Leadership Creativity
In This Section
Board and Leader Guidebook
Section 2.0: Modelling Equitable and Inclusive Behaviour
Board and Leader Guidebook
Section 3.0: Building Open Spaces for Discussion and Participation
Guide to Sustaining Organizational Change
Section 2.4: Who Can My Organization Engage With?
2.0: Modelling Equitable and Inclusive Behaviour
2.1 What is Inclusive Leadership?
Inclusive leaders model the change by leading inward and outward:
- Leaning inward focuses on actions a leader can take to self-reflect on their learning, growth, and impact (e.g. curiosity, humility, and courage)
- Leading outward focuses on actions a leader can take to ensure their team members are treated equitably and fairly, empowered, and are able to grow (e.g. allyship, accountability, ownership)
What key traits do inclusive leaders exhibit?
- Visible commitment: Leaders articulate genuine and authentic commitment to EDI, challenging the status quo, and holding others accountable
- Humility: Leaders are able to recognize their shortcomings, are aware of their capabilities, and create safe spaces for listening (feedback), learning, and growth
- Awareness of bias: Leaders seek to understand their own unconscious biases as well as biases that are embedded within the organization
- Curiosity about others: Leaders have an open mindset, are curious to learn about others, actively listen without judgment, and empathize with those around them
- Cultural intelligence: Leaders are attentive to the cultures of their employees and seek to learn and adapt to support them
- Effective collaboration: Leaders place an importance on working as a team, empowering their employees, embracing diversity of thought, and creating a psychologically safe space
- Compassion: Leaders have a genuine concern for their people and positive intentions to support them
- focuses on actions a leader can take to ensure their team members are treated equitably and fairly, empowered, and are able to grow (e.g. allyship, accountability, ownership)
From the perspective of leaders, the most valuable inclusive leadership trait is their visible commitment to advancing EDI within the organization.
From the perspective of employees, the most valuable inclusive leadership trait is their leader’s awareness and visible acknowledgement of unconscious bias combined with the following two behaviours:
- Humility, as this acknowledges that the leader is eager to address their own biases and work towards improvement through feedback;
- Empathy and perspective taking, as this indicates to employees that they are heard, valued, and supported by their leader.
This report from Catalyst Canada discusses Inclusive Leadership.
2.2 Why is it Important to be an Inclusive Leader?
As board members and leaders of the organization, you play a critical role in shaping how employees feel in your organization. Practicing inward and outward leadership leads to employee engagement, retention, and innovation and increases problem-solving. It also leads to the creation of a psychologically safe environment where employees feel valued and trusted, and empowered to take risks.
The research findings below demonstrate how your inclusive leadership can directly impact how employees are feeling:
- A leader’s awareness of their own unconscious biases, when coupled with humility, can increase employee feelings of inclusion by 25%
- A leader’s awareness of their own unconscious biases, when coupled with empathy/perspective taking, can increase feelings of inclusion by 33%
- What leaders ‘say’ and ‘do’ makes up to a 70% difference as to whether an individual report feels included
- During times of elevated stress and transition, compassionate leadership is even more critical. People can experience more anxiety than usual and often are unsure how to act. Help employees manage anxiety by communicating transparently, addressing uncertainties directly, and increasing wellbeing through positive emotions.
- As leaders, it’s important to know that your employees look to you for cues to help reduce the sense of uncertainty, as well as increasing their own sense of wellbeing.
- For this reason, leaders should focus on modelling compassion, empathy, consistency and open communication.
- As a result, your employees will have improved collaboration, trust in you as a leader, and enhanced loyalty.
- Ultimately, a leader’s actions and leadership style benefit both employees and the organization. It is therefore critical that leaders model inclusive leadership so employees feel safe, welcome, and valued.
