Leading with Inclusivity [Back to Basics Part 3]

Ever wonder how to wield the power of diversity and inclusivity for an unbeatable competitive edge? In this episode, we delve into the heart of leadership, revealing essential elements and strategies that cultivate a richly varied and inclusive team. We underscore the importance of embracing challenging dialogues and divergent viewpoints—elements that fuel innovation and robust team dynamics.

It's indeed a hefty investment of time and resources to promote diversity. However, the value it brings to the table is irrefutably unmatched. Tune in and discover how to harness diversity and inclusivity to your advantage!

In this episode you'll learn the following:
1. The importance of actively seeking and incorporating diverse perspectives into decision-making processes.
2. Understanding and accommodating diverse communication styles within the team, considering that people hear and understand information differently.
3. The significance of creating diverse pathways for feedback and communication from team members.

This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
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CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/

CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tomachuk.

Speaker 2: 0:24

And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Hey, welcome to Quick Take. I'm one of your hosts, Suzy Tomachuk, along with my good friend and co-host, James Capps. How are you, James?

Speaker 2: 0:45

I am great, Suzy. I've been told I'm having a great hair day, so I am so glad we're here today.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Who told?

Speaker 2: 0:52

you that. The little voice in my head, so you know.

Speaker 1: 0:57

I try to listen to it as often.

Speaker 2: 0:59

Well, you got to take that positive reinforcement where you can.

Speaker 1: 1:04

Well, we're back to basics again. Today We've actually, I think we said we're going to have four and I think we're going to end up having a few of these because we've gotten great response. So, again back to basics, really just talking about some of the things that not that they're basic, but we forget about them because they just become like something in the background, don't you agree?

Speaker 2: 1:28

Yeah, I think that a lot of times, these topics come up and as leaders, even I do it I say, yes, I get that, I've been doing that for 10 years. You kind of convince yourself that you're up to speed on these topics and, honestly, we have to be thoughtful as to when, how we grow and learn and, I think, acknowledging that these are basics, that these topics need to be revisited, it's just good maintenance and I think, if it is executive maintenance doing your own personal maintenance, it's going to the CEO gym, if you will, and working on the fundamentals.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Yeah, I think it's great. I think, like you said, it's giving you that space. And this is just another thing to do to fill that time, to be thoughtful about and what you need to do around this topic. And today it's leading with inclusivity, which is something it's really talking about harnessing diversity for advantage competitively. So what's your take on that?

Speaker 2: 2:29

Well, I want to take a slightly different angle on this one, which is, you know, where there's a lot of conversations around diversity and the DEI initiatives and ensuring that people look at things in a certain way, but I want to talk about the need for a diverse perspective in multiple areas, it's not just in the ones that we've been talking about. So I really want to talk about thinking, looking at things from it and harnessing diversity in three areas not three ways to harness diversity, but three areas, and I think it's a slightly different angle. I think each one of these are really interesting because they're so obvious, but I do think when we walk through them, you'll see that they are kind of basics. They're simple but worthy of a reassessment.

Speaker 1: 3:14

All right, I'm excited about this. All right, so start us off. What's the first one? Let's talk about it.

Speaker 2: 3:19

So I'm going to start with the obvious, which is, you know, let's, you know, harness diverse perspectives. Right, we talk a lot about this. You know, you want people with different ranges of ideas, different viewpoints, people who bring different ideas, perspectives, different creative ways of looking at things, and so you want a as a leader, you want to have an inclusive means by which you bring in those creative solutions. So A, you know, our first goal here is is, when we're talking about harnessing diversity, diverse perspectives, is the place that that I think a lot of us need to remember to do.

Speaker 1: 3:58

So how do you do that? How do you cultivate that? Is it through questions? Is it through people at the table Like what? What is the core of that?

Speaker 2: 4:07

You know, for me it is a active, active effort. I think that when, when I look at the my, my, my team, my cohort, I know the people who are the pessimists, I know who the people who have been at a startup, I know the people who are are always looking at the bright side. I want, I need to curate that team, just like a kitchen where you're having a bunch of different ingredients in your, in your pantry, you co, you actively curate that, and I think that the way that you can do that is to ensure, to ensure that you have those points of view. You need to think about your, the people you surround yourself with, and ensure that that that those perspectives and those multiple types of perspectives are part of the equation.

Speaker 1: 4:55

That's so interesting to think about understanding. You're almost saying you're anticipating some of their responses because you know them a pessimistic perspective and all of that.

Speaker 1: 5:05

So sometimes I think about I love your analogy about ingredients we get a little bit crazy and we add too much, or we do too much and we're like, oh, that didn't really work out. I wonder if sometimes you just have to embrace the fact that the discussion will get a little crunchy People use that word a lot and it'll get a little uncomfortable, because sometimes people, all people's needs aren't being met and making them feel uncomfortable sometimes isn't a bad thing.

