Inclusive Leadership 4.0
René Carayol MBE
Diversity is a fact.
Inclusion is a choice.
Belonging is the vision we’re trying to get to.
The diversity bit, I’m going to make the assumption we’re mastering.
It’s the inclusion bit where we’re really stalling, finding it tough and asking for help.
And there’s a message I’d like to give all of you.
It is tough. We know it’s the right thing to do. We know it’s the smart thing to do.
We’re learning it’s the tough thing to do.
But here’s a premise. There’s so many people getting irritated, frustrated, concerned, disappointed and their voices are becoming cynical. And when you’re trying to do the right thing but you’re not. You’ve never been taught this. It’s new for many. You need some support.
You need some people behind you.
And I’m privileged to work with my team. We work with chief executives. I’m the accidental executive coach. And we work with multinational big businesses at the top of their game.
We get called in when the cultural change initiatives within these organisations aren’t going well. I dream of getting a call when things are going well!
I don’t get them.
I get called when criticism is so loud. People are fed up. And, for example, the chief executives and the top teams are feeling the pressure because they’re being called box tickers, whitewashers, not walking the talk. Then there is a tremendous rush to action and its way too soon. KPIs are put in place, loads of action is planned.
But at entry level within the organisation and within these companies younger employees they still don’t see anyone that looks like them further up the hierarchy.
They’re still complaining that retention is going the wrong way. Executive appointments are conducted in the same old way. So by the time we come in, I’m asking them to slow down on their rush to action and consider vulnerability.
It’s executive minds winning the hearts and minds. It’s an emotional connection. It’s making it meaningful.
Lived experience.
No one knows the power of inclusion until they’ve been excluded.
It’s only when you’ve been excluded do you understand the real power of inclusion. The theory doesn’t work. The theory doesn’t cut it. We can talk about it until the cows come home. It’s when you’ve actually lived it.
“The pace of change has never been this fast,
and yet it will never be this slow again”
Justin Trudeau
I love this quote.
When is the right time for us to do inclusion?
Now.
Right now.
As I never thought this day would come in my lifetime. If I look back on my own journey, inclusion was a pipe dream. We never got to diversity. Because we’ve never seen such rate a of change as we have done in the last 18 months. Capitalise on it.
Reverse mentoring
So we’re working with Marsh & McLennan. The business has at least 80,000 employees based in North America and 12,000 employees in the UK. After 50 years of operating they are struggling to get Black executives. They have fantastic Black talent, but they have struggled to promote Black talent to board level. They owned up to the issue, asked for help and put together a Black leadership programme. I facilitate/lead the work alongside them. Now 40 of their best Black senior managers from across the organisation, who have come together on the eight month programme.
Now every member of this cohort has a mentor, a coach, a sponsor and an advocate within the organisation. They are all senior executives of Marsh & McLennan. The mentor supports them to be the best version of themselves. The coach is there to get them to be the best within the organisation. The sponsor has one job, get them a promotion and the advocate’s role is to talk about them, promote them, when they’re not in the room. And within the programme a sort of reverse mentorship starts taking place as the senior executives start to walk in the shoes of the cohort of 40 Black senior managers.
They are moving the cultural dial at the top of the organisation, in a way I’m not sure they planned for, but it’s quite amazing what’s happening. They are better understanding the blockers, the things that have been in place for like forever that have filtered the marginalised and underrepresented from advancing to the top. It is starting to change massively.
Include the incumbents.
Everywhere we go, we include incumbents. Those people with the power of influence, the authority, where the power actually resides. When we work with Microsoft it’s the engineers. With L’Oriel, it’s the senior women but most of the time it’s white, middle class men. And we work closely with incumbents, because wherever we go incumbents feel threatened. What we’ve seen work all the time and without fail is inclusion. Include them. Bring them with him. Listen to what they have to say. Explain what you’re trying to achieve. In our experience by bringing the incumbents along and including them, they soon become advocates. Very powerful advocates.
Impartiality.
Very, very probably the toughest inclusion job in Britain today is within the BBC. June Sarpong is Director of Creative Diversity to SoCo, he’s head of diversity. She balances a tightrope between the UK government screaming, ‘We want impartiality’, and the pressure of public scrutiny and fair thinking. She is damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t.
If you think you have it tough, have a look at the BBC.
When the chickens came home to roost.
Who would have thought that the front page of the Sun newspaper on 12th June 2021, would read, “We’ve got your back” when the Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received a torrent of hate following the 2020/2021 Euros.
