Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Inclusive Leadership – The First Steps to Diversity

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All in! (Nagy, 2018)

Although we are making progress in the diversity demographics for CEO opportunities, it is very slow at the pace of molasses moving down a maple tree in the dead of winter. In 2021 the fortune 500 CEO demographics by race were 1.2% Black Americans (13.4% of the US population), 4% Hispanic Americans (18.5% of the US population), 8% Asian Americans (5.9% of the US population), and for gender 8.2% women are now CEOs (51.1% of the US population) (United States Census Bureau, 2021; Kurt, 2022; Statista, 2021). The disparity in this demographic is not a simple reflection of the population percentages of the US, for if it were, then we would likely see the numbers closer to a standard deviation or two away from the US percentages. Other factors contribute to the issue across people, processes, cultures, and more.

The benefits of diverse leadership at the top of the business ladder impact the organization’s bottom line. A series of McKinsey studies on diversity have found that the more diverse your company is at the executive level, the increase your profit margins 25% above average (Prince et al., 2020). Still, we are slow to realize these compounded benefits when we value fully integrated diversity. Perhaps, the disordering of the word’s diversity, equity, and inclusion led to a horse before the cart implementation. To have a diverse organization, one must first drive inclusivity, making diversity the output. McKinsey outlined five indicators of inclusivity as diverse representation, leadership accountability, equality, openness, and belonging (Prince et al., 2020). With inclusion being a leading element for growing equity and diversity, inclusive leadership is a transparent approach (Northouse, 2021).

What is inclusive leadership?

Inclusion is the extent to which members feel they belong to an organization or group and feel their uniqueness of beliefs, attitudes, ideals, and background are appreciated (Northouse, 2021, p.350). Inclusive leadership is a holistic engagement across the organization that fosters positive interactions at every level and with everyone. Inclusivity thus becomes a shared responsibility, everyone imbuing it as a cultural imperative for the organization (Northouse, 2021, p. 350).

Three goals of Inclusive leadership are (Northouse, 2021):

The Power of Inclusion (Epic, 2020)

  1. Create a shared identity among members to ensure everyone feels belonging.
  2. Reduce status differences and ensure everyone is treated with equal respect.
  3. Facilitate everyone’s participation to ensure equal input in making decisions.

Ok, so how do I become an inclusive leader/teammate?

Inclusion is a set of learned and developed behaviors requiring self-reflection and conscious attention. We often see the world from our perspective, shaped by our sense of self and interactions with the world. Since inclusion includes feelings of belonging and value, one must seek to see from the viewpoint of others over their own. Your intentions to treat someone with inclusivity may not be inclusive at all. Making the regular effort to understand opens the aperture of your awareness to begin to see things from other people’s points of view.

To further learn to be more inclusive, one must change their mindset, shift their values, and adopt a new style of interaction with others (Northouse, 2021, p. 350). Perhaps the most challenging but crucial area to develop is unconscious bias recognition in yourself. We all have biases, yet we don’t train ourselves to recognize them, mitigate them, and limit their imposition on our thinking. Looking for the root of inclusive behavior starts with us reflecting on our unconscious and conscious biases and obtaining a teammate to help hold ourselves accountable (Northouse, 2021, p. 350).

A while back, I recall hearing the word “tolerance” concerning inclusion and diversity (at the time DEI), and I couldn’t help but feel off-put by the statement. Semantics matter because they drive sentiments and behaviors. To tolerate is to allow and accept without interference (Merriam-Webster, 2022). The word “understanding” is preferred because understanding requires the effort to engage in comprehension fostering harmony not through similarities but rather through appreciation of differences (Miriam-Webster, 2022). While the leader sets the tone for these behaviors, success for inclusive behaviors must become team-focused and own initiative.

