Fostering diversity and inclusion is not only a moral imperative but a strategic advantage for businesses. Corporate leaders who prioritize these principles create environments that empower individuals to bring their authentic selves to the table, fostering innovation, and driving growth.

In this blog, we explore how cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion aligns with effective leadership and executive coaching efforts, and discuss the importance of psychological safety in this journey.

Brave!

Why Diversity & Inclusion Matter in Leadership

Diversity encompasses more than just visible differences; it encompasses a range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. When leaders champion the use of executive coaching to promote diversity, and inclusion, they tap into a wellspring of creativity and innovation that results from the collision of varied viewpoints. Teams with diverse backgrounds bring unique insights to problem-solving and decision-making, ultimately leading to improved outcomes and adaptability in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Inclusion, on the other hand, is the active practice of ensuring that every individual feels valued, respected, and heard. Leaders who foster an inclusive environment empower team members to express their opinions without fear of reprisal, fostering collaboration and engagement. This leads to higher levels of job satisfaction, an increased ROI on executive coaching , reduced turnover, and increased productivity.

Developing a Culture of Diversity & Inclusion

Lead by Example: Leadership sets the tone for the entire organization. When leaders demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion through their actions, it sends a powerful message to their teams.
Set Clear Expectations: Make diversity and inclusion part of your organization’s values and mission. Clearly communicate these expectations to your team members and hold everyone accountable for upholding them.
Foster Open Communication: Encourage open dialogues about diversity and inclusion. Create safe spaces where employees can share their experiences and perspectives, fostering a sense of belonging.
Inclusive Hiring Practices: Implement inclusive hiring practices that emphasize skills, experiences, and potential over cultural background. This ensures a diverse pool of talent from which to choose.
Cultivate Mentorship & Sponsorship: Create mentorship and sponsorship programs that help underrepresented individuals advance in their careers. Providing guidance and opportunities for growth is key to creating a more inclusive workforce.
Educational Initiatives: Offer workshops, training, and resources that educate employees about unconscious bias, cultural competence, and the value of diversity in the workplace.

The Role of Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is the cornerstone of any successful executive coaching agenda and inclusive workplace. It’s the belief that one can voice their opinions, ideas, and concerns without fear of negative consequences. Leaders who prioritize psychological safety ensure that all team members have an equal opportunity to contribute, leading to enhanced collaboration and creativity.

Encourage Feedback: Create an environment where feedback is welcomed and encouraged. This empowers employees to share their insights, even when they might challenge the status quo.
Address Microaggressions: Microaggressions are subtle, often unintentional comments or actions that marginalize individuals. Leaders should be vigilant in addressing and rectifying such behaviors.
Acknowledge Mistakes: Leaders who admit their own mistakes and learn from them create an atmosphere where others feel safe to take calculated risks without fearing humiliation.
Active Listening: Show genuine interest in others’ perspectives through curious questioning and appreciation of their willingness to bring forward an opinion. Active listening builds trust and demonstrates that you value diverse viewpoints.
Supportive Response: When team members voice their concerns, respond with empathy, and show willingness to collaborate on solutions. This reinforces psychological safety and demonstrates that their contributions matter.

Leadership Development & Beyond

As a leader, fostering diversity and inclusion isn’t just a checkbox to mark—it’s a continuous journey that shapes your organization’s culture and impact on the world. By embracing diverse perspectives, including them as executive coaching themes and areas of focus , and fostering an inclusive environment, you unlock the potential for innovation and growth while nurturing a workforce that feels valued and empowered.

Remember that fostering diversity and inclusion isn’t just a one-time initiative; it’s an ongoing commitment that requires dedication, open-mindedness, and a willingness to learn and evolve. As a leadership development and training company, we’re here to support your journey toward becoming a truly inclusive leader who empowers their team and drives sustainable success.

Leadersharp was formed because we believe that the world needs better leaders, and we can help. Leadersharp is a Canadian-based leadership coaching, training and consulting firm that works with companies nationwide to advance the development of leaders, teams and their organizations. Our expert team offers a variety of programs and engagements, including executive coaching, management training, custom course development and HR and Organiational Development consulting. By integrating a hands-on approach and advanced tools including Everything DiSC, Great Feedback, and The Leadership Circle Profile, we guarantee an exceptional experience and unparalleled results. Based out of Calgary, Alberta, our team is ready to help guide you to success. Get in touch today at [email protected], or (403)-719-0800.

Being an inspiring leader doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a process of honing in on your own unique qualities and investing the time on self-development. Sure, being a leader requires having an aptitude for people management skills – but it also involves evolving how you show up for, impact, and influence those around you.

