What if I told you about a strategy to perform 21 % better than your competitors in 2020?
What if it would also bring you 156 % more relevant innovation?
What if it would attract and retain the best talents?
What if it would get you on the list of most admired companies?
These are just a few benefits of mixed leadership teams in companies.
As we approach a new decade, it’s time to move beyond ad hoc diversity events and to start thinking about pro-active ways to realize more inclusive leadership in your company.
The past year, I have worked with a lot of companies on the topic of diversity. I have been on many conference stages and noticed this topic often has vivid fans and vidid adversaries. And that there is a very large, silent majority not speaking up about it.
Here is what I learned: the first step to change the numbers, is to start a discussion about WHY you need more diversity and inclusionopen the discussion to all forms of diversity. Don't just talk about #gender but also about #ethnicity, #age, introverts/extraverts and #expertiseidentify the blind spots, look for accelerating and blocking factors developing diverse talent in your companylearn from others: once your culture shifts change, how do you make diverse teams work?
Be smarter than your competitors.
Make inclusive leadership development a priority in 2020.
An inclusive culture is one where all talents can fully develop and thrive. Diversity is about having different people around the table. Inclusion is about those people being fully themselves. What you really want is belonging. Baumeister and Leary define belonging as "the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group or place, and as the basic fundamental drive to form and maintain lasting, positive, and significant relationships with others." When you don't feel you belong in a leadership role, you will not get there.
A company culture is defined by the majority of people working in leadership roles. If that majority is male, white, 50 plus, the 'others' can feel they don't belong and limited their development. The majority will often not even realize that their culture is a blocking factor. For those who are part of the majority in an organization, privilege is often blind.
Let's take the next step
Sharing knowledge about what works and what doesn’t, that’s exactly what we do through #keynotes, #management dialogues & #workshops. Wether you are new to the topic are already well on your way to an inclusive leadership culture.
Elke Jeurissen, Entrepreneur, Keynote Speaker & Author