Five lessons to create more inclusive organisations

Becoming an inclusive organisation that embraces equality can be a difficult – especially if leaders embark on that process alone. That is why many organisations seek external support.

The National Fire Chiefs Council designed its award-winning Executive Leadership Programme (ELP) with Warwick Business School (WBS) to move from ‘heroic leadership’ to a more inclusive approach.

Becci Bryant, one of the country’s first female chief fire officers, completed the programme in 2010. She now helps to deliver it to a new generation of leaders as an Associate Professor at Warwick Business School.

When Becci first joined the fire service in 1992, female firefighters accounted for just one per cent of the workforce. There were no separate locker rooms for women and no consideration was given to menstruation, pregnancy or menopause.

Despite this, Becci became the first woman to progress from frontline firefighter to Chief Fire Officer, leading Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service from 2016 until she retired in 2021.

“Before I completed the ELP, I thought I needed to lead from the front and avoid demonstrating my vulnerabilities,” says Becci.

“The programme taught me that leadership isn’t saying, ‘I have all the answers, follow me’. It requires the ability to engage with people and understand their differences.”

Here are five key lessons for learning inclusive leadership, as recommended by Becci and Kulbir Shergill, Director of Social Inclusion at the University of Warwick.

1 Leadership starts early

Leadership doesn’t start 10 years into your career, or the first time you take a role that has responsibility for other people.

“It needs to start right at the very beginning of your career,” says Becci.

“That means it needs to sit alongside any continuous personal development that an organisation requires its staff to undertake. It should be a systematic approach.

“In order to create a work environment that is more inclusive, people need to be able to put their point across and have their voice heard. That is part of leadership practice.”

2 Dialogue trumps debate

Conversations about strategy and decision-making often focus on debate rather than dialogue as individuals prioritise getting their own point across.

“People assume they already have the answer, rather than engaging with others to understand their perspective and what they can offer,” says Becci.

“When our cohorts begin to see the benefits of that tapestry of perspectives, they describe it as a light-bulb moment.

“They realise that it’s not about one person winning and another losing. It’s about a collaborative effort to address whatever challenge the organisation is facing.”

3 Learning also involves unlearning

Embracing inclusion often begins with developing a better understanding of yourself.

What do you believe to be true and why? Who has shaped your values and how?

“On the ELP, we run a number of immersive exercises to facilitate that process,” says Becci.

“Social learning – really understanding other people, their values and their beliefs – often involves unlearning what we assumed to be true.

“That doesn’t just mean forgetting. It’s about listening, exploring ideas with others and really changing your values. That can be uncomfortable.”

4 Co-creation is key

The modules on the ELP remain the same for each cohort to ensure consistency and that they deliver on the main goals.

However, programme leaders try to meet the needs of individual cohorts.

“There are three golden threads that run through everything we do: self-awareness, equality and diversity, and political acuity,” says Becci.

“But if there is something specific the group wants, we can work on it with them. That’s why the ELP works so brilliantly. It’s remarkable what people discover about themselves.”

5 Inspire inclusion through supportive networks

Another way to implement the lessons learned on a development programme more effectively is to create supportive networks across the organisation.

That is why University of Warwick leaders from minority backgrounds are given a senior sponsor when they complete the INspire programme supported by WBS.

“Quite often people from under-represented groups don’t have the same networks to support their career progression,” says Kulbir.

“We looked at how we could address that. Women have been mentored for years without seeing the results we might have hoped for.

“Sponsorship is much more proactive. It’s about opening up your network, inviting someone to meetings and introducing them to people they might not usually have access to.”

Those who complete the programme are now encouraged to sponsor aspiring leaders from minority backgrounds who aim to follow in their footsteps. This helps those networks to expand and supports greater diversity.

“A lot of these challenges are rooted in societal issues and cultural expectations,” says Kulbir.

“But I think it’s important for universities to take a lead in addressing them, because we are places of learning. We know for a fact that diversity of thought is fundamental to innovation and creativity, and we should do what we can to encourage that.”

Further reading:

Six ways to increase inclusivity as a leader

How to build a more ethical team

Can diverse workplaces increase innovation?

How to build and manage a hybrid team

Learn more about the award winning Executive Leadership Programme created by Warwick Business School and the Fire Chiefs Council and how our custom executive education partnerships could benefit your organisation.

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