive leadership skills.
• 360-Degree Feedback: Gather feedback from peers, direct reports, and supervisors to provide leaders with a comprehensive assessment of their inclusive leadership behaviours.
• Action Learning Projects: Engage leaders in action learning projects that require them to apply inclusive leadership principles to real-world challenges.

Beyond Measurement: Cultivating a Culture of Inclusion

Measuring inclusive leadership is a crucial first step, but it’s not enough on its own. To truly cultivate a culture of inclusion, organisations must create a system of accountability and reward inclusive behaviours. This might involve:

• Integrating DEI into Performance Reviews: Include DEI competencies in performance reviews and hold leaders accountable for demonstrating inclusive leadership behaviours.
• Recognising and Rewarding Inclusive Leaders: Publicly recognise and reward leaders who demonstrate a commitment to DEI.
• Creating a Safe Space for Feedback: Encourage employees to provide feedback on inclusive leadership behaviours without fear of retribution.