Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leadership development – critical to competitive advantage

An inclusive leadership programme from EW Group will cement equality, diversity, and inclusion in your managers’ minds as an inextricable part of their professional lives, and crucial to their and their organisation’s success. Our sessions are fresh, well-paced and always aligned to your values.

Our courses factor in all the protected characteristics, while paying special attention to those which are business critical to you. If you are looking to develop inclusive leadership in your business, we can design a programme to meet your strategic and talent management goals.

You may be looking to improve your recruitment and selection channels, for example. In response, we would design an inclusive leadership course to equip your managers with the skills they need to address unconscious bias where it may be impeding diverse talent. Your leaders would then be able to confidently articulate the links between inclusion, improved staff engagement, and better end products and services.

We often use our in-house acting team to present management scenarios through the lens of inclusive leadership. This content will create an ‘out of your seat’ experience for your delegates. They will be encouraged to respond to our acted scenarios as they unfold in real-time, and to direct the action themselves.

Inclusive leadership training – culture change for business success

For your inclusive leadership training to be effective, we make it bespoke to your business’ specific requirements and considerate of your company culture. Additionally, we may include key topics that commonly feature across our training programmes, including:

• Diversity and difference: getting the best out of your teams
• What does an inclusive culture look like and how do we nurture one?
• The cultural code: how do people progress in your organisation?
• A great place to work: why diversity is critical to the business case
• Knowing your leadership style and keeping it authentic
• Pinpointing the triggers and habits that drive the best leadership behaviours.

What does inclusive leadership mean?

Traditional leadership models are fast being turned on their head. Today’s leaders need to adapt their leadership styles and principles to what is needed across varying contexts. Command and control leadership may work in emergency situations, but in the day-to-day it will alienate.

Whether leading teams, departments or entire companies, senior leaders must be able to attract, engage and retain diverse groups if they are to deliver excellence. Their teams need to reflect the diversity of those they serve if they are to be considered truly world-class. Their organisations must demonstrate their commitment to inclusion to users and the public. And leaders themselves need to articulate their belief in the proven business benefits of inclusive leadership approaches.

What does inclusive leadership look like in practice?

Inclusive leaders are inspirational leaders. They are experts at adapting their leadership style to different groups and live situations. This allows them to communicate effectively across cultures, and to visibly champion difference and diversity as a powerful, inadmissible benefit. By successfully managing unconscious bias – in themselves and others – they can unlock the best talent and build inclusive, high-performing teams.

What are the benefits of developing inclusive leaders?

There is a powerful business case for developing inclusive leaders in all areas of your organisation. These include:

• Increased staff engagement
• Higher rates of diversity data disclosure among staff
• Improved staff retention
• A leading edge position in your industry
• Better decision-making
• Reduced instances of bullying, harassment, grievance and long-term sickness
• A culture that allows for innovation
• Ensuring staff are confident in reporting when standards are not being met, thereby precluding unwanted behaviours.

Learn more about inclusive leadership

Explore our experts’ views and know-how.
Racism at work – inclusive leaders must focus their attention and act
Leaders are addressing unconscious bias – what it means in practice
Lessons on compassionate crisis management
What does inclusive leadership look and feel like during the current pandemic?
How to be an inclusive leader in 10 steps
How to build a diverse and inclusive culture