Fostering Inclusivity: The Manager’s Survival Guide
“Oh great, another day, another diversity memo!” muttered Arica, the team manager, as she scrolled through her inbox, noting the latest corporate buzzwords being thrown around by HQ. “Inclusivity, diversity, belonging… I mean, it’s not like I’m running a kindergarten here.” She sighed, clicked on the email, and tossed it into her junk folder. After all, her team was doing just fine. Everyone gets along, right?
The truth is, Arica, like many managers, had a superficial understanding of inclusivity. She believed inclusivity meant being “fair” and “not biased,” which in practice meant treating everyone the same, regardless of individual differences. What could go wrong with that, right?
Well, let me introduce you to the reason your team’s productivity is going down, Arica.
The Hidden Pitfall of Sameness
Inclusivity doesn’t mean creating a color-blind or gender-neutral workplace where everyone’s treated like cogs in a machine, indistinguishable from one another. No, true inclusivity is more nuanced than that. It’s about fostering an environment where everyone’s unique strengths, experiences, and perspectives are recognized and valued.
Simon Sinek, leadership guru and author of Start With Why, said it perfectly: “A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”
Imagine that. Trust. What a revolutionary idea! But here’s where Arica’s managing style (let’s call it the “just do your job” approach) starts to unravel. When people don’t feel seen for who they are, they don’t trust that they belong. And when they don’t trust that they belong, guess what? They do the bare minimum.
“I mean, who has time to make everyone feel ‘heard’?” Arica would say, sipping her coffee. Well, Arica, it turns out that leaders who actually listen (as opposed to pretending to, while already crafting a dismissive response in their heads) tend to have more engaged, innovative teams.
The Charm of Bad Management
Let’s step back and admire for a moment the prevailing management techniques that get tossed around like sacred scripture in the corporate world. The good old command-and-control approach, for instance, has a certain retro charm, doesn’t it? It’s so simple! Managers bark orders, employees nod and obey. How delightful!
Yet somehow, under this regime, creativity stagnates, team cohesion crumbles, and the exit door becomes a revolving one. Who could have possibly predicted that micromanagement might not be the pathway to inclusivity?
“Why didn’t Sanjay speak up in the meeting?” Arica would wonder aloud, puzzled. Maybe because Sanjay — who’s on the quieter side, but brilliant when it comes to problem-solving — never feels comfortable speaking up in meetings where the loudest voices dominate, ideas get shot down, and dissenting opinions are met with passive-aggressive resistance. But no, Arica, surely the problem is that Sanjay lacks initiative. Right?
As Nelson Mandela put it: “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end, they and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”
Empathy as a Leadership Superpower
One of the most underappreciated tools in the managerial toolkit is empathy. Before you scoff, I’m not suggesting managers need to give out free hugs and hold hands. But understanding the experiences of your team members — especially those who may be underrepresented — goes a long way.
But empathy in management? That sounds suspiciously like a sign of weakness, doesn’t it?
No, Arica. It’s not weakness, it’s strength. Just because it doesn’t come with a KPI doesn’t mean it’s optional. Empathy helps managers understand the diverse experiences of their team members — experiences shaped by race, gender, culture, disability, nature, beliefs, and more.
Brené Brown, researcher and author, reminds us: “In order to connect with others, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen.”
So why are so many managers blind to this? Because empathy isn’t quantifiable in the same way sales or productivity are. It’s not about “output” but about emotional investment. It requires, dare I say it, genuine human interaction. Scary, right?
But managers often only focus on unavailing things working hours, dress code, desk presence, status reports, and number of “Yes Sir!” said per minute. They often forget that good work stems from being creative and enthusiastic about the task. No wonder corporate world is seen ugly and close to slavery!
The Danger of the Diversity Checklist
Oh, but don’t worry! Just hire a few people from different backgrounds, make sure HR has the proper ratio of everything, and voila! You have an inclusive team. Focus on the KPI numbers, that’s the corporate moto!
Right?
Nope. This superficial approach is like slapping a coat of paint over a crumbling wall. Diversity without true inclusivity means nothing. A diverse workforce without the space to be themselves is just window dressing. And like every other problem, HR will have a game about it instead of a solution, right?
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, once said: “A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone.” But the catch is that the voices have to feel safe enough to speak. And guess what! When the manager values adulation and puffery, voices often go silent in the team, with an exception of those “high performing” ass-cough-ets.
Techniques for Creating an Inclusive Team
Since Arica’s clearly not getting it, let’s break this down in simple, actionable steps:
- Listen More, Talk Less: Inclusive leaders spend more time understanding their team’s perspectives than imposing their own. Host open discussions where everyone feels safe to share, especially those who tend to stay quiet.
So Arica, stop quoting your 17 years of experience in every other sentence. - Value Differences: Instead of treating everyone equally, treat them equitably. Understand that different people need different things to thrive. Fairness isn’t about uniformity; it’s about providing the tools each person needs to succeed.
Judge people based on their contribution, not based on how different they are from your own misguided “standard employee” criteria, of course which is based on yourself, Arica. - Delegate, Don’t Dictate: Empower your team members by giving them ownership of their projects. Trust their abilities rather than breathing down their necks.
Again Arica, no one wants to know how you did something back in your time. Let them do it their way… - Encourage Healthy Debate: Inclusivity thrives in environments where dissenting opinions are respected, and different viewpoints are encouraged. This is where innovation happens — not in echo chambers where everyone agrees just to avoid conflict.
We know that you hate Kiara, but just because she doesn’t use honeyed words doesn’t mean that she’s disrespecting you, Arica. She should disrespect you ideally, and she may even be, but not with this act. - Check Your Biases: We all have unconscious biases. Pretending they don’t exist is naive. Inclusive leaders actively seek out their blind spots by getting feedback, and, yes, actually doing something about it.
It is time to act on all those complaints about your management, Arica. Diverting all negative feedback as impolitic and misdirected for some personal agenda will get you nowhere.
Wrapping It Up
The truth is, inclusivity isn’t some trendy initiative or a line item on your next performance review (which again is another futile and unyielding corporate drama where managers put overreliance on numbers and common standards to judge everyone’s work, rather than treating everyone’s unique contribution and role separately, but that’s a story for some other day). Inclusivity is the bedrock of great leadership. It’s about creating an environment where every member of the team, regardless of background, feels respected, heard, and empowered. Candidly, inclusivity is common sense and respectful way of behaving with other people.
Managers who embrace inclusivity end up with stronger, more innovative teams. Those who don’t? They’ll keep wondering why their team never quite clicks — and why they’re spending more time replacing employees than developing them.
And Arica, maybe next time, don’t just delete that diversity memo. Read it. You might learn something.
“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” — Simon Sinek | Leaders Eat Last
