Section 2: Inclusive Leadership and Work-Life Effectiveness

Section 2: Inclusive Leadership and Work-Life Effectiveness > Making the Connection (16 min.) > All About Inclusive Leadership

• Catalyst research also says that when women and men feel included in their work groups or their workplaces, they’re more likely to do two things: innovate and be a team player.
• Inclusive leaders empower themselves and others to make decisions about when, where, and how the work gets done.
• As an individual, you know how you work best and where and when you are most productive.
• So you know the best solutions that work better for you in your situation.
• You can understand, accept, and celebrate different ways of working, even if they’re different from your own.
• Inclusive leaders hold their team members and themselves accountable to get the work done.
• When the focus is on results, and not about time spent in the office or punching into the time clock, the leaders can start to micromanage less and give clear and regular feedback on work performance.
• So what does that look like? If a senior leader is transparent about the reason for leaving work, such as attending a school play or maybe taking a class, that sends a message to their team and the organization that work-life effectiveness is an accepted part of the culture, and that work and life both matter.
• They need to advocate for different ways of getting the work done.
• Trusting that your employees will get the work done, but also actively building trust by talking about the ways that work best for you and how to make the team work more effectively.
• They also trust their employees to get the work done, which means that they don’t ask why they’re working flexibly.
• It shouldn’t matter whether an employee is leaving early to pick up their kids, or to go to a yoga class, or to volunteer at the soup kitchen, as long as they’re getting the work done.
• Inclusive leaders, especially those who manage others, acknowledge the complexity of work and life, and that these two things sometimes conflict.
• Finally, inclusive leaders stand up for others and fight against a mentality that emphasizes work at the cost of everything else.
• Finally, inclusive leaders demonstrate humility, by knowing that they always have more to learn when it comes to managing work and personal lives, and by checking their own assumptions when it comes, for example, to their employees they are managing or working with in the team- knowing that people have different needs, priorities, and ways of working.
• Inclusive leadership at work and in other parts of your life has the power to make an enormous difference.
• Inclusive leadership can really provide you the tools, and the behaviors, and the mindset to be more effective at work and in your personal life.