Companies led by individuals and teams who prioritize inclusion as a core leadership value inevitably experience certain benefits as a result. Here are 6 signs that your organization has inclusive management:
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Productivity
Teams with inclusive management have 33% greater productivity. When people feel safe to be who they are at work, they are more likely to be creative, innovative, and motivated to produce ideal results.
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Engagement
Employees who work in environments where they feel seen and valued for who they are and what they bring to the table, are far more likely to feel authentically engaged in the work they’re doing.
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Retention
Inclusive leaders create environments that make employees want to stay. According to a Deloitte report, 39% of employees reported that they would leave their current company for a more inclusive one.
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Wellness
An indirect but extremely significant result of inclusive management is overall employee wellness. Mental health and physical health are strongly intertwined, and employees that feel better, do better.
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Team Communication
People on the team act inclusively because they are following the management’s example. Team members treat each other with empathy and respect, regardless of diverse backgrounds, and communicate openly and effectively.
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Cross-Organization Communication
It’s not only team communication that’s important; truly inclusive workplaces are often identifiable by the level of cross-organization communication that takes place, especially the level of comfort employees have when communicating challenges, a difference of opinion, or new creative ideas to those in positions of leadership.
These are just some of the rewards of making inclusive management a key aspect of your organization. What’s interesting is you can also reverse-engineer your work environment by increasing the strength of each of these 6 areas—they’re not only signs of inclusive management, they’re also avenues to inclusive management.
Try this simple inclusion challenge:
1. Print out the downloadable 6 Signs of Inclusive Management wheel and keep it somewhere in sight to remind you of your inclusion goals.
2. Choose one domain per week to focus on, for a total of 6 weeks of practice.
3. Observe what happens within your organization when you enhance each of these elements of inclusion.
For more detailed tips on how to cultivate inclusive work environments, take a look at these articles:
You can also take our course, Becoming an Inclusive Leader, for an insightful self-assessment and practical exercises. 