2.3 How Can You be an Inclusive Leader?
You can take the following actions to model equitable and inclusive leadership. These practices can be learned and mastered to help you become an inclusive leader within your organization:
- Immerse yourself in new and uncomfortable situations to learn from diverse stakeholders (e.g. participate in Employee Resource Groups, sit in different areas of the business)
- Use more audience-centered language – think about who your audience is and use language that would resonate with them
- Be authentic to your learning journey – demonstrate openness to encourage others to do the same
- Recognize and address your own biases through:
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- Discussions with managers who are closer to the day-to-day operation;
- Speaking at a Town Hall about your learnings and growth;
- Implementing “inclusion moments” for team members to share what they have learned related to EDI
Case Study
Considerations for Intermediate / Advanced Organizations
Priority Group
Priority Group
Priority Group
These are Guidelines on Inclusive Language
This Guide for Employers written by Great Place to Work and Pride at Work Canada highlights actions and strategies to promote inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ and/or gender and sexually diverse employees in the workplace
Modelling Equitable and Inclusive Behaviour: Regional and Industry Considerations
Industry: Education
Embed EDI within decision-making to apply an inclusive lens to all decisions. Applying an EDI lens will help ensure decisions reflect the educational institution’s values and allow the institution to better support its community.
Consider the following questions:
- Impact: How will this decision impact individuals based on different aspects of their identities?
- Symbols and Messaging: What messaging does this decision send to our communities?
- Mitigation: How can we mitigate potential negative impacts and provide support as a result of this decision?
- Feedback and Response: How can we keep track of feedback and the impact of this decision on different communities?
Industry: forestry
Leaders play an important role as allies and champions within the forestry industry, which is typically dominated by men. Organizations differ based on the level of leadership support available, which ultimately shapes the experience of women and individuals from priority groups.
Leaders can take the following actions to create an inclusive space:
- Given that fields may be hours away from home, ask employees how to best support them and provide flexibility
- Advocate for employees and encourage them to join groups such as Women in Wood, where women can network, find mentors and seek career advice in the industry
- Recognize and support newcomers to Canada with adjusting to learning Canadian terrain, and find ways for them to leverage skills from their previous experiences
- Be intentional about ensuring employees from priority groups are included, recognized for their efforts, and given consistent feedback to further their development
Scenario: Checkpoint 1
3.0 Building Open Spaces for Discussion and Participation
3.1 Building Open Spaces for Discussion
“To feel left out is a deeply human problem, which is why its consequences carry such heft and why its causes are so hard to root out of even the healthiest workplaces”
Establishing a sense of community and belonging in the workplace is more essential than ever before. This helps reduce feelings of uncertainty and increase positive emotions. Those who feel a sense of belonging show increased job performance and decreased turnover risk.
- Research shows that 56% of individuals who feel a sense of belonging show increased job performance.
- Research shows that 50% of those who feel a sense of belonging show decreased turnover risk.
- By helping people feel safe, you are decreasing their anxiety and increasing their positive emotions, allowing them to remain motivated and focused on the job at hand.
Many organizations have adopted an ‘add diversity and stir’ philosophy which assumes that, by strictly hiring more diverse candidates, they will automatically see benefits to their business. However, this fails to recognize that increasing diversity does not, by itself, increase effectiveness; what matters is how an organization harnesses diversity, and whether it’s willing to create space and structures where everyone feels safe to contribute.
It is therefore critical that leaders support employees by establishing spaces for open discussion and a forum for them to feel safe, valued, and welcome.
Key Action
Read Creating Authentic Spaces, a toolkit focused on gender identity and gender expression that can support leaders in creating inclusive spaces (available in English and French)
3.2 So How as a Leader, Can You Build an Open Space for Discussion?
Below are ways in which you, as leaders, can create an open space for discussion, where employees feel they can bring their whole selves to work:
- Build trust and create a culture where people feel welcome to share their opinions, express themselves, and request accommodations
- Actively combat unconscious bias and systems that can contribute to inequity
- When seeking opinions, allow employees to share their views first. Doing so will encourage authentic contributions and reduce the probability of receiving answers that they think you want to hear
- Embrace a variety of styles and voices inside the organization
- Leverage the skills and experiences of employees to reach the organization’s strategy and goals
- Hold regular listening sessions for employees to feel comfortable sharing concerns and/or opinions with you
- Acknowledge conflict openly and grant all employees the space and time to think, refine, and share their views
- Support the Psychological Health and Safety of Employees
a) Think ahead, communicate openly and stay in touch
b) Create a sense of purpose and vision
c) Develop ownership and accountability
d) Support employees emotionally and in concrete ways
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Leverage the power of storytelling: Share your personal experiences with employees, modelling openness and creating a space for others to share their experiences if they would like. This helps to build connections and foster a culture of empathy within your organization.
