Leadership Team Assessment

Championing diversity and inclusion initiatives requires skilled leadership that is both inclusive and productive. True championship is embodied in behaviors that build high-performance work relationships throughout the organization. Whether your company operates solely in one country, or whether it is international, in today's reality it is a global organization. The people you work with bring to the table a variety of backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and other differences. Championing diversity and inclusion requires knowledge and skills related to group dynamics and individual performance in a work environment where we are not all the same.

Please answer the questions below based on whether you agree or disagree that your leadership team demonstrates the behaviors described. These questions address key responsibilities that demonstrate the advanced knowledge and skill level required of the Diversity and Inclusion Champion.

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Understands the dynamics and impact (both business and personal) of biases, perceptions, and stereotypes.
Example: Sue notices that one of her team members, Sunita, seems to be struggling to complete her work assignments. She decides to watch more carefully to determine what's happening. Sue observes that other team members initiate far fewer conversations with Sunita than they do with each other. She also notices that, while Sunita does speak up when meeting privately with Sue, Sunita is usually quiet during team meetings. Question: Have you observed members of your leadership team noticing struggles like Sunita's, and recognizing that they may be related to interactions within the team?
Answer:
Uses this knowledge to recognize and eliminate even the most subtle forms of discrimination and exclusion.
Example: Sue assigns one team member to collaborate with Sunita on a project, yet the team member complains that Sunita is too difficult to work with because of her poor English. Sue knows that Sunita does speak English with an accent, yet also knows her English, both written and oral, is fluent. Sue works with her human resources person to coach and support the team in overcoming stereotypes and building a more inclusive climate.
Question: Have you observed members of your leadership team taking similar actions to support and include those about whom biases, perceptions, or stereotypes exist?
Answer:
Actively works to create a climate of inclusion, where all individuals are able to live up to their full potential.
Example: Manuel is a new supervisor and has been assigned to lead a newly formed team. He begins by spending time getting to know each team member, then conducts a team building session during which the team members learn about each other's communication and work styles, discuss how to work together effectively, and develop a team agreement of how they will interact and support one another. Manuel lets the team know that the behaviors described in the team agreement are part of each team members' job responsibilities.
Question: Have you observed members of your leadership team take similar steps to establish a climate of inclusion among their direct reports?
Answer:
Recognizes cultural differences as being a fact of the workplace, not as being right or wrong.
Example: Luke places strong emphasis on timeliness, and likes his team's meetings to begin on time, follow a carefully structured agenda, and end on time. However, Rachel often speaks up on topics that are important to the team, but not the specific agenda item under discussion. When she does this, other team members take up Rachel's topic and discuss that. This is frustrating for Luke, who feels that it is more efficient to stick to one topic at a time.
Question: Have you observed members of your leadership team recognizing that differences similar to those between Luke and Rachel are culturally based?
Answer:
Flexes their own styles to be maximally effective.
Example: Despite his frustration, Luke realizes that the team is productive when on these tangents. Luke decides to allow the team to continue working this way, and he also shares with them his need to be sure every agenda item is covered. Together, Luke and the team agree on how they will accomplish this.
Question: Have you observed members of your leadership team flexing their styles in order to allow others to work the way they are most effective?
Answer:
Builds on the diversity (unique skills, experiences, and perspectives) of each team member to enhance business results.
Example: Manuel, having taken the time to get to know each team member and learn a bit about their skills and experiences, knows each person's unique gifts to the team. He learned that Josephine, who holds a clerical position, volunteers at a horse rescue where she retrains abused horses on the weekends. Manuel decides that the patience and determination Josephine has learned from her volunteer work can be used on the team's latest challenge: to determine how to increase their output with two less people than the team really needs. He has Josephine work with Frank, who raises two young children alone while also working toward his college degree and works part-time, and therefore has demonstrated remarkable time management and efficiency skills. Frank and Josephine get together and come up with some ways the team can improve efficiency without suffering from work overload.
Question: Have you observed your leadership team finding ways to leverage the unique talents, backgrounds, and skills of their direct reports?
Answer:

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Leadership Team Assessment

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