Inclusive Leadership
If I were a betting woman (and I DO love playing blackjack) I'd bet that one of the buzziest (is that a word?) phrases of 2021 will be "inclusive leadership", and I'd hope I would win that bet!!! I believe deeply that this SHOULD be the focus of every leader this year.
What do I mean by inclusive leadership and how does it play out in practice? I'll draw on a core tenant of the Co-active Training Institute's (CTI) coaching framework to explain what it means to me. A cornerstone of the CTI's coaching model is that people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. To be an inclusive leader, I believe you MUST truly believe that. You must truly see ALL members of your team regardless of age, rank, position, experience, race, gender-identity, sexual orientation, role, body-size, body-ability etc. as naturally creative, resourceful and whole. When you lead with this at your core, it propels you to build a culture, and systems and structures that support that culture, that:
allows all voices to be heard and valued equally
promotes candid yet kind feedback
is collaborative
empowers everyone to make decisions and ones that are based on the mission of the organization
builds trust and credibility with your customers, clients and/or vendors
Think about the different way you'd lead a team, give feedback, make decisions, communicate etc. if in every interaction you believed every person you worked with is naturally creative, resourceful and whole. (And, as a secondary tip for parents, this works with your kids, too!)
I had the chance today (I'm writing this on Friday, January 8) to help two leaders reshape their approach to their work based on this one tenant of inclusive leadership. It was a good day!!
Although I like to keep these notes short and I wanted to focus on the concept of all people being naturally creative, resourceful and whole, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that there are a lot of really important and diverse voices on the topic of inclusive leadership. I learn from them daily. Lately, I've been following and learning from some of the activists in the Black Lives Matter movement like Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Rachel Cargle among others. I also reflect on and encourage everyone to read and then read again The Characteristic of White Supremacy Culture. How is your leadership style enforcing the status quo of White Supremacy or how is it dismantling it? Given what we saw on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol, we have a LONG way to go as a country to break our patterns of leading from a place of White Supremacy culture norms and to be leaders for all equally.
As always, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time.
Stay well,
Jodi
P.S. I talk about integrity and transparency which are core to inclusive leadership in a podcast episode I recently recorded. Take a listen. (It's episode 10- Owning the Turbulence.)
P.P.S. Below are a few things Jodi Akst Coaching (JAC) is offering this month in addition to one-on-one leadership or skills-building coaching.
Free Information Session
Two coaches. Two approaches. Join us on January 19 or 28 to get all your questions answered about hiring and working with a professional coach. How great would it be to have unbiased support this year?!
Leaders' Cohort
JAC is forming Leaders' Cohorts for non-profit leaders. We know it can be lonely at the top. Join a small cohort of leaders who are grappling with the same things you are. These will be facilitated groups in which leaders learn and support each other equally. We're forming groups based on fit now. These groups will begin as early as March.
We're consulting, again!
I took a year off from consulting to focus on becoming a professional coach which included over 200 hours of coursework, 100+ hours working as a paid-coach, 10 hours of supervised coaching, an oral exam and a written exam. I now hold a credential from one of the country's leading coach training programs. I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). I am also accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC). It's exciting to bring my professional coaching expertise into my strategic consulting and executive capacity practice. We are engaging again with non-profits on strategy and culture services and talent services.
