Leadership Connectivity

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Board and Leader Guidebook

Section 2.3: How Can You be an Inclusive Leader?

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Board and Leader Guidebook

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:

  1. 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)
  2. Use more audience-centered language – think about who your audience is and use language that would resonate with them
  3. Be authentic to your learning journey – demonstrate openness to encourage others to do the same
  4. Recognize and address your own biases through:
    • 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?
This Intentional Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Decision-Making toolkit was developed by the University of British Columbia
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
This tool on allyship was developed by the Centre for Social Intelligence to increase inclusion and diversity within the forestry sector in Canada

Scenario: Checkpoint 1

Welcome to your Talent Processes Scenario: Checkpoint 1!
After reading about Recruitment practices in Pit Stop #2, Karan went back to his HR team to learn about how the organization currently recruits leaders. Karan learns that the organization does not have a formalized recruitment process as there was no time to establish one while the start-up was growing. Currently, all applicants for leadership roles come through referrals, as this is the easiest way for the organization to quickly hire.

What actions should Karan take to improve the recruitment process? Select all that apply.

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Large Organization:

Apple

As of 2020, more than 15,000 managers at Apple are required to take training on unconscious bias and inclusive leadership. They are also offered courses led by subject matter experts to support their ongoing education on topics such as race, justice, allyship, etc.

Considerations for Intermediate / Advanced Organizations

5.  Demonstrate the knowledge you’ve gained, acknowledge what you don’t know, and model your commitment to lifelong learning (citing research and demonstrating an ability to understand different perspectives and communicate complex topics to diverse audiences)

6.  Establish a diverse personal advisory board (PAD) with peers where you can openly discuss feedback on daily interactions and behaviours to create a space where everyone feels they belong

Respond to social injustice by:

  • Speaking up: It is your responsibility as leaders to speak up and reassure employees about your position on diversity and against violence, hate, and racism
  • Educating yourself: Make genuine efforts to educate yourself about the ways in which systemic racism affects people
  • Walking the talk: Go beyond speaking up and acknowledging injustice by offering direct support to individual employees and having the organization offer large-scale institutional support
  • Investing: Seek ways to align business activities and corporate social responsibility engagements by supporting initiatives that seek to improve conditions for Racialized, Black, and/or People of Colour and populations who are made vulnerable
  • Engaging in introspection: Think critically about the structures and systems that allow racism and hate to thrive

Create accessible workplaces, including both the physical structure of the workspace and the flexibility for employees to structure their work schedules according to their needs.

Consider how you can create a supportive and welcoming environment for 2SLGBTQ+ and/or gender and sexually diverse employees. Key considerations may include:

  • Protocols for assisting employees with transitioning
  • Gender-inclusive facilities, forms, dress codes
  • Protocols for changes to names and identity markers

Definition

Microaggression

Microaggression is defined as: “A comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group” – Source: Merriam Webster

Definition

Unlearning

Unlearning is defined as: “To make an effort to forget your usual way of doing something so that you can learn a new and sometimes better way” – Source: Cambridge Dictionary

Definition

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as: A framework for understanding how different aspects of a person’s social and political identities (e.g., gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, physical appearance, etc.) combine to create unique modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies advantages and disadvantages that are felt by people due to this combination of factors – Source: Kimberlé Crenshaw, TIME

Definition

Privilege

Privilege is defined as: “The unfair and unearned advantages individuals are granted for having, or being perceived to have, social identities that align with those deemed to be superior according to societal rules and norms. It is often experienced as an absence of barriers related to a particular social identity (e.g., White privilege, straight privilege)” – Source: Egale

Definition

Safe Space

Safe Space is defined as: “A place intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations” – Source: Merriam-Webster

Safe spaces allow individuals to feel comfortable having brave and honest conversations.

Definition

Emotional Tax

Emotional Tax is defined as: “The combination of feeling different from peers at work because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity, being on guard against experiences of bias, and experiencing the associated effects on health, well-being, and ability to thrive at work” – Source: Catalyst

Definition

Tokenism

Tokenism is defined as: “Performative policies that ostensibly promote diversity or equality (placing women or diverse groups in leadership positions), but do not truly have a positive impact on the workplace. Tokenism isn’t progressive, and it especially causes harm to tokenized individuals, causing extra pressure to succeed due to being perceived as representative of a group and often leaving them in an alienating work environment” – Source: Catalyst

Definition

Psychological Safety

Psychological Safety is defined as: “An environment that encourages, recognizes and rewards individuals for their contributions and ideas by making individuals feel safe when taking interpersonal risks. A lack of psychological safety at work can inhibit team learning and lead to in-groups, groupthink and blind spots” – Source: Gartner