How inclusive leadership can help your career

Talk presented at https://rehersal.io in Hamburg, Feb 2025

We often associate leadership skills with management positions, but the truth is that inclusive leadership is a vital skillset if you are looking to succeed and make a positive impact in your career. As diverse workspaces and communities become the norm, it’s clear that we need to develop our ability to thrive in these environments - not just as leaders, but as individuals. In this talk, we’ll explore how to assess your current level of inclusive leadership, and why adopting a beginner’s mindset is key to growth and improvement. We’ll also discuss how it can help you advance your career.

Transcript

1. HOW INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP CAN HELP YOUR CAREER TEREZA IOFCIU FEB 2025
2. Data Leadership Coach Data - 20 years Leadership - 6 years Python Community - 7 years TEREZA IOFCIU SHE/HER
3. STUDY INTO THE STATE OF UK MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP 2023 THE PROBLEM 82% of those who enter management positions have not had any proper training ‘Accidental managers’ with no formal leadership training are contributing to almost one in three workers quitting
4. IF IT WASN’T LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.. YOUR MANAGER’S SKILLS HAVE BEEN SHAPED BY LUCK
6. FEMINIST STANDPOINT THEORY MARGINALIZED GROUPS ARE SOCIALLY SITUATED IN WAYS THAT MAKE IT MORE POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO BE AWARE OF THINGS AND ASK QUESTIONS THAN IT IS FOR THE NON-MARGINALIZED.
7. WHEN SHOULD WE START IMPROVING OUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS?
8. WHY? .. BECAUSE
9. WHERE IS INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP HAPPENING? You work in a diverse team You manage a diverse team You mediate a team con f lict You manage up your manager You want to build relationships You work in a cross functional team You build products that you don’t really use You interact with a lot of di ff erent stakeholders You build products for people that are not like you
10. OR JUST GOOD LEADERSHIP INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP A leader who • Understands themselves and their team • Inspires the culture where diverse perspectives and backgrounds are valued • Recognizes the value of diversity to drive innovation and e ff ective performance in the organization
11. CURIOSITY > FEAR OF UNKNOWN IF YOU HAVE TO PICK ONE THING TO RULE THEM ALL
12. IN PRACTICE CURIOSITY VS FEAR • Understands themselves and the people around vs subconsciously fearing di ff erence • Inspires the culture where diverse perspectives and backgrounds are valued vs shutting down others from speaking • Recognizes the value of diversity to drive innovation and e ff ective performance in the organization vs picking your own ideas or ideas from people like you
13. IF YOU WANT TO THRIVE IN TECH.. WE NEED TO HELP OURSELVES
14. WE ALL KNOW THINGS HAPPEN AT WORK…
15. YOU ARE THE MANAGER SCENARIO: WHAT WOULD YOU DO? One of your employees got stranded from their child for over a year due to Covid restrictions. She is starting to be more and more withdrawn in meetings and at work. She tells her manager what is going on and asks if they can work for a longer time from outside the country once the restrictions lift.
16. BUT WE GET Manager says the employee can only work for 2 weeks from another country.. “it’s company policy” WE WANT Manager talks to HR and advocates for the employee to get an extended allowance to work longer from abroad. WHAT COULD YOU DO TO AVOID THIS FROM HAPPENING?
17. WE GET You can only work for 2 weeks from another country, it’s company policy WHAT COULD YOU DO TO AVOID THIS FROM HAPPENING? “not assuming that your manager’s worldview is the same as yours.. and explain the context”
18. TREAT OTHERS HOW YOU WANT TO BE TREATED NOT LIKE YOU WANT TO BE TREATED BUT HOW THEY WANT TO BE TREATED
19. YOU ARE AT THE MANAGER .. AND YOU ARE EXCITED ABOUT THE TOPIC SCENARIO: HOW WOULD YOU BEHAVE? There is a new project at work: using LLMs to improve a work f low. It needs to be done rather quickly. There are some brainstorming meetings and some planning and the manager has to determine who will work in this.