Whether you’re looking to improve your leadership at work, or you aspire to lead people in any other domain of life, here are five key traits every aspiring inspiring must master if they want to inspire others to greatness.

Smiling business persons stacking hands over the table

Authenticity

Effective leadership requires a multifaceted approach, and one that is at the forefront is authenticity. Inspiring leaders who embody this trait are those who are able to demonstrate their true selves with their colleagues and team members. Authenticity requires a level of openness, honesty and vulnerability, being comfortable in your own skin, and not using a false persona.

When leaders are authentic in the workplace, it sets a positive example for everyone around them. They exhibit the courage to be sincere and direct with their team members, fostering a culture of openness and trust. Authenticity is a keystone trait for any inspiring leader.

Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness in leadership goes beyond being honest and transparent; it is also about fostering a culture of trust within your team. To achieve this, effective leaders must consistently demonstrate authenticity, integrity, competence, and reliability in their words and actions and decision-making.

When team members trust their leaders, they are more likely to be motivated and engaged in their work, leading to greater productivity and success for the organization. In essence, trustworthiness is an essential ingredient for any aspiring leader who wants to build a cohesive, high-performing team.

Interpersonal Relationships

Effective leadership requires more than just technical and strategic skills – it requires strong interpersonal skills. A leader who is able to foster a positive work environment through nurturing relationships is more likely to inspire their team to work effectively towards a common goal.

By building strong interpersonal skills, a leader is able to communicate, listen, and connect effectively with their team, building trust and increasing motivation. When team members feel valued, heard, and respected, they are more likely to go above and beyond to achieve success. Today’s successful leaders excel in building positive interpersonal relationships, fostering a people-centric culture of teamwork and collaboration.

Motivating Others

Great leadership is about being able to motivate and inspire others to achieve common goals. The power of inspiration in leadership cannot be overstated; as a leader, your ability to encourage, engage and motivate your team can set the tone for your organization’s success.

To achieve this, practicing techniques for boosting morale and enhancing motivation is essential, and being a motivating force and inspiring others requires dedication and skill. Investing in leadership development that focuses on these critical traits will not only help you become a better leader, but empower your team to achieve their full potential.

Purposeful and Visionary

If you are a leader with a clear purpose, you know what difference you want to make in the world. This becomes clear to others by your enthusiasm, passion and dedication to it – your presence. If you are visionary you have a clear and compelling picture of the future and what you can achieve ot become together, or you facilitate the creation of a collective, shared vision. You communicate this often, with inspiring language.

The primary contribution of inspiring leaders is to cultivate vision and purpose, ideally with others, and then become a standard bearer for the cause. Inspiring leaders a role models for the purpose and vision, with both character and competence – by what they say, how they say it, what they don’t say, what they do and what they don’t do.

The Evolution of Leadership Development

Being an inspiring leader involves mastering the traits of authenticity, trustworthiness, strong interpersonal relationships, the ability to encourage and motivate others and embody a compelling purpose and exciting vision. By focusing on these key components, you can elevate your leadership and make a lasting impact on those around you.

Developing and honing these characteristics and skills is a critical step in the evolution of becoming an effective and inspiring leader. The journey to being the best you can be is a lifelong one, and focusing on leadership development will always be a worthy and rewarding effort.

Leadersharp was formed because we believe that the world needs better leaders, and we can help. Leadersharp is a Canadian-based leadership coaching, training and consulting firm that works with companies nationwide to advance the development of leaders, teams and their organizations. Our expert team offers a variety of programs and engagements, including executive coaching, management training, custom course development and HR and Organiational Development consulting . By integrating a hands-on approach and advanced tools including Everything DiSC, Great Feedback, and The Leadership Circle Profile, we guarantee an exceptional experience and unparalleled results. Based out of Calgary, Alberta, our team is ready to help guide you to success. Get in touch today at [email protected], or (403)-719-0800.

The New Water Cooler: Strategies to Build A Cohesive Team in a Virtual World

Leaders and team members are struggling to maintain cohesion and synergy with their team members in this virtual world. We continue to adapt, but many team members are reporting greater degrees of disconnection with each passing week. We could not have anticipated the loss of the proverbial “water cooler” conversations that created the opportunity for organic conversations, ideas and connections between team members- in hallways, elevators, lunch rooms and on coffee breaks. It’s time we acknowledge how much this has impacted our productivity and most importantly our connection to our team.