Although inclusive leadership lacks the rigors of extensive scientifically validated research, the emergence and significance of current societal challenges require a more focused study. Another aspect of inclusion is public allyship for diverse personnel. In many cases, cultural and personality differences limit buy-in from all group members during meetings or collaborations; this can also lead to an increase in social dominance. SDO, or social dominance orientation, prefers one’s group over others in a hierarchical sense (PSU WC, 2022, L13).

Our natural primitive cognitions have many afflictions to be effective in today’s complex world. With focused attention and practice, an inclusive leader can create a shared identity among all members, reduce status differences through increased respect, and ensure everyone participates and provides input (Northouse, 2021, p. 350). Inclusive team diversity increases organizations’ creativity, performance, and profits (Prince et al., 2020). Inclusivity is a cornerstone of American values, and it is also our competitive advantage.

References

Kurt, D. (2022 Feb 28). Corporate Leadership by Race. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/corporate-leadership-by-race-5114494.

Epic. (2020). Inclusive leadership makes powerful teams. Epic. https://epicassist.org/inclusive-leadership-makes-powerful-teams/.

Merriam-Webster. (2022). Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/

Nagy, I. (2018). Inclusive Work Practices – The Next Step. Investigo. https://www.investigo.co.uk/blog/2016/08/inclusive-work-practices-the-next-step?source=google.com

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership (9th Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781071834473.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (PSU WC). (2022). L13 Leadership and Diversity. PSYCH 485 Leadership and Work. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2177519/modules/items/33991792.

Prince, S., Dolan, K., Hunt, V., and Dixon-Fyle, S. (2020 May). Diversity Wins: How inclusion matters. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters.

Statista. (2021 Sep 10). Total population of the United States by gender 2010-2025. Statista Research Department. https://www.statista.com/statistics/737923/us-population-by-gender/.

United States Census Bureau. (2021). QuickFacts – United States. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221

How to Lead Rebels

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The buzzwords across many organizations have consistently included the word “innovation” in some form or fashion. In the increasingly complex and ever-changing world we live in today, markets are demanding that companies bring the agility that innovation encourages. So, where is the disconnect in bringing that innovation to market? Perhaps we think innovation is a thing to obtain or buy? Or maybe it is magic and only falls on those who have been gifted it like Harry Potter? The reality is much less grandiose. Innovation originates in people, across teams, and throughout cultures to bring in the new and undiscovered (Gino, 2018). The leaders who create an open culture to leverage the potential of their employees will embark on the impactful journey of leading and cultivating the outliers into rebel talent!

Professor Francesca Gino, the author of Rebel Talent, defines a rebel as an agent of positive change (2018). Now, most of us may view rebels as deviants or pirates against the “way things are done here,” and there may be some truth in those views. Consider having a game-changing playmaker of a divergent pirate in your arsenal to chart the unnavigated waters where treasures abound. Rebels are often misunderstood and underutilized treasures to change and innovation, and a leader can either harness them for the organization’s benefit or lose them to the competition. So how do you know if you have rebels on your team, or better yet, how do you create an environment where rebel talent can thrive?

Let’s take a look at a standard normal curve or distribution (Figure 1), sometimes known as a bell curve because of the bell shape it makes. It displays a “normal” distribution of a phenomenon in a given sample size and, when read, provides a generalization of a variable across this sample. The standard normal curve is a statical visual distribution used in science, research, manufacturing, etc. When we talk about people and talent development, many organizations apply the concept of a standard “normal” curve as an expectation for the organization’s population, where the middle may represent the average in performance, the most common type of person, or the consistency of a process (Bhandari, 2021).

While the standard normal curve may fit sustainable, predictable, and repeatable models, it can also drive a shift to the middle and become the blanket of mediocrity that stifles innovation and change for a competitive advantage. Statistics call this shift to the middle a regression to the mean, where over time, an outlier gets pulled into the center (APA, 2022). The change to the middle is also present in social psychology convergence theory, which states that group actions occur when like-minded people come together, fostering a group-think mentality (APA, 2022). Whether you want it to be that way or not, your organization will likely default to a regressive model that absorbs and conforms outliers unless the leader knows why and how to protect the rebel outlier development space.

