Skip to main content

How Leaders Can Meaningfully Promote Inclusion And Diversity

Inclusion On Purpose: An Intersectional Approach To Creating A Culture Of Belonging At Work, by Ruchika Tulshyan, provides the missing piece in the ongoing conversation around equity and inclusion at work by focusing on the experiences of women of color, providing the playbook for how companies can be more inclusive on purpose – and why it’s imperative companies start now. 

“Inclusion takes awareness, intention, and regular practice,” explains Tulshyan. “Women of color representation is rapidly growing in Western workplaces and will be the majority of working women in the United States by 2050 accordingly to Catalyst (February 1, 2021).” 

“I use ‘women of color’ broadly, acknowledging that it is a flawed an incomplete term. I am referring to Black, Asian, Latinx, or Native or Indigenous women,” she adds. 

In her book, Tulshyan includes an entire chapter on the topic of how to develop empathy as an inclusive leader – including definitions and explanations of: 

  • Affective empathy (how easily can you feel another person’s emotions).
  • Cognitive empathy (can you understand and empathize with perspectives that may not be like yours).
  • Empathic Concern (how easily do you get concerned about another person’s challenges) .

“Inclusive leaders must cultivate cognitive empathy, which demands that we don’t automatically assume that others experience the workplace in the same way we do. Instead. They believe that there is nuance to how peers are experiencing the workplace—especially based on their identity and how they are perceived, frequently dependent on the stereotypes associated with those identities,” shares Tulshyan. 

Another critical chapter in the book is the one devoted to a leader’s role in creating inclusive hiring practices. This chapter includes helpful guidelines for interviewing and how to reduce bias while interviewing.

 Ruchika Tulshyan

Today, Tulshyan shares these additional insights with us: 

Question: You write about the gap between intention and action when it comes to inclusion. Why do you think this still exists, and how can we be better about addressing it? 

Tulshyan: Research shows that many of us haven't grown up with diversity in our lives and the first time many Americans meaningfully interact with a person from a different racial background is in the workplace. We need to see this as an opportunity to grow, not retreat into creating more homogenous teams because that’s what we’re familiar with.  

Question: How can leaders develop an inclusion mindset and what actions can they take to elevate women of color in the workplace? 

Tulshyan: An inclusion mindset draws from the seminal work of Dr. Carol Dweck, that with a growth mindset, we can all learn and grow. Applying that growth mindset to inclusion, we must know that even if we were taught that practicing inclusion and reducing bias wasn’t that important, we must and can grow to make change. When we have an inclusion mindset, we know that we will make mistakes and we don’t know everything there is to know about DE&I but we do not let that limit us in our quest to be more inclusive leaders.  

There are a number of actions that leaders can take to elevate women of color, but the most important is to spend time learning where women of color experience challenges in the workplace; that spans from experiencing hiring biases to barriers to equal pay, promotion and progress to leadership opportunities. Once you identify and understand how and why these barriers exist, that’s when you can take action. Without this awareness first, the actions won’t be meaningful or sustainable. 

Question: What other books would you recommend reading to further develop an inclusion mindset? 

Tulshyan: In my book, I recommend, So You Want To Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo; Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson and, How To Be An Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi as required reading in tandem with my book, to better understand the history of anti-Black racism in America. Depending on where you are in the world, I recommend seeking local/regional versions that contextualize inequity and justice in that region. 

Building empathy is a key part of developing an inclusion mindset. So, I recommend reading fiction by authors from underrepresented and underestimated communities, writing about experiences we don’t see covered in the mainstream enough, to help leaders cultivate empathy. Some recent favorites include, Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata and Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator), Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and, Border Less, by Namrata Poddar.

Question: What are the couple takeaways from your book for how a leader can take action tomorrow to be a more inclusive leader and to develop empathy? 

Tulshyan: Audit your social and professional network; do the people closest to you share the same identities as you; race, gender, education, socioeconomic status etc? If yes, how can you meaningfully diversify and expand your network? 

Audit what type of media and literature you typically consume. Is it mostly by and for people who are in the dominant-group majority in your society? How can you meaningfully diversify and expand to include community media and media and literature that centers underrepresented voices?

Take time and care to pronounce names correctly, take note of your employees’ pronouns and other seemingly small details that would meaningfully impact how valued and welcome another would feel.  

Hire for “culture add,” not “culture fit.” When we default to hiring for culture fit, we usually hire for sameness of who is already represented, especially by race and gender. Seek to understand which perspectives are missing today and how you can include them to expand and add to your organization or team’s culture. 

Practice active listening. Listen to hear, not to respond. This means that if someone offers you feedback (in a constructive manner, of course) that makes you feel uncomfortable or defensive, actively push through the discomfort and sit with it. Focus less on the intention you had and make space for the impact it had. 

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Three Essential Parts Of A Mission Statement

A lot of companies struggle when creating their mission statement. Author  Peter F. Drucker  provides the following good advice in one of my favorite book's of his,  The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization : Every mission statement has to reflect three things : Opportunities Competence Commitment In other words, he explains: What is our purpose? Why do we do what we do? What, in the end, do we want to be remembered for? How well does your mission statement meet Drucker's recommended three requirements?

