Inclusive leadership: how inclusive are you?

As a result, we take a holistic and multi-method approach to assessing inclusive leadership, employing:

1. LIVE 360: Interviewing individuals to gather feedback regarding the participant’s inclusive leadership behaviour, gathering real life examples of how the participant interacts in their natural working environment. Interviewees should:
   
   A. Work closely enough with the participant to be able to provide feedback on their behaviour;
   B. Be sufficiently different to (less powerful than) the participant so as not to be part of their ‘in-group’
   C. Be more junior than the participant.
   
   The live element enables psychologist assessors to contract upfront and create a safe space within which individuals feel comfortable providing the feedback and are entirely aware of how it will be used.
    
2. Interview: In-depth interview with the participant to gather insight into the internal and introspective aspects of inclusive leadership; e.g. their awareness of and how they challenge their biases, their comfort in challenging the status quo, and their desire and commitment to learning and developing in this area. 
    
3. Simulation: We independently observe participants’ behaviour through a simulated exercise to provide an objective assessment of how an individual intuitively responds to differences in power dynamics and interacts inclusively with others.

Kiddy assessors are psychologists with expertise in assessment. We consolidate insight from these data to provide a rounded view and feedback for the individual; we hold a mirror up and provide a safe space to explore their feedback and help illuminate the way forward. This high-touch approach involves feedback sessions where key messages are imparted around the need to continuously challenge oneself in being more inclusive and understanding the perspective of others. It shifts the responsibility for acting inclusively onto the leaders themselves and makes it personal and clear to them what they need to do. 

How do we address this?

There are several key shifts that need to be made to break this cycle.

1. Shift the criteria:
   
   Selection and promotion decisions need to shift from an emphasis on what somebody has achieved in the past to what they’re capable of in future. In other words, we need to shift more of an emphasis onto potential – to assessing the key ingredients for success. 
    
2. Change your assessment methods:
   
   In practice, judgements of an individual’s potential or suitability for other jobs are often questionable. They are often conflated with assessments of current or past performance. This is partly intentional because it’s assumed that great performance in a current role will automatically lead to success in a future role. And a lot of academic research has supported that assumption. 
   
   It’s also partly unintentional, as there is an over reliance on line managers to make this assessment. Naturally, managers find it extremely difficult to distinguish between performance in current role and potential for a different one. 
   
   However, current performance doesn’t necessarily predict success in future roles, particularly when the new role involves a step-change, for instance from a technical or functional specialist to a managerial or leadership role.  As a result, the high potential pool ends up comprising of current high performers, possibly overlooking those with skills to lead your business in the future but who aren’t flourishing in their current role or context. 
   
   But the argument for fairer, more inclusive methods of assessment shouldn’t just relate to your ‘HiPo pool’, it should relate to all assessment processes and therefore the potential every individual has to demonstrate their capability.
   
   To avoid perpetuating past inequalities and to reduce bias, selection and promotion decisions should be based on an independent assessment of an individual’s capability and, most importantly, their potential. Business Psychologists’ training in assessment methods is rigorous in relation to reducing bias, mitigating adverse impact – the negative impact of employment (and promotion) practices that appear neutral but have a discriminatory effect on a protected group - and enhancing reliability and validity.  
   
   Kiddy’s Business Psychologists use of a range of assessment methods helps to overcome this, and critically, when assessing potential, use of business simulations. Benchmarked simulations create a learning and assessment environment that replicates the leadership challenges that individuals are likely to experience in future, in your business.  They allow you to create the challenges of a future role, and in doing so, provide an opportunity for an individual to demonstrate their suitability and potential without them needing to provide you with an example of where they’ve shown it in the past. It provides you with an indication of an individual’s future capacity, reducing conflation with current job performance. 

Shifting leaders and shifting process…

If we’re to break the cycle of inequality and lack of opportunity as a result of implicit bias, and improve employee cohesion, inclusion and engagement, organisations must support their leaders to develop their inclusive leadership behaviours and shift towards objective, data-driven assessment processes that are designed to assess the cognitive, behavioural, and social qualities identified as determinants of future success in your business.