Case Study
Considerations for Non-Profit Organizations
Building Open Spaces for Discussion: Regional and Industry Considerations
Region: Northern Canada
When conducting meetings in Northern Canada, consider the following practices to build inclusion and open spaces for discussion:
- Ask participants anonymously about accommodations they may require (e.g. prayer/reflection room, daycare or support for young children)
- Create culturally safe spaces for diverse participants
- Have First Nations, Inuit and Métis cultural opening and closing ceremonies at events, and create time for these
- Begin discussions with land acknowledgments, including intentional actions toward reconciliation and respect for Indigenous communities
- Guide engagement through Inuit values, for example by;
- Actively listening to each other, as listening influences decision-making
- Valuing cooperation and conflict avoidance
- Recognizing that decisions are made based on consensus which may result in longer discussions and decision-making periods
2.4 Who Can My Organization Engage With?
There are various internal and external stakeholders that can be involved in decision-making and consultation. It is important that the voices of the community are heard and brought to the decision-making table. The below diagram outlines the complexity of intersectionality and the different cross-roads between these stakeholders. It also highlights how decisions can influence various social, economic, political and community impacts.
2.4.a: How Do We Engage With Stakeholders?
It is important to have a structured and thoughtful plan in mind in order to engage the community and work towards successful outcomes. Here are some steps your organization can take to get started:
Step
1. Determine your focus for community engagement
2. Understand the needs and purpose of the conversation
3. Explore organizations and individuals to involve
4. Structure your engagement and conversation(s)
5. Implement engagement activities
6. Communicate the actions and next steps being taken
Actions
What EDI area or topic are you looking to address in your organization?
What are you hoping to learn from these conversations? How can you ensure that members of the community are brought to the table and that their voices are heard?
Who are experts in this area that are willing and comfortable in speaking with you?
What questions are you planning on asking? Send an agenda in advance to the participants so that they are able to prepare for the discussion.
Which activity best fits the need of the discussion? Depending on the group and topic, you can include anonymous forums, focus groups, individual one-on-one conversations or informative workshops.
What are you going to do with what you have learned? Communicate with the stakeholders how you will use and apply your learnings to improve your organization for priority groups.
Priority Group
Priority Group
Considerations for Intermediate / Advanced Organizations
Sustaining the Change: Regional and Industry Considerations
Industry: Technology
The COVID-19 pandemic propelled the technology industry’s focus on EDI. According to Osler, the industry has grown rapidly with the number of positions increasing by 22.5% over the last 5 years.
Technology hubs are often located in cities with a high cost of living, and it is challenging for individuals from priority groups to move to different parts of the country without their social networks and support systems.
To increase representation, organizations can put in place the following practices:
- Leverage a remote work strategy to hire from across the country, and provide employees with the ability to work from anywhere
- Where possible, open offices in cities with a lower cost of living
- Track diversity within each level to understand if goals are being met and where improvements need to be made
Industry: Banking and Financial Services
According to Osler, in 2021, with 24% of board positions held by women, 6.8% held by Racialized, Black, and/or People of Colour, 0.5% held by Indigenous Peoples, and 0.5% held by People with disabilities, organizations in financial services can implement the following practices to increase representation within the industry:
- Put a board diversity policy in place with targets and programs to increase diversity across senior management
- Assess diversity at leadership levels to understand progress toward promoting and retaining diverse talent (e.g. TD Bank is conducting a racial-equity audit to assess diversity within the organization and if it is meeting its targets)
- Identify the levels or roles in which employees from priority groups are leaving the organization, and create programs to support their advancement
- Put development plans in place to help employees from priority groups achieve promotions and move into leadership positions
- Provide training to support employees in their roles
Scenario: Checkpoint 2
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