Leadership is the process of interaction between leaders and followers emersed in a situation, working to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2021, p.6). Contrary to the trait approach, there are many different types of leaders, there are many kinds of followers, and both are important to the leadership process (Northouse, 2021, p.353). Types of leaders may include servant, adaptive, inclusive, and follower types, including those from Kelley’s Typology passive, alienated, conformist, exemplary, and pragmatist (Northouse, 2021, p.356). To seek out rebel talent, we will shift focus from the leader to the follower.

Where Might You Find Your Rebel Talent? The leader must understand that followers are a significant part of the leadership equation and, therefore, must seek to understand how the followers distribute from active to passive and from critical thinking to not thinking critically (Northouse, 2021, p.356). The rebel is a non-conformist, curious, barrier breaker that is likely to find themselves in the alienated and pragmatist followers’ groups from Kelley’s Typology (Figure 2) (Northouse, 2021, p.356). The thoughts, ideas, and behaviors of those on the fringes can be frowned upon by those in the middle, which requires the leadership imperative for shifting deviance into competitive disruption. An outlier is an anomaly among the group, and in statistics are disruption measurements. Still, in life, these outliers could be viewed as a diamond in the rough or a rebel in the making. Although we may find outliers who have already converted themselves into rebels, it is equally important to understand how to cultivate the environment for rebel talent to blossom.

Simon Sinek has demonstrated the power of a few innovators pulling the curve of the majority along in his famous TED Talk How Great Leaders Inspire Action (2009). Sinek speaks about the tipping point for change using a bell curve and the distribution of an idea. Sinek refers to the Diffusion of Innovation Theory by Everett M. Rogers from his 1962 book that sought to explain how people adopt a new idea, behavior, or product over time (BU, 2019). The adoption of the new is outlined (Figure 3) in the five adopter categories: innovator, early adopter, early majority, late majority, and laggard (BU, 2019). And Sinek is not alone in his broadcast of this theory; Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote the book The Tipping Point, speaks all about the momentum created by the few outliers in the bell curve distribution (2000).

Here is how it works. When the iPhone came out, it was an innovative product that opened up new ways to do things. Well, the early adopters were those that waited in line to get a phone, the early majority bought one about three to six months later, the late majority bought one a year or more later, and the laggards are still using landlines (Sinek, 2009). Now we all have a little bit of each adopter category in us depending on the idea, behavior, or product being distributed. Still, some of us embrace an innovator and early adopter mind to everything we do. These are your rebels, and they are your innovators and early adopters trying, failing, and trying again to promote change and progress.

Leader Cultivation of the Rebel Space. Change is scary for most of us, yet change and learning are the inevitabilities of our lives, meaning they are part of us whether we like it or not. In Professor Gino’s research of rebel talent, she identified core elements of rebel talent and how to cultivate them (2019).

Here is how to develop a space for rebels in your organization.

  1. Encourage employees to seek out the new and seek it out yourself.
  2. Support constructive descent, where if everyone is thinking one way, direct a team to think the opposite.
  3. Use open and collaborative language such as “yes, and” rather than “butt” and “could do” rather than “should do.”
  4. Focus on strengths for what people (including yourself) bring, rather than weaknesses and what you don’t bring.
  5. Adopt a beginner’s mind to learn and relearn things from different viewpoints.
  6. Change your perspective and see problems as challenges, challenges as opportunities, and constraints as the struggle that births creativity.
  7. Get your hands dirty, dive in, and show the team you are in the struggle with them at every level.
  8. Foster happy accidents of colliding opposites to create a culture of curiosity, understanding, and cross-functionality.

In the awakening of our society through Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), we must acknowledge that teams of diverse thought, gender, race, and ethnicity, to name a few, are the competitive advantage of innovation. Creativity and innovation come from the collisions of ideas, and the best ideas arrive from diversity. Sharing in these spaces requires a culture and environment of safety to be free from judgment for sharing vulnerability for growth. Although you may wonder what the outliers in your organization are saying, it is time to acknowledge your curiosity, lean in for understanding, and cultivate a path to turn that outlier into your organizational rebel.

