How to build an inclusive leader mindset and culture

Financial services firms are embedding the power of more inclusive leadership as part of their growth strategies.

In brief

• Inclusive leaders are empowered, not inhibited by what they must learn.
• Inclusive leadership is emerging as a critical capability.

The world is more complex and volatile than ever, and financial services face unique challenges as they seek to regain lost ground and transform for long-term recovery. Many are embedding the power of more inclusive leadership as part of their growth strategies.

They understand that doing so is less about looking at diversity & inclusion (D&I) as a “problem” to solve and more about looking at it as a solution to some of banking’s biggest challenges – from how banks develop more diverse products, meet the needs of more diverse customers, engage the full power of their workforce, and overcome problems.

We have seen banks increase their focus on D&I over the past year as they realign their values as a result of COVID-19. Increasingly, they understand that diverse, equitable and inclusive teams are needed to maintain employee engagement, are critical to a bank’s ability to align to consumer demand, and to maintain a competitive edge.

However, those banks who are realizing the full potential of D&I know that an inclusive culture – good or bad – comes from its leaders. As leaders recognize their own inclusive mindset, they begin to self-reflect on their behaviors – making the necessary changes to role model inclusivity.

Aspects of diversity ranging from our work roles, gender, and ethnicity imbue each of us with a unique inherent experience of the world. But recognizing that fact should also provide leaders with a passion to learn more about the experiences of others and apply what they learn into their strategy and culture to make it more inclusive.

Indeed, committing oneself to drive a more inclusive culture requires plenty of listening and life-long learning.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”

On making this comment, renowned author, Peter Drucker, pointed out the importance of the human factor in any business. No matter how comprehensive your D&I strategy is, if the people executing it don't nurture the appropriate culture, then D&I will stumble.

The strength of an inclusive culture is assessed by how inclusive employees act in critical situations. But mostly it comes down to how inclusive leaders are.

We find that what leaders say and do makes up to a 70% difference as to whether an individual feels included. And this matters because the more people feel included, the more they speak up, innovate, and collaborate.

So, as leaders, we must self-reflect on whether we have an inclusive mindset, recognizing that our mindset determines our behavior and our behavior determines our results.