Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 05

W hen we look back, 2020 will be remembered as the year of the coronavirus. But a second issue flared up this year, encouraged by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police and other incidents with a ra- cial edge in the U.S. and Canada. So 2020 has also been the year of renewed attention to diversity, as organizations struggled with inclusion and belong- ing. And no vaccine will make it magically disap- pear in the near future. We must find solutions within ourselves and our organization. A good starting point is to clarify some of the jar- gon bouncing around. “Diversity is about getting a mix of different people in the door, inclusion is about ensuring that mix is working well, and eq- uity is the promise that they all have equal access, opportunity, support and rewards,” Andrés Tapia and Alina Polonskaia sum up in their new book The Five Disciplines of Inclusive Leaders. They define inclusive leadership as executives who interact with the diversity around them, build interpersonal trust, take the view of others into account, and are adaptive. Since 2015 they have assessed more than 3,000 managers on inclusive leadership, testing assumptions through fieldwork, and mapping out competencies, traits, experienc- es, and cultural drivers. Leaders must have a positive disposition towards differences and even further, a belief that differ- ences are desirable. Along with that, authenticity, emotional resilience, self-assurance, inquisitive- ness, and flexibility are critical. They build those competencies into the five disciplines of inclusive leadership: • Builds interpersonal trust: This is the foundation. It involves instilling trust and the ability to value differences. “Interestingly, each initially leans in the opposite direction of the other, but then they come full circle to reinforce each other, for optimal inclusive impact,” the consultants note. Instilling trust requires finding common ground across differences while valuing differences re- quires surfacing the implications of differences to better understand others. Call it the paradox of inclusion: Inclusive leaders must focus on what everyone has in common and also proac- tively unearth their differences. • Integrates diverse perspectives: This is perhaps the most difficult discipline to master. It requires patience and humility to balance the ideas and wishes of various stakeholders, managing con- flict. But most executives have a bias for action and struggle with slowing down to handle the complexities of diversity. Inclusive leaders listen more than they talk. They recognize inclusion is about listening to all voices. They know that the extra time they spend on the front end working through conflict will save time in the long run. They also know that embracing and encouraging diversity will make their team more creative, dili- gent, and successful. • Optimizes talent: The consultants note that much of the promise of diversity, however, stalls because of unrealized potential. That comes be- cause most leaders and managers are trapped by their own unresolved biases and lack of inclusive skills. So you must work to overcome those defi- ciencies, driving engagement, developing talent, and generating collaboration with all your peo- ple, paying attention in particular to underrep- resented and overlooked groups or individuals. The consultants urge you to follow poet Maya An- gelou’s advice: “People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” • Applies an adaptive mindset: This is where you broaden your impact beyond your own team to the wider organization. It requires situational adaptability, dealing with whatever comes your way, in whatever shape or form. But accompany- ing that should be a global perspective, which is more than managing cultural differences across different groups of people. It’s about curiosity and an understanding of the changes occurring in the world, be they political, social, or environmental. George Santayana captured this discipline with these words: “A person’s feet must be planted in their country, but their eyes should survey the world.” • Achieves transformation: This is the destination: With courage, helping to transform your unit or organization for a more sustainable and equitable future. Think Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, who transformed baseball by breaking the colour barrier. The Five Disciplines of Inclusive Leaders By Andrés Tapia and Alina Polonskaia Berrett-Koehler, 216 pages, $39.95 Inclusive Conversations By Mary-Frances Winters Berrett-Koehler, 192 pages, $25.95 26 / Canadian Government Executive // November/December 2020 The Leader’s Bookshelf By Harvey Schachter The Five Disciplines of Inclusive Leaders and Inclusive Conversations