References
1. American Psychological Association (APA). (2022). APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/.
2. Boston University (BU). (2019). Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Behavioral Change Models. Retrieved from https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/mph-modules/sb/behavioralchangetheories/behavioralchangetheories4.html.
3. Bhandari, P. (2021 Jan 19). Normal Distribution | Examples, Formulas, & Uses. Scribbr. Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/statistics/normal-distribution/.
4. Gino, F. (2018). Rebel Talent. Harper Collins. New York, New York.
5. Kelley, R. E. (1992). The Power of Followership: How to Create Leaders People Want to Follow and Followers Who Lead Themselves. New York: Doubleday.
6. Sinek, S. (2009). How great leaders inspire action. TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en.
7. Gladwell, M. (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Little Brown and Company: New York.

Globalization, Culture and Leadership Challenges

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Globalization is defined as “the increased interdependence between nations” on economic, social, technical and political fronts (Northouse, 2016, p. 427).”  Increased globalization in recent years has created new leadership challenges as well as the need for leaders to increase their understanding of different cultures and diverse work forces.  Overseas assignments and working abroad has been happening for decades, however.  De la Garza (2009) indicated that the 1980s saw many studies focused on identifying the characteristics of leaders and business executives best suited to lead in multicultural contexts.  This lead to a term in international business known as cultural intelligence.  Cultural intelligence is defined as being skilled and flexible in understanding cultures, learning from multicultural interactions and then adjusting personal thinking and behavior to interact appropriately with other people from different cultures (Thomas & Inkson, 2004 as cited in De la Garza et al, 2009).

Cultural intelligence is critical now more than ever with increased globalization.  According to Northouse (2016), leaders also have to become more competent in diverse, cross-cultural awareness and practice.  Adler and Bartholomew (1992, as cited in Northouse, 2016) suggested that leaders had to develop five cross-cultural competencies.  Amongst them was the need to be highly skilled in working with people from many cultures, as well as being able to adapt to living, communicating and relating with people from other cultures from “a position of equality rather than cultural superiority (Adler & Bartholomew, 1992 as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 428)”.

Research on cultural intelligence indicated that it has three components: cognitive, motivational, and behavioral components. Trevino (2017) summarizes this and provides a version with two parts: the cognitive part, which relates to the person’s knowledge about the new culture, and the action part, which is the ability to translate that knowledge and motivation into an action.  This supports what Northouse suggests in saying that leaders need to be more competent in both behaviors and practice.  These cross-cultural competencies, however, are not only critical for leaders, they are also important for spouses and families who accompany them to assignments abroad.

We see this all too often in the military; in fact, it is essentially a way of life for many of our military families.  Studies indicate that diversity and cross-cultural training for spouses and partners of employees working abroad is equally important for them as it is for the employee.  Trevino (2017) suggests that the higher the position of the employee, the more likely it is that their partner also has functions or roles of “ambassador” for the company. This suggests that adapting to a new culture is critical for everyone, including families in global positions or jobs.  Fortunately, our families do receive the necessary training to assist in overcoming potential cultural barriers when we move to locations overseas.

Research indicates that there are some barriers, however, that are not explicitly presented and that there are factors that affect intercultural communication. This is particularly relevant in negotiation processes or between implicit and explicit communication.  For example, in countries like the United States, it is very common for people to say what they think explicitly, clearly and unambiguously.  On the other hand, in other countries such as Japan, people use more implicit languages and communications that are less clear.  For example, a person can answer the following to an unacceptable offer, “Thank you … I will consider your request very carefully.” For an American, this can easily mean that the discussion will continue and that the matter will be reconsidered in the future.  However, in Japanese culture (and in other cultures in which it is a common practice to avoid direct conflict), the message is clearly a “NO”.  My spouse and I received cross-cultural training when we first arrived in Japan, and I vividly remember when our host said, “In Japan, we don’t say NO, we just don’t tell you YES”.  We all laughed as she smiled modestly.

