5 Ways to Be an Inclusive Leader

1. Be transparent.

One of the best—and earliest—decisions I made for our company culture was to keep salaries transparent. We decide salaries on the basis of performance, not negotiation ability, and then we share what everyone in the organization makes, including me. This kind of transparency empowers everyone to make fully informed decisions, and, as studies show, makes for a more productive, more creative, more collaborative and more motivated group of people.

We started doing this because I saw that women weren’t negotiating as hard for their salaries as men did, and, as a result, we were paying women less for the same level of work. I wanted our company to be part of the solution, not the problem, so we made transparency a central element of our culture.

2. Make time for personal development.

When you’re in a position of authority, you don’t always get the feedback you need to grow and develop as a human and as a leader. That’s why it’s important to build a network of people who will give you honest input, point out your blind spots and offer tools to help you continue to grow.

I’ve forged my network with a combination of therapy, executive coaching and CEO peer groups. This means carving out at least three hours each week for personal development. I’ve found this kind of self-care to be critical for understanding my impact on others, which enables me to make inclusive decisions.

3. Practice self-compassion.

We all have endured situations in our past where we felt unsafe, scared and alone. So many of us try to ignore them or minimize their impact, but that kind of repression is bad for both physical and mental health. Numerous studies have shown that practicing self-compassion—being supportive and understanding of yourself—increases emotional intelligence, happiness and overall well-being, while lessening anxiety, depression and fear of failure.

For me, self-compassion means building a relationship with my past. To do that, I use a visualization technique: I imagine my younger self in the school bathroom during lunch. I walk in as my adult self, gently take that lonely young girl’s hand and walk her out to a café. I buy her a treat, tell her how our life is unfolding and assure her that everything will be OK. Feeling this kind of compassion for myself creates a space for me to help and empower other people in turn.

4. Make space for every voice.

As a leader, it’s my responsibility to make sure everyone’s voice is heard. It’s good for business—the more ideas that are shared, the better it is for the organization—but it’s equally important for each individual’s growth. To develop in their own careers, they need to learn assertiveness skills, skills that boost self-esteem and correlate to confident problem-solving and open communication.

Encouraging my team to speak up is not enough; I also create opportunities for everyone to be heard. In our organization, for example, we have a culture committee with members nominated to share feedback and create culture initiatives. It empowers the team to help cultivate an inclusive culture that grows with the company.

5. Break the silence.

For leaders, managing employees who are living through a stressful time is a test of balancing compassion with the needs of the business. At Chewse, we use a color-coded check-in system that gives us a way to share how we’re feeling on any given day. It helps us signal when it might not be the best moment to receive tough feedback or take on a big project. I often wished, as a bullied child, that someone would check in on me, letting me know I wasn’t all alone.

We also go out of our way to recognize and appreciate hard work. Every Friday, we set aside 20 minutes for what we call Attitudes of Gratitude, in which we share our gratitude for what others did throughout the week. For example, the support team might acknowledge the engineering team for fixing a system’s bug and saving them hours of work. This beautiful practice bridges gaps between teams and between leaders and team members, and it helps us all be healthier and more productive.

SOURCE:success.com