Speaker 2: 5:36

Well, and I think that the importance of this topic and this approach is you want to go into it in a way that ensures that the dialogue is the outcome. If you bring in that diverse group of people and say we are all going to walk out of here and agree on something, you're using a hammer to drive a nail. If you want to explore an idea, you want to look at it from different perspectives, you want to hear different points of view. That's what this process is about. I would never say let's use all the spices in my spice rack for a particular dish. That's ridiculous. But if I am interested in having a diverse palate in my kitchen, so my meals are different, I'm going to have a very diverse spice rack and I should taste each one of those and I should know what they bring to the table. That cohort of people, that group of diverse points of view, they are a group of people you should bounce ideas off, you should engage with, and it's important to know when to use them and when not to use them.

Speaker 1: 6:39

Okay, that's fair, super interesting. I like that one, just to be thoughtful about the team and what they bring. So what's the second one?

Speaker 2: 6:46

Well, the second one is really about diversity and engagement.

Speaker 2: 6:49

I think it's important for us to remember, too, that we have to engage our people in different ways.

Speaker 2: 6:56

This is about really saying that people hear different things in different ways, they are going to hear you in different ways, they are going to understand the approach in different ways, and that diversity of communication, that diversity of engagement, is so important.

Speaker 2: 7:12

I've learned that I have people on my team who absolutely want a drawing, where they need to be an arrow, and then another arrow and another arrow, and then there's a star at the end, and then there's people that want paragraphs, and so that engaging with them in different ways allows them to digest and come to the table in the best way that they can, and I think leaders often get caught up in hey, I'll do a town hall, I'll do a memo, and we're done. It's much more complicated than that, and so if we embrace the diversity of engagement and the ways that we engage with our staff, our teams, our direct reports, I think you'll have a more robust and more curated way of creating a cohesion. I think that the teams and the organizations that I've worked with that are the best are the ones that communicate in lots of different ways, and the group is just more aligned and has more understanding of what's going on.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Oh, so much that you said there was really good. I think you know the research shows that it takes people time to kind of understand the message and we need to hear things seven times before we kind of understand it, and that might be a really good metric to use to be able to say I'm going to communicate this in a different way. Let me draw it this way, and maybe you do that for the whole team. But and also asking people how do you like to consume information? What way do you learn?

Speaker 2: 8:36

What is?

Speaker 1: 8:36

the best way, so that you can you're not just assuming, but you're. You're getting their feedback too.

Speaker 2: 8:42

Yeah, we have an individual that I work with who is a trained accountant, financial background. They like to communicate through spreadsheets and it's great because it's so ridiculous. My apologies to the CFOs who are listening, but vast majority of people don't get a story from a spreadsheet. But if you look at it from that point of view, there are a lot of people who can, who can absolutely look at that spreadsheet and say, oh, I see where we're going here. And I don't mean using a spreadsheet as a table with names and things like that, I mean just raw numbers and no graphs that tells a story for a certain audience. So you realize that you have spreadsheet people, you have PowerPoint people, you have word people, you have cartoon people, you have speech people. And to be able to think about hey, let's embrace these three communication styles on this particular topic. Hey, let's let's try something new to get people's attention. Be diverse in your communication style and your engagement and I think you'll find that the the collective understanding of what's going on is so much more robust.

Speaker 1: 9:43

Yeah, so I guess I don't know what your third one is, so I don't know if I'm going to poke at it, but I think also, once you do that, listen to the questions that come back and give people space to do that, so that you know if it's landing and how it's landing, and so many times leaders come in.

Speaker 1: 10:01

Here's my message, this was my plan and exit. You know right side of the, but you really need to sit in it and be able to absorb and see, and even some people give them permission to come back if they need to, if they need time to think about it and and and get some of their questions out, because not everybody is able to learn the same way either.

Speaker 2: 10:25

It couldn't have teed up my third one even any better but which is really? Which is you know. My second was was engaged to communicate in a diverse way.

Speaker 2: 10:34

The other one is is in. You know, engage the other way, listen in diverse means. You know you can't expect your team to all raise your hand in a town hall. You can't expect everyone to respond in a face to face, so you have to create the, the pathways, a diverse and and and a unique set of ways that people can communicate back to you to ensure that you're going to get the feedback that you want.