Effective Listening: Do's And Don'ts

Here are some great tips from Michelle Tillis Lederman's book, The 11 Laws of Likability .  They are all about: what to do and what not to do to be a leader who's an effective listener : Do : Maintain eye contact Limit your talking Focus on the speaker Ask questions Manage your emotions Listen with your eyes and ears Listen for ideas and opportunities Remain open to the conversation Confirm understanding, paraphrase Give nonverbal messages that you are listening (nod, smile) Ignore distractions Don't : Interrupt Show signs of impatience Judge or argue mentally Multitask during a conversation Project your ideas Think about what to say next Have expectations or preconceived ideas Become defensive or assume you are being attacked Use condescending, aggressive, or closed body language Listen with biases or closed to new ideas Jump to conclusions or finish someone's sentences

6 Ways To Seek Feedback To Improve Your Performance In The Workplace

Getting feedback is an important way to improve performance at work. But sometimes, it can be hard to seek out, and even harder to hear.  “Feedback is all around you. Your job is to find it, both through asking directly and observing it,” says David L. Van Rooy, author of the new book,  Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be . As today's guest post, Van Rooy offers these  six tips for how to get the feedback you need to improve performance at work . Guest Post By David L. Van Rooy 1.       Don’t forget to as k :  One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming things are going perfectly (until they make a catastrophic mistake). By not asking, you’re missing out on opportunities for deep feedback: the difficult, critical feedback that gives you constructive ways to improve. 2.       Make sure you listen :  Remember, getting feedback is about improving your performance, not turning it into a “you versus the

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership .  In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust.  The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes.  In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter.  In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catalyst for

5 Tips For Generating Ideas From Employees

Your employees have lots of ideas.  So, be sure you provide the forums and mechanisms for your employees to share their ideas with you.  Hold at least a few brainstorming sessions each year, as well. And, when you are brainstorming with your employees, try these five tips: Encourage ALL ideas.  Don't evaluate or criticize ideas when they are first suggested. Ask for wild ideas.  Often, the craziest ideas end up being the most useful. Shoot for quantity not quality during brainstorming. Encourage everyone to offer new combinations and improvements of old ideas.

3 Things Your Mission Statement Must Have

A lot of companies struggle when creating their mission statement. Author Peter F. Drucker provides the following good advice in one of my favorite book's of his, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization :" Every mission statement has to reflect three things : Opportunities Competence Commitment In other words, he explains: What is our purpose? Why do we do what we do? What, in the end, do we want to be remembered for? How well does your mission statement meet Drucker's recommended three requirements?

How To Survive And Then Reset To Ultimately Thrive

“Uncertainty is here to stay. Rather than seeing it as an obstacle to overcome, integrate it into your strategic approach to invigorate your high-growth potential and outperform competition under any market condition,” explains Rebecca Homkes , author of the new book, Survive, Reset, Thrive .   “Most books aren’t honest enough about how hard it is to reset ,” adds Homkes. Yet, resetting and leaning into change is essential. “If you are ready to embrace change as a central element of your growth strategy, this book is for you.” Homkes’ book is a timely, comprehensive, and essential read for business leaders looking to take the next step toward ensuring high growth for their companies. The book brings together more than 15 years of Homkes working directly with high-growth companies of all sizes and across a wide variety of industries.   Survive, Reset, Thrive (SRT) is a practical and innovative interconnected three-mode approach :   Survive : Stabilizing your business when

3 Coaching And Mentoring Tips

Here are three great tips from the book, The Everything Coaching and Mentoring Book : Coaches do not motivate their employees; they inspire them to motivate themselves.  This is best accomplished by allowing employees to see clearly where they stand in the organization versus where they want to be in their careers.  That is, what are their self-interests versus what the company can offer them. A mentor always exercises the power of suggestion. That is, wise mentors offer up plenty of suggestions to their mentees. They pose alternatives.  But they refrain, as much as possible, from telling their mentees what to do. Mentoring is all about sharing experiences.  It is about mentors imparting the multiple lessons that they've learned to their mentees and helping them better navigate through their own careers.  By absorbing these lessons--of mentors' mistakes and successes--mentees are better prepared to move forward with knowledge and confidence.

Use A Board Of Advisors

David Burkus often provides valuable comments to my various Blog postings, and he's a person who effectively uses a board of advisors, instead of mentors, to help him achieve success. "I've found that in my life, it was easier and more effective to set up a board of advisors," said Burkus, the editor of LeaderLab . "This is a group of people, three to five, that have rotated into my life at various times and that speak into it and help me grow. I benefit from the variety of experience these people have." LeaderLab is an online community of resources dedicated to promoting the practice of leadership theory. Its contributors include consultants and professors who present leadership theory in a practitioner-friendly format that provides easy-to-follow explanations on how to apply the best of leadership theory. Community users can download a variety of research reports and presentations about leadership and leadership versus management. For example, a pr

How To Avoid 8 Common Performance Evaluation Pitfalls

As the year comes to a close it's likely time for many business leaders to tackle the annual performance appraisal process. So, here is a good reminder from author Sharon Armstrong about how to avoid eight performance evaluation pitfalls .  These are in what I consider is the best chapter of the book The Essential HR Handbook , that she co-authored with Barbara Mitchell. 1.  Clustering everyone in the middle performance-rating categories 2.  Overlooking flaws or exaggerating the achievements of favored employees 3.  Excusing substandard performance or behavior because it is widespread 4.  Letting one characteristic - positive or negative - affect your overall assessment 5.  Rating someone based on the company he or she keeps 6.  Rating someone based on a grudge you are holding 7.  Rating someone based on a short time period instead of the entire evaluation period 8.  Rating everyone high, to make you look good There's other great information in this 250-page book th