Breakout Activity Two: RAG Rating – Paired Discussion

You have individually reflected upon and rated yourself red, amber or green for each of the criterion.

Compare ratings with your partner/group and discuss the following questions:

1.What did you notice about yourself?

2.What areas of inclusive Leadership would you like to improve upon?

3.Which of these are within your control? Are there any organizational barriers?

Definitions below:

1. Individualised Consideration - showing individual interest and offering one-to-one support for people

2. Idealised Influence - providing an appealing vision that inspires others

3. Inspirational Motivation - encouraging others to develop ideas and to be challenging

4. Intellectual Stimulation - encouraging creative thinking

5. Unqualified Acceptance - showing acceptance of everyone without bias

6. Empathy - being able to appreciate the perspective of others and endeavouring to understand how others feel

7. Listening - truly listening to the opinions of others

8. Persuasion - having an influence on people’s actions without force or coercion

9. Confidence Building - providing positive feedback to boost people’s self-efficacy

10. Growth - providing opportunities for all employees to realise potential, make autonomous and unique contributions and progress with the organisation

11. Foresight - being able to consider the views of others about possible outcomes

12. Conceptualisation - being able to focus on how employees contribute to long-term objectives

13. Awareness - having self-awareness of how preconceived views can influence behaviour towards others

14. Stewardship - showing a commitment to leading by serving others for the good of everyone rather than for self-gain

15. Healing - showing a respect for the wellbeing of all employees

Activity Three: Inclusive Communication - Audit

1. The person whose first name comes first alphabetically will be the leader
2. The leader will decide on a speaker who will feedback to the whole group, when we return to the Main Room
3. Avoid specific reference to names when using examples
4. Please make sure that all voices are heard

Your leader will guide you through each of the following questions.

In relation to the inclusivity of written and verbal communication:

1. What do you and your team already do well?
2. Is there anything you'd like to do better?
3. What might you or members of your team do differently?
4. What could you do less of, in order for your language and communication to be more inclusive?

Activity Four: Subtle Acts of Exclusion (Micro-aggressions)

Instructions

The leader for this discussion will be the person who most recently joined the organisation.

Guide your team through a discussion about the hidden messages and impact of the 3 Micro-aggression examples below.

A speaker isn't needed for this activity.

Activity Five: Inclusive Leadership - 6 Signature Traits Discussion

Discuss the following questions with your partner:

1. Which of the signature traits do you feel you demonstrate and do well in?
2. Which ones do you feel you can do more to improve?

Note: To aid your discussion, please see descriptions of the 6 Signature Traits below.

The 6 Signature Traits

Cognizance of bias. Inclusive leaders understand that personal and organisational biases impact on their ability to make objective bias free decisions. They put time and effort in to identifying their own biases and learn ways to prevent them from influencing decisions. They also seek to implement policies, processes and structures to prevent organisational biases from stifling diversity and inclusion. Without such measures, inclusive leaders understand that their natural inclination and preference could lead them toward self-cloning, and that operating in today’s society requires a different approach.

Courage. Inclusive leaders demonstrate courage in two ways. First, they aren’t afraid to challenge entrenched organisational attitudes and practices that don’t encourage diversity and inclusion, even if their recommendations are politically or culturally unpopular. Nor are they afraid to display humility by acknowledging their own personal limitations and seeking contributions from others to overcome them. Some leaders find it difficult to admit they don’t have all the answers; in that respect, courage and humility go hand in hand.

Commitment. Cultivating a diverse, inclusive workforce takes time and energy, two of a leader’s most precious commodities. So what motivates some executives to champion this issue? In addition to a belief in the business case, inclusive leaders are driven by their values, including a deep-seated sense of fairness that, for some, is rooted in personal experience. Inclusive leaders believe creating a welcoming culture begins with them, and they possess a strong sense of personal responsibility for change. When senior leaders, champions, devote time, energy, and resources to nurturing inclusive workforces, by investing in people and inspiring others to share their passion and goals, their actions signal a true commitment.

Collaboration. Inclusive leaders understand that, for collaboration to be successful, team members must first be willing to share their perspectives. To that end, they create an environment in which all individuals feel empowered to express their opinions freely with the group. They also realise that diversity of thinking is critical to effective collaboration; thus, they pay close attention to team composition and team processes. For example, they prevent teams from breaking into subgroups, which can weaken relationships and create conflict. They also embed a sense of “one team” by creating shared goals, and by working to ensure team members understand and value each other’s knowledge and capabilities.