Speaker 2: 10:59

You know, as corporations, we tend to get lazy and say, hey, we'll do the employee survey and you know we get a 90% response rate. That is an effective way of. You know that. Therefore, that is the voice of the people. I think that is a voice. It is not the voice, and I think that, from a communication standpoint, no different it's really no different than the way that I want my people to hear what I'm saying. I want to be able to listen in multiple ways, and so you need to create systems and processes to allow your folks to engage with you that are different and meet them with their styles and particular needs.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Yeah, that's so good. I think it's so important and very underrated around just being able to stop and really absorb what is going on around you Cause then you can also assess, if your communication, what adjustments you need to make to that too, yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:55

And I think that diversity and digestion, if you will, of information is it is. It does take time, right, both of these those you know like, if you look at all three of these pieces of advice, what we're suggesting is you do more than one thing and do things differently, and that takes time, that takes resources, and so it isn't lost on me that, yes, a lot of these simplistic or when we don't have the diversity of X, it is because that is the path of least resistance. Right, it is easier to just send a memo and assume everybody hears. It is easier just to say hey, nobody responded to my email, so we must be good. You know, it is easier to always hire from the same cohort or always listen. I'm sorry, I always engage with other folks, a small cohort of people. So I think that, ultimately, the reality is this is costly, it's expensive in both time and capacity, but the truth is is that does bring more value to the table?

Speaker 1: 12:55

Yeah, yeah, you made me think too, is what you're saying is inspect your habits as well. When there's announcement to be made. Who do you call first? Who do you send the thing to? Like you, you go to the easiest people that maybe communicate the same way you do, or that you know that's gonna give you the reception that you need. Yeah, keep that.

Speaker 2: 13:16

I have a broadcast email that I have to send out to the staff, the broader staff. I like to have a different one of my direct reports. Review that email before it goes out.

Speaker 2: 13:25

Yeah, and I love the fact that I know that I'm gonna get a different response from each one of them, a different kind of response, and you have to curate that too. You send it to a person you never have sent it to. They're just gonna say that's great, because they don't know what to do. Yeah, but I have, I have somebody who is will always really be a stickler on the grammar. That's super helpful. There's people who will be really you know, I don't like the tone isn't here, or that. I have an individual who's very good at looking at all the other communications that are going on, making sure these stitched together now.

Speaker 2: 13:53

I can't use them all all the time. I mean, I can't have that. The bath, the capacity to have everybody involved. It's not a Group think, but knowing that I can rely on certain people for certain things gives me a different point of view. And when I'm less concerned about the, the grammar or this is a different type of message hey, I'm gonna have this other person take a look at it. You know somebody who's got the big picture. I'm always gonna have her take a look at it because she, you know, in that particular topic and it's important that we see the whole thing and she's amazing at that. So, um, it is expensive, but I think it does bring a lot of color to the tape.

Speaker 1: 14:29

Yeah well, you just gave yourself a bonus, so there's a bonus. I don't know that I can.

Speaker 2: 14:34

I don't know that bonus was, but yes, I'll remember the bonus you go.

Speaker 1: 14:41

What are the?

Speaker 2: 14:42

three. The three ways I think diversity comes into play and we can embrace them in a in unique ways is obviously diversity of thought. Diversity of ideas bring in diverse ways of people that think differently. Secondarily, embrace diversity of communication the way that you broadcast, the way that you share information. Be diverse in the way that you can do that so more people can hear you. And third, be more diverse in the way that you digest and engage with your folks and allow them to communicate with you. They're gonna communicate with you and to you in different ways and if you open those doors, you're gonna get a lot more feedback. And then there was a bonus one.

Speaker 1: 15:15

Oh, and the bonus. I'm gonna be like all freaked out. No, the bonus was to look at how you do communicate and be open to getting feedback before it goes out and get From a lot of different people, but I love that you understand what the angle is that each person's gonna bring and then Bring that into, because then you understand you're helping those people, help you land it.

Speaker 2: 15:41

Do you know how I did that? I'll just had a little piece go that I asked him. Wow asked yeah, what, how? What are you comfortable doing? You know, I'd rather just help you with the grammar, because sometimes I don't. I'm in this Participant person's role. They don't understand the bigger picture. That's cool, but I want them involved, yeah, and so I can't expect everything of everybody, but I can rely on folks to stick with their strengths. So really, really good ideas.

Speaker 1: 16:08

I and I think also, just to also say I think it's a super, super important that allows them to be a part of the process and so when they have been a part of the communication they own so that they're articulating that to their team, which is really important for adoption. So so much there. So many bonuses. If you were following along, you have more and more and more. We just gave you, like, mic drop after mic drop. So you're welcome, and nobody's here to object against that that.

Speaker 2: 16:40

It's fantastic.

Speaker 1: 16:42

Well, this has been quick take. We are so glad that you joined us. Both James and I are on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you. We just get so much joy out of being able to bring content that's gonna be meaningful to our quicksters. Look how I did that there. That was good.

Speaker 2: 16:55

I see that.

Speaker 1: 16:56

Yes, yes. So thanks for being there, being here. We appreciate you. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of quick take, where we talk about the questions that are on the minds of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.

Speaker 2: 17:12

You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. All the links you really did are in the show notes. You