Inclusive workplaces are more profitable

How building an inclusive organisation not only builds trust internally, but influences business results to capture new markets, and retain existing clients. 

In my background in Financial Planning distribution, my passion was to increase advice distribution in Australia. Gallup research[1]) has proven that when employees feel trust, inclusion and purpose, business results improve and therefore distribution. 

According to Dr Martin Bolt[2] people who do feel included feel they are treated with respect, feel valued and therefore feel confident to share ideas. At a team level people report they have higher levels of trust with each other, they are willing to go beyond the expectations of their role, bringing more creative solutions. 

Inclusion is looking at the diversity of people working together and how that diversity is supported.

What is involved in building an inclusive workplace

1. Building the right remuneration and Reward
Have you ever waited with anticipation for the Christmas gift you were waiting for to open something entirely different, or received an online order that was nothing like the quality on the post? It’s the disappointment of getting the opposite of what would feel like a reward. 

A reward to one employee might be completely different to another. It’s a matter of understanding for what and how your staff might like to be recognised or rewarded. 

2. Understanding work styles
Understanding how your team members work best is to understand individual strengths, values and work styles and preferences. 

What leaders need to understand is what they want to be appreciated or recognised for, may not be the same as the people they are leading. 

Acknowledging different ways people think, personality preferences, and different ways people work is to benefit from the diversity in your team. Different ideas, creativity and original thought people can offer brings much more to the organisation. In an inclusive environment team members feel enabled to bring their unique contribution to their role, the organisation benefits from:

• diversity of thought
• thinking styles
• experiences
• values
• personality
• work styles.

According to Myers Briggs research the Business Outcomes from encouraging diversity and inclusiveness far outweigh the investment:

• 70% greater growth
• 36% better profitability
• 87% better decisions
• 19% better innovation.

How is a leader not left guessing how best to manage the team and get the most from your team?

Research has found that Inclusive workplaces start with leadership, and leaders influence inclusiveness. According to Gallup, up to 70% of the team and the wider workplace is affected by the manager’s inclusive style. They influence others behaviour around inclusion. 

How to establish and build an inclusive workplace
1. Senior Leaders, set tone, agenda and cultural norms around what inclusiveness looks like, it’s not as simple as writing a vision or statement, it has to be what leaders demonstrate and be tangible.
Inclusive leadership needs to be included in development plans at all levels of leadership, to include what does inclusion look like and why is it important. 

Front line leaders have the day to day influence on how inclusive the environment is, but they take their cues from their leader. If a leader demonstrates inclusion, others will demonstrate it. 

Leaders need to understand what is it to be an inclusive leader. And how to bring it to life, Myers Briggs have a 8 Core Competencies model for inclusive leadership:

• humility
• curiosity – wanting to know more, remaining open to different ideas
• openness – open to difference
• leveraging differences
• empathy – desire and intent to understand where people are coming from
• courage
• flexibility
• self awareness.

It’s important to understand that while Leaders can motivate, they can also demotivate, and the latter may not be intentional. Which is why it’s critical to understand how to manage diversity and inclusiveness. Example a team with four different members might want to be recognised differently, and does a manager best achieve inclusion.

1. development plans, regularly updated and documented
2. know your staff (include a tool to uncover staff working styles, decision processes, values and experiences and aspirations)
3. have regular scheduled feedback sessions for both team and individual.

Leaders influence behaviours around inclusion, when having this conversation, most leaders are concerned about the effort or time that might be required to build a high level of understanding and therefore inclusiveness. The risk of not building an inclusive environment is losing potential business opportunities, not retaining talent and clients. 

It can be of value, and wise for organisation to recognise the value to outsource a service to train leaders, or work with leaders regularly to manage the staff development and inclusive process.
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[1] 2022, Inclusive Leadership & Re-Engaging your People webinar, Dr Martin Bolt Director of Professional Services for Myers Briggs. 17.05.22
[2] Ibid.