introduction to "strategically inclusive leadership"

Introducing "strategically inclusive leadership", a term which, if you search for it with quotation marks, brings up about three Google results as of December 2022. Quite unusual considering that most Google searches bring thousands of results.

This has come about as a result of a lot of thinking and learning, and then subsequently being in a leadership position where I've realized that I could either spend my time doing "the usual things" which were done the year before (organize the usual type of meetings, provide input to the newsletter, etc.) or I could be strategic about what the group needed and what would truly make a difference. At some point in the past four months, the ideas that I was trying out and putting in place coalesced into a bigger idea that I'm calling "strategically inclusive leadership."

Here is my working definition of strategically inclusive leadership:

You’ll note that the focus of this definition of strategically inclusive leadership is those who “provide leadership for the flourishing of racialized and minoritized peoples.” This is not about a manager being inclusive of all the members of their work team, nor is this about being a good ally. I imagine that some of the topics we will cover will also be applicable to those who provide leadership in general, and that’s fine, but it’s not the primary focus. 

As well, to some this may sound like ensuring that everybody has a seat at the table. That concept might work well in the corporate institutional world, but I'm not talking about that world. I'm talking about leadership in the context of employee resource groups, community groups, organizations focused on justice and anti-racism, and so on. 

Strategically inclusive leadership does include everyone having a seat at the table, but it neither starts nor ends there. It is not about business benefits like much of D & I, but about serving and loving people, embracing them, making space for them, getting out of the way for them, and doing much more that I don't even know about yet.

“As a leader, what do I strategically do in order to be inclusive of others? What helps me notice who is missing - to see who within our community is at the margins? How do I respond to this? What priorities do I set? What things need to be addressed? What situations have I encountered that have given me insight into key issues of inclusion/exclusion, and what are my thoughts on addressing them strategically?”

But also, what's happening at a systemic level, and how is this making the workplace, the organization, etc., more or less inclusive? What opportunities do we have to transform the organization? Or the part of the organization that we are involved in? To make it more inclusive, and how do we do so strategically.

Over the coming months, I will be adding posts on specific aspects and concepts related to strategically inclusive leadership, complete with examples and in some cases, worksheets. Most of these posts are written so that you can use with with your group for a collaborative session.

rob goetze