I was glad to receive so many requests for the additional seven inclusive behaviors from people who read my newsletter, “Are You Practicing These Inclusionist Behaviors.”

Rather than send an email attachment to each person, I decided to send the additional inclusionist behaviors in a newsletter form.

If you didn’t get the previous edition of the Lieberman Learning Letter, “Are You Practicing These Inclusiionist Behaviors,” you can use this link to read them.
Here are the other seven inclusionist behaviors, starting with number four.

4. Inclusionist Leaders treat people as individuals, which means they don’t use clichés like; “I treat everybody the same.”

I can’t tell you how many managers told me they treat everybody the same, which has become a slogan. Next time your brain prompts you to use that phrase, think about what that really means.

If I treated everyone the same, then everyone would get the same pay, rewards, and feedback. If I treated everyone the same, I wouldn’t know how to seek and leverage the diverse talents, skills and experience of people in my workplace.

Would you send people in sales and marketing, to work in research and development if they didn’t have the skills?

Do you give everyone recognition in the same way?

5. Inclusionist Leaders make hiring decisions on more than just communication style assessments.

They look at the whole person, and know that talent exists beyond where someone falls on a quadrant, or alphabet. What if a persons’ assessment defines them in a particular way, but they’ve developed interest in a different area? They use the assessment as just one piece of the process.

6. Inclusionist Leaders are willing to appreciate different styles of leadership.

I’ve worked in more than one company, where talented women who were continuously bypassed for promotion, left to join competitors who recognized their value.

When I asked the CEO of a client organization why he never promoted these women, he said, “those women just weren’t strategic enough, I need to find better ones.” It took him a while to understand that everyone does not need to be his thinking clone, and that there were different ways to be strategic, and increase profit.

I’m glad to say, he “saw the light,” but it took the exit of several of the best women in the organization. He became an inclusionist leader, and before he left the organization, there were many more women in senior management and even on the executive team.

7. Inclusionist leaders create processes that teach new employees the stated and/or written rules, regulations, and policies, but also the unwritten rules, and paths to success.

Employees can accelerate their growth and success, when they know the cultural norms of the organization. Inclusionist leaders are able to integrate new employees into the culture at a faster rate, than if employees learn by trial and error.

8. Inclusionist leaders intentionally LBO- Look Beyond the Obvious, to recognize, develop and promote employees that may not fit the traditional mold.

Inclusionist leaders spend the extra time to uncover “hidden genius,” and don’t only hire “prefabricated people” from the best school with 4.0 grade point averages. (That would exclude Steve Jobs, or me)

9. Inclusionist leaders take responsibility, and hold managers accountable for their employees’ ability to articulate the organization’s mission, values and culture, and practice behaviors that demonstrate commitment to inclusion.

10.Inclusionist leaders follow-through on their promises, and model inclusive behavior.

They don’t talk about life/work balance and then get angry if someone doesn’t work twelve hours a day. People trust them to do what they say.

And most important, an Inclusionist leader asks the questions, “What if I’m wrong?” and ‘What if the other person is right?”
Inclusionist leaders are not afraid to try to see situations from other points of view, or understand why someone would say or behave a certain way.

Understanding why does not mean you condone or support negative behavior. It means, you can now prevent or resolve conflict, and find solutions to problems without being overly attached to an outcome.

I welcome any additional inclusionist leadership behaviors you’d like to contribute. We would love to hear from you.

Simma Lieberman creates workplaces where employees love to do their best work, and customers love to do business. She is a diversity and inclusion/culture change consultant, speaker and author, and executive leadership coach.

Contact her at 510.527.0700 or Email simma@simmalieberman.com
You can read more of her articles at http://www.simmalieberman.com