I would suggest that as leaders, we have to be familiar with the cultures, countries and places we operate in, but we must also be highly skilled in interacting with diverse groups.  According to Northouse (2016, p. 430), “a skilled leader needs to find ways to negotiate with followers from various cultural backgrounds.”  With increased globalization, this is critical now more than ever, and we must ensure that our organizations are implementing the right training strategies to assist us, other employees and families in overcoming diversity and cultural challenges.

References

De la Garza, M., Guzmán-Soria, E., Hernández-Soto, D. (2009). Cultural and personal considerations in international negotiations.  Journal of Globalization, Competitiveness & Governability, vol. 3, pp. 64-89

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Trevino, L. (2017). Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk about How to Do it Right (7th edition). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Leadership Diversity – Gender

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When I was younger I worked at an ice skating rink and I believe there was a diversity issue there. The diversity issue at this organization was noticeable and it pertained to the women not getting as many promotion opportunities as the men that worked there. Many times throughout working for this organization I, and others, had noticed that whenever the managers needed someone to fill in and do a job out of their job scope, men were always picked, even if they didn’t have as much experience as some of the men.

The rink I worked at was very, so there were a lot of workers. There were 5 team managers that would each manage 3-5 workers, we’ll call them runners to make more of a distinction. While the runners were fairly even with the amount of males and females, the managers were all males. Whenever a manager was out, a runner would be called up to fill in that manager position for the day. I don’t remember one time where one of the female runners was ever called up and there are many reasons that this diversity issue occurred.

The first reason the females were not asked to step up into a higher position could be because of the organizational barriers. Particularly, preference for gender similarity in promotion decisions. This occurs when people prefer to work with others similar to them (PSU WC, L13, 2019). At my organization, it seemed as though the male managers would only call up male runners because they would prefer to work alongside another male rather than a female. This represents in-group favoritism because the male group of managers gave preferential treatment to the runner male group (PSU WC, L13, 2019). Another organizational barrier that may have had an effect on the diversity issues at my organization could be ignorance by male leaders which lead to a lack of developmental opportunities for the females. This problem occurs when leaders give less challenging tasks to the females to help them advance in the organization. This inadvertently leads to women achieving less (PSU WC, L13, 2019). At the rink, the managers often gave us male runners more difficult tasks and the gave the females easier ones. I think they did this so it could look like the females were performing well because they would be successfully completing every task, instead of being challenged with harder tasks. This definitely back fired for the females because when those manager positions opened up when a manager was out, the males always seemed more capable of more difficult tasks.

Another reason for the diversity issue at my organization was interpersonal barriers. Gender prejudice is one interpersonal barrier that caused the issue. Gender prejudice is when many people believe that a good manager is masculine (PSU WC, L13, 2019). This obviously was someone that caused the diversity because the managers seemed to not think the women wouldn’t be good fill-in managers because they weren’t masculine enough. This is clearly a gender stereotype, which can lead to biased decisions (Northouse, 2016). Another interpersonal barrier that led to the females being passed over was a lack of male mentors. Research shows that having a male mentor usually leads to more success (PSU WC, L13, 2019). At my organization, the females did not have male mentors because during work or downtime, the males always hung out together and excluded the females. This led to the women being in the out-group and not having as much job talk and a relationship with the managers.

A third reason there was diversity issues at this organization was because of the hiring process. When pulling up a runner for a day, the decisions were always made on a whim. The managers could just pick whoever they wanted because the highest up manager/owner did not care how the managers ran the rink, as long as it ran efficiently.  This process was unstructured which made it easier for the manager to make biased decisions, especially since there was no repercussion when those biases occurred (Northouse, 2016).

 

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2019). Lesson 13: leadership and diversity. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074769

We’re Just Trying to Dominate Our Careers Like Any Man

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“You can grow up to be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do, and I know you’re do great things because you’re you.” – My mom.

