Unlock diversity of thought through inclusive leadership | WIG Article

Diversity of thought leads to better outcomes. Study after study shows this to be true. Higher levels of diversity in teams lead to higher financial return, more creative teams, and more fact-driven decisions, according to studies published by McKinsey, Kellogg School of Business and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

But how do leaders create an environment where team members feel empowered to bring their experiences to the table and voice their opinions, especially when it differs from the prevailing, majority view?

We spoke to Kathy Quashie, Chief Growth Officer and executive committee member for Capita plc about the need for inclusive leadership and how inclusive leaders enable their team to voice their diverse thoughts leading to better outcomes.

In Brief

• Inclusive leadership is all about a leader’s characteristics. It is about demonstrating bravery, curiosity, and humility.
• Inclusive leaders create permission to allow different perspectives to be voiced, valued, and more importantly, integrated.
• Choosing leaders who can bring new thinking, drive different perspectives, and demonstrate good self-awareness fosters a collaborative culture.
• By embracing and leveraging diversity, inclusive leaders can create a more innovative, productive, and profitable business with improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

To start off, what makes an inclusive leader?

“Inclusive leadership is all about a leader’s characteristics. It is about demonstrating bravery, curiosity, and humility.

“Inclusive leaders have the courage to be vulnerable. They lead in an authentic, honest fashion. They acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers and demonstrate the humility needed to connect on a personal level with their team. Long gone are the leaders who embrace the divide and conquer theory. Leaders of the future should strive to be adaptable and drive a level of flexibility with relevance to the people they lead."

Why is inclusive leadership important?

“Role modelling the characteristics of an inclusive leader encourages a continuous learning agenda. It also creates permission to allow different perspectives to be voiced, valued, and more importantly, integrated.

“As leaders, we must be curious in how we turn up. We must be self-aware to understand the things we feel comfortable with and know the things we feel uncomfortable with to drive the right level of engagement. As you build trust, you foster collaboration.

“Being an inclusive leader also means you will foster innovation and creativity. By inviting and integrating diverse perspectives, inclusive leaders generate innovative solutions and insights that may not be possible otherwise. For example, a study by Deloitte found that inclusive teams outperformed their peers by 80% in team-based assessments.

“In addition, inclusion enhances employee engagement and retention. When employees feel included, studies show they are more likely to be satisfied, motivated, and loyal to their organisation. They also experience less stress, burnout, and turnover.

“Finally, it improves customer satisfaction and loyalty – as inclusive teams can better understand and meet the needs of diverse customers and markets. This means leaders can leverage the insights and feedback of their diverse employees to improve products and services. A study by McKinsey found that companies with more diverse leadership teams were more likely to have above-average profitability and market share.

“Inclusive leadership is not only a moral imperative, but also a strategic advantage. By embracing and leveraging diversity, inclusive leaders can create a more innovative, productive, and profitable business.”

“Role modelling the characteristics of an inclusive leader encourages a continuous learning agenda. It also creates permission to allow different perspectives to be voiced, valued, and more importantly, integrated.”

What has been your experience with inclusive leadership as it relates to your career journey?

“The journey I have been on in my career has been about really championing and shedding the light on why D&I is important for what we do and how we do it.

“People still see D&I as a programme of activities with a potential target at the end of that. Everybody becomes very consumed about the target versus the method.

“What I have been trying to highlight is that diversity of thought gives us the best possible chance of being more successful in what and how we do things. My career has certainly allowed me to demonstrate that because of the way I have applied that theory.

“The idea of driving a D&I agenda is great, it is purposeful, and it is a statement of intent. What has worked on my journey so far is actioning that intent and demonstrating the value it is creating outside of itself. I would love to get to a position where we do not talk about D&I as a programme or role, but instead as an outcome for everybody coming together and driving a collaborative way of moving forward.

“My journey has not been a simple one because sometimes being the minority in the room, being the voice of the challenge, and highlighting that improvement is a continuous task. However, it helps when you get the level of sponsorship to also support your thinking.

“If I look at all the organisations I have worked within, there is an ambition to want to be better. There is an understanding of why creating inclusive thinking drives better outcomes. What is still left to do is to ensure the journey remains sustainable and purpose-led because we are doing it for the right reasons, and we are seeing the results at the end of it.

“As a diverse leader, I always lean on performance to demonstrate the value of diversity because it is the one thing that does not allow bias to play a part. No one can say you know you are not performing or you're not doing certain things if the data is validating that you are. To any diverse candidate, I would say always hold core to your performance and your values because they shape your personal and professional growth.”

What results have you seen from practicing inclusive leadership and encouraging diversity of thought?

“Encouraging diversity of thought is not only the right thing to do, but it represents better outcomes for our customers and for our partners.

“A lot of our customers today are representative of society, so we must reflect that within the policy changes, propositions, and capabilities we take to market.

“We’ve used innovation to harness a better understanding to make the outcome of products, capabilities, and engagement with clients more successful.

“The teams I worked with always brought different perspectives and ideas, helping the outcomes to be more impactful and successful. If you are not prepared to listen to different perspectives and ideas and encourage them by practicing inclusive leadership, then you don’t stress-test whether the concept is going to work out or not.”

How does including and empowering leaders with diverse experiences improve decision-making?

“Choosing leaders who can bring new thinking, drive different perspectives, and demonstrate good self-awareness fosters a collaborative culture.

“COVID-19 taught us how to adapt in heightened crisis and chaos. If you think about the level of creativity we had to apply at the time, no idea was a bad idea, you could say most opinions were considered. Imagine if we applied that same creativity to our everyday business problems? If organisations embrace that level of difference and champion that diversity of thought it creates a more compelling opportunity for businesses to be better. “

“COVID-19 taught us how to adapt in heightened crisis and chaos. If you think about the level of creativity we had to apply at the time, no idea was a bad idea. Everything was considered. Imagine if we applied that same creativity to our everyday business problems?”

How do you encourage people to speak their mind and share their perspectives?

“It is about fostering a trusted environment; where those who are bringing that different perspective of thought feel comfortable to communicate, and where leaders take the action to understand further. You need to make it a safe space, where new ideas are treated with respect – even if they are challenged.

“People like the idea of having different thinking, but when it comes to enacting that different thinking into a policy change, into processes, into driving a different way of doing things, that’s when the comfortable becomes uncomfortable because people are taking a level of risk. For some leaders without relevant lived experience, it’s harder for them to enact and embrace change. “

“It’s about fostering a trusted environment where those who are bringing that different perspective of thought feel comfortable to communicate and where leaders take the action to understand further.”

What are the next steps for D&I leaders across the sectors?

“We must go forward with purpose. We need to be thoughtful and responsible about what is expected of us as leaders and in the decisions we make.

“For many businesses today, the ESG agenda - measuring purpose, value, and social value -is all about building better outcomes for clients, for our people, and for society. There is cross-sector relevance here because it’s improving the natural ecosystem of the way we do business, and it’s using a better-informed ecosystem to make stronger decisions.

“The next chapter for D&I leaders is to ensure innovation of the future takes reference to diversity of thought so we can move from the theory into practice. How are we applying that diversity of thought to change the game around making something more business as usual. I want to see a richness of content, collaboration, and insight, and this means we need a diverse set of people collaborating to make diversity and inclusion not something we ‘do’ but just something we are.”

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Returning for its tenth year, WIG's Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2024 will take place on Tuesday, 19 March 2024. The conference will bring together experts from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors to learn from each other’s experiences of creating inclusive organisations. This year’s agenda will focus on removing barriers to deliver impactful change and inspire the next generation of inclusive, cross-sector leaders. 

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