The table below provides a more detailed description of the terms Equitable Leadership and Inclusive Leadership. This model builds on the points raised in Part 1 and Part 2.
‘Equitable Inclusive Leadership’ approach offers a wholly new archetype for what I am suggesting as an approach going forward. Equitable Leadership is set alongside my description of Inclusive Leadership. An Equitably Inclusive Leader combines both and understands without both inequity is maintained and goes unchecked.
Equitable Leadership vs. Inclusive Leadership
Fig.1
| Elements of Equitable Inclusive Leadership | Core focus |
| Equitable Leadership | Systemic – Looking at systems within systems. That is, the way that society works to produce the outcomes it does is a system. Institutions, and organisations are also part of this wider societal system. Institutions and organisations are also systems in themselves. There is an interplay between the wider societal systems and institutional and organisational systems. The societal system affects the organisational system. Basically, no one is an island – there is always a context that drives and shapes assumptions and mind-sets, processes, and behaviour. Foundational principles of being Equitable – Understanding that systems maintain the status quo which can have power imbalances, and these heavily influence whether society and organisations have equitable outcomes. Foundational skills – systemic awareness – looking at context, awareness of the system, observing that patterns of behaviour in the organisation are interconnected, rather than just focusing on singular events or silos; systemic awareness pays attention to the power of language as an expression of the system, as the lens we use – what gets seen/who gets heard; systemic awareness pays attention to personal and group identity as a site of privilege and advantage or disenfranchisement and disadvantage. Foundational principles of equity – these are the systemic determining factors of inequity of outcomes, and understanding the systemic nature of inequity. That is, inequity has context, and it is perpetuated through systems. Focus – That is, to focus on, Systems: equity of outcomes; the structure of inequity; power, and authority Values – Social justice, responsibility and accountability, and systemic transformation. Impact – Equity of outcomes for all, sustainable systems that maintain equitable outcomes Responsibility of an equitable leader – it is a professional requirement to understand systemic inequity, power, and privilege and to apply/integrate this with and everyday management standards, behaviours, and business processes; to provide interventions that directly addresses the outcome of systemic inequity – i.e., those who are underrepresented and marginalised by the wider system and the organisation as a system. |
| Inclusive Leaderships | Intrapersonal emphasis– Looking at the self and requiring self-awareness and self-reflection as standard practice – to include an awareness of stereotypical bias. An understanding that the self is a leadership instrument as more than any methods and tools Interpersonal emphasis– Strengthened capacity for empathy; mature 21st knowledge of different cultures and lifestyles as a professional standard; Foundational skills – emotional and social intelligence Foundational principles of inclusiveness – the social determinants of well-being. That well-being is socially determined; psychological principles of belonging and well-being and its effect on the individual, their performance at work and organisational effectiveness. Exclusion has a significant impact on self-identity and self-expression in the workplace. Focus – Sound relationships: individual authenticity and psychological safety and group belonging and inclusion Values – fairness, integrity, openness, compassion Impact – an open and harmonious work environment Responsibility of an Inclusive Leader – To attend to and value the qualities of all staff; to apply the understanding that unity does not mean uniform; to respect, honour, validate, recognise, and reward all staff |
| The Equitable Inclusive Leader Model | Pays attention to the managing the balance between systemic and intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics, as described above. Requires systemic changes that will change knowledge, power relations and identity. |
How do we do Equitable Inclusive Leadership?
Applying Systemic thinking and its overlap with the intrapersonal and interpersonal elements can be captured through Dialoguing Methodology, which describes a hierarchy of meaning, drawn from the wider context, the wider system. The model is called Co-ordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) as defined by Pearce and Cronen
The hierarchy of meaning model (see Figure 4; Pearce, 2007) emphasises the multiple contexts in which communication acts are always occurring. Namely the actual episode, one sense of self, the importance of the relationships, the institutions, organisations and the culture and cultural stories. (Pearce, 2004).
‘It is this fundamental notion of communication as joint action, as the coordination of action by two or more people that led Pearce and Cronen to call their theory the coordinated management of meaning’.
Communication cannot be seen as simply as tossing a ball back and forth to each other, but as an ongoing process of relating and action which co-creates meaning. The meanings we draw then are based on systemic context and the relationships that are defined in the conversation. The associated style, pace and mood of the message content are relevant to the dynamic affecting trust, compassion, and accountability. (Ref, A Relational Communication Approach to Peer Coaching, Polly Parker et al. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 2015)
‘Pearce and Cronen start with the premise that the social worlds we inhabit are constructed in the many diverse forms of everyday communication we engage in. We might describe these activities as conversation, play, arguing, peace-making or work meetings and we might engage in them using talk, gesture, social media, books, or film, yet they are all aspects of what we call communication. Pearce liked to say that we “live in communication” much like a fish lives in water. While oxygen is what keeps our bodies alive, communication is what makes us human’. (Reproduced from the website, Cosmopolis2045, February 2018 CMM: A brief overview Arthur Jensen & Robyn Penman)
For example, if people report that there is a lack of trust across the organisation, then activities to include trust building will include look at the dialoguing that is taking place – the context and the meaning that is being created between line managers and others which results in the lack of trust.
CMM provides several practical models that enables parties answer 4 basic questions (a) What are we making together? (b) How are we making it? (c) What are we becoming? (d) How are we making better social worlds? These questions help us to identify in key dialogue – the patterns, meanings, and intentions of communication. These are the elements that are typically the unseen iceberg below the water line in the cut and thrust of professional conversations.
Carole Litchmore