I’m very fortunate. I never knew that it was a disadvantage to be female growing up. I was never taught that certain toys were for girls, certain toys were for boys, to let the boys win, or that I had to be a housewife and raise a brood of children. I come from a long lineage of strong working women. They didn’t go to college, they did not receive managerial statuses, but they worked. Hard. They worked with people that were different than them, different races, religions, and cultures. My mother was a high level administrator for Proctor and Gamble, and she was exposed to unnumbered cultures during her nearly four decades at the corporation. I loved meeting the people she worked with like Ranjit, the Indian chemist and Magda, the Egyptian microbiologist who became my mentor. There were very intelligent and powerful women of all cultures creating some of P&G’s most revolutionary and profitable products, so why was I to think that I, as a female, couldn’t do that?

I watched an amazing documentary called “Feminists: What were they thinking” on Netflix a few weeks ago, and it rattled me in a great way. I was listening to all of these powerful feminist activists talk about their mothers, almost every single one was raised to think that women are no different than men in our abilities, we are not inferior, we are not subservient to men. After I watched the documentary, I called my mother to tell her that she raised the way that the women I admired were raised. She chuckled and said, “Well honey, it’s all so true.”

“We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.” – Gloria Steinem (Northouse, pg 412, 2019).

Our lesson talks about glass ceilings, which are beliefs that women do not have the training, skill, experience, or personal capacity for executive positions (PSU, 2018), which is ridiculous. We hold 57% of bachelor’s degrees, 60% of master’s degrees, and over 50% of doctoral degrees (Northouse, 2019), so to say that we don’t have the training is a moot point. While there are some women that want to take the “mommy-track” of a delayed or stunted career to care for their family, there are also some men out there that do the same but they don’t get a demeaning title like “daddy-track” following them around. If a woman wants to have a family and take time off to rear their young, that’s great, but there are a lot of professional women who want a family but don’t want to jeopardize the career they have worked so hard for.

I never thought that the difficulties that women faced in the past would still be prevalent today. Sometimes, men just don’t think that women are as good at their jobs as men. In an article from Sydney, Australia, a 33-year old flight instructor gets a lot of doubts from the men that fly with her, “Sometimes we get older guys coming through, who might say ‘I’m not flying with a girl!’ but then they go flying and say ‘Oh actually, she was really safe and a really good pilot’” (The sky not quite the limit for women in workforce, 2017). This is a blatant example of gender prejudice, where many people think that an effective leader has to be a man (PSU, 2018).

So what can be done about it? Well, we can try to redefine what makes good women leaders, but that’s a very slow process. In a paper by Lynn D. Leiber, she suggested a few tactics in hiring for a diverse workforce that could not only increase the number of women hired in upper management and executive positions, but also creating a culturally diverse workforce. She suggested that employers search outside of their normal searches for new employees, masking personal information on resumes so the recruiter doesn’t know if the applicant is female, male, African-American, or any other culture that can be assessed by their name, posting jobs on websites that women and people of color search, recruit at campuses with more minorities and speak to potential female recruits, and utilize recruiting firms that have a strong diversity protocol (Leiber, 2012).

 

Resources:

Demetrakas, J. (Director). (2014). Feminists: What were they thinking [Motion picture on
Netflix]. United States: Crazy Wisdom Films.

Lieber, L. D. (2012), Considerations for attracting and retaining a qualified, diverse workforce. Empl. Rel. Today, 38: 85-92. doi:10.1002/ert.20369

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (Eighth Edition). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2018). PSYCH 485 Lesson 13: Leadership and
 Diversity. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942231/modules
 /items/25010913

The sky not quite the limit for women in workforce. (2017, March 6). Sydney Morning Herald
 [Sydney, Australia], p. 8. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.
psu.edu/apps/doc/A484031426/GIC?u=psucic&sid=GIC&xid=2e7ce281

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