20. BUT WE GET Already has an idea how to build the project and spends the weekend prototyping. On Monday they tell the teem that they can take the prototype and make it work for production. WE WANT During the brainstorming meetings they make sure that everybody states their opinion. They only contributes if still necessary: to make sure that the scope of the problem f its the deadline and the team availability. WHAT COULD YOU DO TO GET LESS OF THIS?
21. WE GET Already has an idea how to build the project and spends the weekend prototyping. On Monday they tell the teem that they can take the prototype and make it work for production. WHAT COULD YOU DO TO GET LESS OF THIS? “Run roles & and responsibilities audits and bring visibility to the lack of balance in work distribution” & “let your manager know in so many ways what your interests are”
22. DON’T GO TO A MEETING WITH YOUR MIND ALREADY MADE UP
23. YOU ARE AT THE MANAGER One woman employee would like to be promoted to a leadership role. She has already talked about this with colleagues, as she has been doing some of the work informally. All colleagues are supporting her and said to go for it! In next 1on1 she talks to their manager about the promotion to leadership. SCENARIO: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
24. BUT WE GET WE WANT WHAT COULD YOU DO TO AVOID THIS FROM HAPPENING? Manager wasn’t really having this employee in mind for promotion so they don’t have a good answer .. so they ask the employee about their family planning and states that a leadership role is a bit undertaking.. Manger has already noticed that this employee is ready for a promotion and were planning to bring the topic up.. So they tell them so and start making a plan, maybe some more development is needed, and a timeline and salary negotiation.
25. WE GET WHAT COULD YOU DO TO AVOID THIS FROM HAPPENING? Manager wasn’t really having this employee in mind for promotion so they don’t have a good answer .. so they ask the employee about their family planning and states that a leadership role is a bit undertaking.. “Do not surprise anybody at work.. tell people meetings are about before.. to avoid getting exposed to unfiltered reactions”
26. “DON’T LET WAITING FOR AN APOLOGY STOP YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS”
27. EVERYBODY MAKE MISTAKES Inclusive leadership is a path of life long learning Be accountable and own your actions Learn and practice apologizing Don’t be afraid to try again
28. THE INTENTION DOESN’T MATTER, ONLY THE OUTCOME DOES
29. INTERDISCIPLINARY COOPERATION AND CULTURAL SENSITIVITY WE LEARN • Being self-aware vs projecting our values on others • Understand our perceptions and reactions to others • Understand how others work and what their needs are • To not confuse our worldview with the “true worldview” • Make space for others, not be the f irst to share your opinion or answer a question ( you might f ind out it’s not really safe to express your opinion )
30. NOT LINEAR THE JOURNEY TO INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP
31. At f irst we are .. unaware Something happens .. we wake up You start being aware … and realize all your past o ff enses and how little you know You start being active … you experiment, make mistakes, change the world around you INCLUSIVE LEADER - JENNIFER BROWN / WAITBUTWHY THE JOURNEY TO INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT
32. The journey is multi-dimentional THE JOURNEY TO INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT
33. PROF. SHUBHASHEESH BHATTACHARYA INCLUSIVITY IN A COMPANY IS SUSTAINABLE IF ROOTED IN THE COUNTRY’S CULTURE, ETHICS AND VALUES WALK YOUR OWN PATH!
34. THANK YOU 🫶 @VIS.SOCIAL@TEREZAIF SUBSTACK.COM/@TEREZAIF HELLO@TEREZAIOFCIU.COM WWW.TEREZAIOFCIU.COM LINKEDIN.COM/IN/TEREZA-IOFCIU/
35. TEREZA IOFCIU - 13 JULY 2024 REFERENCES • https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business functions/people and organizational performance/our insights/women matter/women_matter_oct2008_english.pdf • https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/research/better-management-report-take- responsibility-take-action/ • https://digitalfrontiersinstitute.org/privilege-and-power-in-the-workplace/ • https://engineerinclusion.com/inclusive-leadership-development-model/ • https://www.theoptimumdrive.com/f1-blog-entries/2020/6/8/explaining-the-dunning-kruger-e ff ect • https://iep.utm.edu/fem-stan/ • https://www.cbs.dk/ f iles/cbs.dk/hekman_et_al._2017_0.pdf