Building a Motivated Team with Inclusive Company Culture
Photo by Romain Tordo on Unsplash
More than just a checkbox on a form, an inclusive company culture means recognizing the value of everyone’s strengths, varying perspectives and backgrounds as a company works toward a shared business vision.
Begin with compassion and empathy
As a business leader, you have the opportunity to help shape a culture where contributors feel heard and valued. In turn, those employees will feel empowered to speak up, to innovate and to create their best work for the organization.
Rather than pushing and pressuring your team to succeed, you operate from a place of empathy and compassion as you invite each person to play to their strengths.
As this Forbes contributor notes:
“Compassion is a practice. As a compassionate leader, you invest time and make an active commitment to the people around you, which sets them on a path for success. You inherently support their growth and clear their way of obstacles — whether that means redefining new processes that improve their work-life balance and productivity or simply being approachable so that employees feel comfortable asking for time away from work.”
Acknowledging when a team member is experiencing personal challenges that require some flexibility, and allowing time away from work, creates a human-centered culture. That fosters inclusion by creating an atmosphere of respect for people in various stages of life and with varying personal needs.
As a leader, when you understand that people can show up and produce at their best when they have a better sense of work-life balance, you open the door for a positive and supportive company culture.
Supporting innovation and ideas
Your people should feel free not only to advocate for their work-life balance, but to express their ideas and perspectives freely. When they do speak up – or disagree – they should have confidence that you will listen to understand.
In the age of disruption, the last thing you need is a high-pressure culture that rewards only tried-and-true methods. Sticking to the status quo leaves little room for you and your team to try something new that could lead to true breakthroughs.
Look around you. Do you know what unique background or talent each individual in your group offers? Have you taken the time to explore their capabilities and insights? Do you tend to assume that everyone shares the same perspectives on how to approach a problem?
Inclusion, at its heart, means allowing space for people of all ages, genders, races, abilities and backgrounds to have a voice and to create impact. Trying to force each employee into a rigid mold of “success” preempts their ability to improve upon processes or contribute in a more meaningful way.
When you lead your team with a high level of emotional intelligence, and executive presence, you begin to tune in to each person’s unique contributions and see them as the assets they are.
Honoring everyone’s experience and style
Begin by understanding and appreciating your own value and style. Then work to acknowledge that not everyone operates from the same place as you. If you are a 30-something man from Brooklyn, you have a different life experience than a 50-something woman from Orlando. An introverted entry-level employee will present differently than the extroverted senior manager.
We all have biases and we all make assumptions about others, whether intended or not. Recognizing that tendency – one that we all share – helps you stay aware of it. You can begin to break the bias habit by listening more and adopting a stance of compassionate curiosity.
While you don’t need to know the life stories of each colleague (and many people don’t want to share too many personal details anyway), pay close attention when someone does share something individual to them. If it’s important enough for them to disclose, it’s important enough for you to hear.
Also seek out diverse voices in the media you choose to consume. Read that story about the executive who seems to be your exact opposite. Follow the social media account of the influencer who presents a far different style from you. Each time you do, you broaden your worldview.
This article from Working Mother highlights the stories of three women executives who have found value in showing up authentically at work. One of them, Verizon’s Chief Diversity Officer Magda Yrizarry, sums it up well:
“Authenticity is freedom. It takes too much energy to be someone else. Pick a workplace where you don’t have to cover who you really are or reinvent yourself to fit in.”
If you want the freedom to be yourself and express yourself fully at work, you know others want that as well. As a strong leader, take the reins in helping to create that kind of inclusive culture.
As a HR leader and consultant, I work with incredible individuals every day who want to build a more inclusive culture in their workplace. I would love to hear about your goals, as well as your roadblocks. Reach out today for a free strategy call.