That’s not the Sun newspaper I grew up with.
Then the same English football team went to play Hungary where they got the most vile, racist reception imaginable. But it is hard for England to complain considering what we see on a weekly basis at our own home grounds.
We’ve got to get our act together first.
The dissenting voice.
Lived experience is really powerful but it’s not the only lens. It’s not the only voice.
Inclusion means every voice is heard.
Inclusion means even the dissenting voice is heard.
Never move so far away from the dissenting voice that you can’t hear it. Try and convert, but remember one voice isn’t right all the time. In all the work we’ve seen, across all the multinationals we’ve worked with, the biggest gaps isn’t gender nor ethnicity but generational.
The generation gap is huge, dangerous and growing. We’ve got a generation now which is more assertive, more vocal, not afraid to speak up and if your business in’t the right place for them to fit in. They’ll leave much unlike my generation. We tolerated. We tried to fit in. They are the catalysts for change. And I completely salute them and support them. They’re not complaining. They’re becoming the catalyst for change, ’If it’s not gonna happen in this business, we’re brave enough to take our talent elsewhere’ mindset.
Inclusive leadership.
So I have some tips for leaders and inclusive leadership.
Call it out. But with forgiveness. Make it a learning experience.
Be brutally honest. But with care so you can take people with you. Don’t alienate them.
Give up more authority than feels natural. Watch what you get back. Empower those who have never been empowered before.
Be more compassionate than you think you need to be. Create that emotional connection. Start to build trust. Watch what you get back in return. The payback is huge.
It is tough. Don’t expect change overnight. It is not a process. It’s culture we’re changing. Just two numbers for you. Don’t tell me there’s no systemic racism here in the UK. 70% of ethnic minorities earn £17,000 or less. Only 4% earn more than £50,000. This is a blight.
Working culture.
We’re talking culture not strategy.
I see far too many businesses investing in the strategy of inclusion. It’s a road to failure. We’re changing a culture not a process and changing the culture will change the process.
We wanted it to become a way of life. It’s who we are. It’s our purpose. What we stand for. It’s not a bunch of activities you put on an action plan.
Inclusion is the real power.
Unity is the strength. As I mention to everyone it costs nothing for a candle to light another candle. We need to think the same way. The biggest change we’re seeing in all businesses is the switch in the their culture, away from the leaders at the top of organisations where everything is built around them that they challenge down and are supported up through the framework built beneath them. Those days are long gone. Today with inclusion, the support comes down, moving others to challenge up. To challenge leadership and its role in order to create an environment where others can flourish. Where people can succeed. Where they can bring all their authentic self into the everyday. It’s leadership. It’s a very different sort of leadership.
Leaders tell stories.
My parents came from Gambia where I went through primary and secondary education, but there was no tertiary education. No universities. So mum and dad left their middle class lives, sold everything to come to London to get their children into university.
They didn’t realise at the time that London was the most expensive city on the planet. That meant we couldn’t access the best housing, nor the best schooling but I was lucky and I managed to get into university. I was doubly lucky and I managed to get into Marks & Spencer.
I spent 10 years at Marks & Spencer and did nine different jobs. Mum was happy, her mission was accomplished. I was to stay there for 35 years and retire and she’s done it. Mum and Dad could go back to Gambia. I was doing ok but lived imposter syndrome, “I’m going to be found out someday.” I was getting promoted quite frequently. I still believe dI’d be found out someday. Then my phone rings and it’s Pepsi. They’re looking for a board director. It’s April 1992 and I knew they’d phoned the wrong person.
I finished the interview. Got the job. Flew to New York.
I’ve never been in a boardroom before and the seven men in front of me when I did, not only didn’t look like me I was the only non-American. Then the Group Chief Executive walks into the room and without notes tells them all about me – my parents, my education, and then every single job I did at Marks & Spencer in chronological order.
And I felt I belonged. That I was part of something special. His speech lasted four minutes max but it lasted a lifetime for me and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for that chief executive.
What do you do for people who join your team.
Who look a little different? Who may sound a little different? Who may have a different background? Every single one of us can practice inclusion. And you know, the more included we are real business performance increases. It’s not just the right thing to do. It’s not just the smart thing to do. It’s the only thing to do.
And I like to leave us all with a very simple thought.
How do we make this world a better place?
What is inclusive leadership 4.0?
Everybody in, nobody out.
Look out for each other. Look. Look after each other.