Six ways to increase inclusivity as a leader

Inclusivity is one of the major challenges facing workplaces today. Research shows that inclusivity benefits employees and workplaces that want to deliver better retention, motivation, productivity, and innovation outcomes.  

Yet diversity-washing is prevalent in the UK, with many firms making superficial statements on diversity that are not underpinned by practices or experience. 

A survey by health company Essity found the UK was one of the worst-performing countries on equality in the workplace. 

This situation represents significant business risks to organisations, including reputational damage, potential legal issues, and weaker financial performance. 

Can adopting a new leadership style – servant leadership - help organisations to walk the walk, rather than just talking the talk when it comes to EDI?  

According to US management expert Robert Greenleaf, who coined the term in 1977, servant leadership is a call to arms. The concept encourages more 'servants' – those who normally avoid leadership – to step up and engage with power.  

Instead of domination or coercion, servant leadership involves a painstaking process of building change to create a more supportive culture.  

It is a style of leadership that prioritises your workplace environment – your employees, your community, and your workplace culture – above self-interest.

It is motivated by service, not ego. Consequently, it reflects higher levels of ethical behaviour.

A leadership style to embrace diversity

Servant leadership is the ideal way to encourage inclusive practices. The failure to implement these practices is destructive to individuals and organisations.  

McKinsey & Co’s Women in the Workplace 2023 survey reports that despite women's growing ambition compared to before the pandemic, they are held back by differential recruitment, promotion, and working practices. 

For example, women favour remote working because it allows them to avoid microaggressions and anxiety about their appearance. The report found they benefit less from working onsite than men in terms of forging connections, getting beneficial feedback, and mentoring.  

Servant leadership is an effective solution to these destructive effects because it delivers respect, empowerment, belonging, and the space to grow.  

Taking the first step towards becoming a servant leader involves self-awareness – why and how should your values and behaviour change?  

You also need to attend to your organisational culture. Will your organisation support you in this transformation by offering coaching or mentoring? Will you need to get stakeholder buy-in?

Resistance to change is a factor to consider.  Readiness to fail is vital.

Becoming a different type of leader is difficult and sincerely engaging with diversity is challenging. This means organisational buy-in is essential. You need to know that you have the freedom to fail. 

As part of these first steps, I've identified six attributes of servant leadership that can encourage inclusion. This reveals practical measures that managers can take to embody this leadership style.  

1 Empowerment and development  

Encourage people to share their ideas. Many ideas and innovations are lost because people don’t think they can speak.

Active listening is a tool that can help others develop the confidence to speak. This involves showing that you are paying attention, taking in everything that is said, then actively showing you have heard.  

Offering constructive feedback at the right time is vital. It should help employees understand where they are, what to do, and the steps they need to take to achieve their goals. Negative feedback is a disincentive to change, so always be positive - this will achieve better results.  

Empowerment and development are also about tackling our unconscious biases.

For example, research shows women are twice as likely to be interrupted and hear comments about their emotional state. This is a form of silencing and a microaggression. 

It says that you do not respect the other person’s opinion. Rooting out unconscious biases is a complex and lengthy process, and you will make mistakes. But growing awareness will make the job of inclusion more successful.  

2 Interpersonal acceptance 

Servant leaders will offer emotional support and non-judgemental acceptance of others. Being inclusive means reflecting on how to avoid judgements that make people from diverse backgrounds uncomfortable.  

One route to interpersonal acceptance is inclusive language. Deliberately avoid terms that perpetrate prejudice or discrimination, whether that impacts gender, ethnicity, age, or so on.

For example, rejecting candidates by saying they are ‘too experienced’ is often age discrimination and can make them feel excluded.

Similarly, being vocally upset because a younger colleague has been promoted to a senior position can also be age discrimination.  

But it is not just about protected characteristics. Personal beauty or personality type can affect someone's career outcomes. We all need to be aware of how we respond to these influences.  

3 Humility 

Humility is about being able to step back and let others flourish – for example, delegating responsibilities to them and not micromanaging their work.  

It means sharing ideas with team members and contributing to team projects.  

Humility can also mean admitting mistakes and apologising for them. For microaggressions, it means fully acknowledging the hurt caused, taking responsibility for it, and learning to not repeat the act.  

4 Authenticity 

Whatever leadership changes you make, authenticity entails that you must mean it – that it truly reflects your values. Your actions and values should be congruent if you are trying to show you care for employees and offer them personalised support.  

Regularly evaluate how truly inclusive you are by assessing your awareness, how well you embrace inclusivity, and how effective you are in creating a culture of inclusion.  

5 Stewardship 

Stewardship means taking responsibility and caring for the group or your team. This does not just affect the present – it also applies to the past, bringing to mind previous gains and future directions.  

Taking responsibility also involves the organisation – its values, goals and actions.  

Stewardship also entails accountability around your own and others’ actions. It is never about control.

Instead, servant leaders exercise influence by putting the needs of others first and showing empathy.

Empathy allows a leader to walk in others’ shoes. This fosters stronger connections, builds trust, and ultimately leads to more informed and compassionate decision-making. And it is these characteristics that deliver success.  

6 Providing direction 

Servant leaders can provide their team or workplace with a sense of direction. They will have a plan and can offer guidance if conflict occurs. They know how to resolve problems and when to compromise.  

They set standards for behaviour, such as inclusive behaviours, which enable employees to speak up if they feel afraid or threatened.  

Servant leadership is a significant shift from the styles of leadership we commonly experience.

But it might be the answer for organisations that want to benefit from a happy and diverse workforce.

Further reading:

How to build and manage a hybrid team

The seven key competencies for collaborative leadership

How can firms overcome the curse of the powerful leader?

The 10 questions successful leaders use to spot a scandal before it happens

Aikaterini Grimani is Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School.

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