EMCC 24th annual conference, amsterdam, 11-13 April 2018

By Liz Hall

Businesses aren’t making the most of diversity because they view it through a limited collection of lenses, such as demographics, aren’t focusing on inclusivity enough and are failing to address conscious bias, suggested David Ringwood and Maria Brown.

Despite many organisations becoming more diverse in make-up and diversity being shown again and again to yield better results in terms of creativity, revenue and efficiency, business ways are still conservative and innovation is not increasing, according to MRG’s research.

Organisations and coaches need to embrace inclusion and pluralism, and think about diversity through a lens other than demographics, including thinking styles, work preferences and communication patterns.

Head of research at MRG, Maria Brown, said we need to remember that group membership is context-specific, for example, gender versus generation.

“The same leader would stand out very differently in each group. Diversity is not just about demographics.”

Being able to demonstrate empathy is one of the most significant behaviours when it comes to leadership effectiveness at diversity and inclusion, according to data and insights shared for the first time at the conference. The finding is from MRG research among more than 5,000 leaders in Europe between 2014 and 2018, looking at how to help leaders become more effective at diversity and inclusion, and what distinguishes those who are effective.

“Effective leaders tend to show more relational behaviours, less reliance on self, to be less results focused and less focused on achieving a position where they can exert forceful behaviour,” said Brown.

In their presentation, Inclusive leadership in a diverse world, Ringwood, vice president of client development at MRG, said, “We were surprised that only two behaviours related to effectiveness in all [contexts] – empathy and consensual. Organisations need to ask themselves whether they reward these behaviours.”

High levels of strategic thinking are associated with high levels of diversity and inclusion. However, leaders have blind spots, with the least effective tending to over-emphasise some of the positive characteristics such as strategic thinking.

Ringwood and Brown also shared data and analysis from three studies, looking at age, gender and country differences in leadership, using its LEA 360™, which consists of self and observer (leader’s boss, peers and direct reports) questionnaires providing 360-degree feedback on leadership behaviours and competencies.

All highlighted areas where self scores contradicted observer perceptions. For example, when compared to older leaders, younger leaders scored themselves higher on displaying outgoing, friendly and informal behaviours, and demonstrating dominant, forceful and assertive leadership. However, observer perceptions suggested there are no differences between the two age groups in this area.

Brown said, “As a coach, if self and observer perceptions don’t match, you need to get [the client] to recalibrate.”

In addition to using data such as MRG’s to challenge assumptions and increase leaders’ self-awareness by presenting accurate measures of observer perceptions, the duo suggested coaches use it to learn about the differences in different groups’ natural tendencies so that they can be more targeted in their developmental efforts with leaders.

In the study on gender differences, for example, overall, women scored higher on behaviours related to setting things in motion (ie, structuring, clear communication), following through and ensuring that things happen as planned (ie, feedback, control), and exhibiting high levels of energy, while also showing concern for others.