THE LINKAGE INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT MODEL ™ tween people. But these efforts actually limit us. Inclusive leaders recognize that everyone has unique perspectives and value, and that those differences can contribute to unique business results. While everyone has biases, these leaders minimize them through candid conversations and courageous actions, and by being personally vulnerable and open to learning. 2. Leading relationships. Inclusive leaders build great relations with others by networking broadly, adapting their style to others, and encouraging others’ development. They focus on microaffirmations—subtle acknowledgements of a person’s value and accomplishments. These small gestures build others’ confidence and competence, and as a result, give employees exposure and opportunity to excel professionally and for the organization.
3. Leading culture. Inclusive leaders build an environment in which everyone feels comfortable contributing their true self. This means building trust, respect, and a feeling of safety within an organization. These leaders share responsibility when things go wrong, but also the credit when things go well. They understand the value of, and tap into the wide variety of differences for the benefit of the organization. Similar to the age-old question about leadership, are some people naturally inclusive or is inclusive leadership learned and nurtured over time? It seems that those who are naturally curious and open to
experience tend toward a style of inclusive leadership. But anyone can learn to be a more inclusive leader by practicing the key behaviors we discovered. From our research, we built the Inclusive Leadership Assessment to measure the behavioral competencies demonstrated by inclusive leaders. The assessment can be used by organizations to develop leaders and also to measure an inclusive culture, increase employee engagement, and advance organizational imperatives. By measuring all leaders, organizations can establish diversity and inclusion benchmarks; in the process, leaders will internalize the behaviors, leading to faster, more meaningful change. Because the assessment is based on behaviors, not personal epiphanies (or aha moments), when combined with skill building and effective coaching, it provides a scalable solution which can be broadly and quickly implemented with observable impact. Given the competition in today’s global and diverse markets, employee diversity is not enough. Organizations must learn how to bring and engage diversity—of people, experience, and thinking— in to the conversation and decision-making process. Through this new model, and our corresponding assessment, Linkage has created a measurable way for organizations and individual leaders to track their progress toward becoming more inclusive. PDJ
Charley Morrow, PhD, is vice president of assessments at Linkage. He has more than 20 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating training, individual assessment, and organizational-transformation interventions. He’s also an expert in developing assessments and methodologies for individual, team, and organizational motivation and performance. Follow him on Twitter @CharleyMorrow. March/April 2014
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