In this session we will look at strategies to increase connection, collaboration and cohesion in a virtual world; ensuring our teams feel cohesive and supported when working from home.

YOUR RESOURCES

Download “Virtual Water Cooler Presentation”

Download “Strategies to Build a Cohesive Virtual Team”

Download Poll Results “How do you want to be supported by your Team/Leader?”

EXCITING NEWS FOR VANCOUVER AND B.C. COACHES!

We have been working with the Leadership Circle for the past several months to bring another Leadership Circle Profile™ Certification to Vancouver. Our conversations with coaches across Canada, have convinced us that more Canadian Certifications would be very much appreciated and there is growing interest and use of this profound instrument. We met people from BC at our Certification in Calgary in June, and want to meet more of you in your home territory!

The Great News is, The Leadership Circle has just agreed to offer another Certification in VANCOUVER in November 2018. We are so excited! We are reaching out to Leadership Circle Practitioners in BC with this initial Invitation to ensure the training will go ahead for our coaching community.

If you, or someone you know is considering or interested in this training, let’s get another Western Canadian Certification off the ground and continue to bring this break-through leadership development model to our Canadian Leaders who are battling the challenges of a VUCA* world. Many Leadership Circle Practitioners are very keen to increase the presence of this amazing assessment in Canada because of its deep influence with clients.

YOU CAN HELP BY FORWARDING THIS INFORMATION TO ANYONE YOU THINK MIGHT BE INTERESTED*! If you refer a colleague who registers for Certification, you will also receive a USD $400 (est. CDN $525) credit towards Leadership Circle Profiles. (See instructions below)

Here are the key details:

Dates: The Leadership Circle Profile: Monday, November 19th to Wednesday, November 21st (3 days)

The Leadership Culture Survey Certification is also being offered on Thursday, November 22nd

Location: Pinnacle Hotel Harborfront, 1133 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 3T3, (844) 337-3118

OR YOU CAN SIMPLY REGISTER NOW!

PRICING

Getting certified in VANCOUVER will cost less than any certification in the US (or even Toronto). Save yourself the air fare, the exchange rate, and if you live in Vancouver, hotels and other travel costs.

Regular price for LCP training is USD $3,625.

And here are two ways to recoup part of your training investment:

1. Once Certified, you will automatically receive a US$500 credit towards Leadership Circle Profiles. NOTE: YOU must enter CA-1 in the “Comments” box when you register to receive this credit.

2. If you can refer a colleague who registers for Certification, you will also receive a USD $400 credit towards Leadership Circle Profiles. NOTE: THEY must type YOUR full name in the space indicated when THEY register for YOU to receive this credit.

What Do You Get?

 The Program is approved by ICF for 24.86 CCEU’s
• Core Competencies 5.69 Units
• Resource Development 19.17 Units

 Supports you in working deeply with managers/leaders, enabling you to take coaching/leadership development to higher levels in far less time

 Provides you with practical experience in debriefing assessments with clients

 Teaches you theoretical/statistical foundations upon which our unique assessments stand and helps you answer client questions about assessment validity

 Provides implementation templates for supporting ongoing learning and client follow-through

 Introduces you into a community of practice that supports you in having greater impact through your work with leaders

 You will receive a complimentary copy of Mastering Leadership by Bob Anderson and Bill Adams, as well as comprehensive training materials

 You will be required to have a Leadership Profile 360 Assessment completed, giving you the remarkable experience yourself and showing you the power of the tool for your own development

 Practitioners agree that the Certification process is a best-in-class experience and can be life changing for the Coach.

Click here to REGISTER NOW and join the growing global Practitioner community that is making an important difference in the world:

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
We exist to evolve the conscious practice of leadership, to steward the planet and awaken us all to our inherent unity.

REMEMBER: YOU must enter CA-1 in the “Comments” box when you register to receive the $500 credit

REMEMBER: The person you refer must type YOUR full name in the space indicated when THEY register for YOU to receive the $400 credit

Would you like to talk to the Facilitators of the session?

We are Lisa Scott and Chris Jones, Partners in LeaderSharp Group in Calgary. We are Master Certified Practitioners for the Leadership Circle Profile™ in Canada. As Faculty for The Leadership Circle organization we are also certified in The Leadership Culture Survey (Team Assessment) and The Leadership System (Leadership Development Program). We will be co-facilitating the November Certification in Vancouver.

If you’d like to chat with either of us, please call us at 403.719.0800, or email at [email protected] or [email protected]. We are more than happy to chat with you and answer any questions.

With best wishes and warm regards to our fellow Canadian Coaches,

Chris & Lisa

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