Cultural intelligence. Knowledge of other cultures is essential for our organization, from our internal functions to our external services. Beyond “book” knowledge, cultural intelligence is a leaders’ ability to change their styles in response to different cultural norms. For example, culturally intelligent leaders who are typically extroverted and demonstrative will make an effort to show restraint when engaging and communicating with individuals whose cultures value modesty or humility. They regulate the speed and tone of their speech and modify their nonverbal behaviors, gestures, facial expressions, body language and physical interactions, as situations dictate. In addition to understanding other cultures, these leaders also demonstrate self-awareness of their own culture, recognising how it shapes their view and how cultural stereotypes can influence their expectations of others.

Curiosity. Open-mindedness, a passion for learning, and a desire for exposure to different ideas have fast become leadership traits crucial to success, especially in challenging times such as those we are currently navigating. Curiosity and openness are hallmarks of inclusive leaders, who hunger for other perspectives in order to highlight any challenges that they were not aware of and improve their decision-making. In addition to accessing a more diverse array of viewpoints, inclusive leaders’ ability to engage in respectful questioning, actively listen to others, and take on board a range of ideas makes the people around them feel valued, respected and represented. Inclusive leaders refrain from making fast judgments, knowing snap decisions can stifle the flow of ideas on their teams and are frequently tinged with bias.

Activity Six:  The Manager’s Responsibility

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) identified the 8 stages of an employee’s lifecycle and has produced information relating specifically to the issues a line manager may need to take into consideration at each stage of an employee’s life cycle. 

Objectives:

Identify the 8 stages of an employee’s lifecycle and consider the manager’s role in relation to these, with particular reference to how best to support disabled candidates and colleagues.

Instructions

• Your leader for this activity will be the person whose first name contains the most letters.
• Your leader will select a speaker for the team, who will share a brief summary of what was discussed.
• Make sure that all voices are heard - consciously include all members of the team!

1. Discuss ways to enhance the experience of disabled and neurodiverse candidates/colleagues and give examples of what good looks like.
2. What would an inclusive leader do to demonstrate fair and equitable treatment of all staff?

This might be something that you’ve experienced or something that you yourself do. 

Activity Seven: Subtle Acts of Exclusion (Micro-Aggressions) Confidential Chat

Instructions

The leader for this discussion will be the person who has been with the organisation the longest.

Facilitate an open discussion on the questions below.

This activity is completely confidential and won't be shared on our return to the Main Room.

A speaker isn't needed for this activity.

■Do you have any examples of micro aggressions that you have experienced or witnessed?

■What was the impact?

■What action was or should have been taken?

Activity Eight: Top Tips for Improving Inclusion 

Instructions

Your leader for this activity will be the person whose first name contains the most letters.

Your leader will select a speaker for the team.

Make sure that all voices are heard - consciously include all members of the team!

Objectives:

• Consider how we can we tackle Groupthink
• Suggest at least one more Top Tip for Improving Inclusion
• Discuss how this will benefit the organisation

Top Tips for Improving Inclusion

• Discuss the usefulness of these Top Tips for Improving Inclusion
• As a team, suggest at least one more Top Tip for overcoming Groupthink and Improving Inclusion

1. Interrupt the interruption - women get interrupted 2.8 times more often than men, when women voice views they are punished with 14% drop in how competent they are perceived - so hold back from speaking up - hence important to create interruption-free space

2. Share perspectives silently - 74% of people in a group conform to the view of the majority (Solomon Ashe)- write down perspectives and group conformity vanishes - gives equal access to diverse perspectives

3. Conquer ‘Group Think’ - divide groups into many small and different kinds of groups that work independently of each other - compare the outcomes of each group. 

4. Flip perspectives. - e.g., present a project as a 90% chance to succeed to one group and a 10% risk of failure to another group, changing the anchoring mitigates group think, compare results

5. Leaders and experts hold back- be the last to contribute and give permission for others to critique your views

6. Reframe ‘conflict’ - often seen as negative - reframe to 'friendly challenging', to uncover blind spots – take it in turns to play ‘devil’s advocate’

7. Take another perspective - what would others/a new leader/a leader whose leadership skills you admire do to deal with this challenge?

8.  We can pay attention to the ways we deliberately include people, creating the feeling of being valued, respected and included instead of excluded.

9. Don’t be a bystander – be an ally to those who have been overlooked or those who are on the receiving end of discrimination.

Discuss:

What additional Top Tips do you have for improving inclusion and overcoming groupthink?

What can you do to encourage others to present alternatives, critique a position, or even to express an unpopular opinion?

What could the organisation do to encourage others to present alternatives, critique a position, or even to express an unpopular opinion?

How might this be of benefit to the organisation?