How can you use diverse leadership to improve performance?

1 Define diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings and implications. Diversity refers to the variety of identities, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences that people bring to the workplace. Inclusion means creating a culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported to contribute and thrive. Diversity without inclusion can lead to tokenism, isolation, and conflict. Inclusion without diversity can result in groupthink, stagnation, and bias. To use diverse leadership to improve performance, you need to define what diversity and inclusion mean for your organization, align them with your vision and values, and communicate them clearly and consistently.

2 Assess your current state

Before you can improve your performance with diverse leadership, you need to understand your current state. How diverse and inclusive is your leadership team and pipeline? What are the gaps and barriers that prevent more diversity and inclusion in leadership? How do your employees, customers, and stakeholders perceive your leadership diversity and inclusion? You can use various methods to assess your current state, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, data analysis, and audits. The key is to be honest, transparent, and open to feedback. You also need to involve diverse voices and perspectives in the assessment process, and ensure that the results are shared and acted upon.

3 Set goals and metrics

Once you have a clear picture of your current state, you can set goals and metrics to improve your performance with diverse leadership. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They should also be aligned with your organizational objectives and values. For example, you might set a goal to increase the representation of women and people of color in senior leadership positions by 10% in the next two years. Your metrics should help you track your progress and evaluate your impact. For example, you might measure the retention, promotion, and satisfaction rates of diverse leaders, as well as the performance, innovation, and customer loyalty outcomes of diverse teams.

4 Implement actions and initiatives

To achieve your goals and metrics, you need to implement actions and initiatives that support diverse leadership and performance. These actions and initiatives can range from hiring and development practices, to mentoring and sponsorship programs, to policies and incentives, to culture and communication strategies. The key is to ensure that your actions and initiatives are aligned with your diversity and inclusion definition, goals, and metrics, and that they are tailored to your organizational context and needs. You also need to ensure that your actions and initiatives are inclusive, participatory, and accountable. That means involving diverse leaders and employees in the design, implementation, and evaluation of your actions and initiatives, and holding yourself and others responsible for the results.

5 Monitor and adjust

Using diverse leadership to improve performance is not a one-time event or a quick fix. It is a continuous process that requires ongoing monitoring and adjustment. You need to regularly collect and analyze data, feedback, and insights to measure your progress and impact, and to identify what is working and what is not. You also need to celebrate your successes and acknowledge your challenges, and use them as opportunities to learn and improve. You also need to be flexible and adaptable, and willing to change your goals, metrics, actions, and initiatives as needed, based on the changing needs and expectations of your organization and stakeholders.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?