Characteristics Of Inclusive Leadership

Helping an organization transition from a national to international presence requires the ability to integrate diverse populations. In the presented scenario, the author (from the United States) is the leader of a diverse team of members from Greece, Singapore, Germany, and Iran. This team will lead the organization’s transition to a global organization by planting business operations in the specified countries using an integrated employee base. The following is an overview of the traits of inclusive leadership, an analysis of the leadership skills used in an inclusive organizational culture, a review of the most influential leadership characteristics in creating the team’s culture, and a discussion of how to prepare this team for the global

Inclusive leadership is a relational leadership style characterized by openness, availability, and transparency with followers (Choi, Tran, & Park, 2015; Jin et al., 2017). Inclusive leaders share characteristics with other leadership styles. For instance, inclusive leadership and servant leadership share a focus on serving the followers and meeting their needs (Choi et al., 2017; Song, Park, & Seung-Wan, 2015). Inclusive leadership and spiritual leadership share a focus on appreciating, valuing, and empowering others by developing high-quality relationships and feelings of psychological safety (Weinberg & Locander, 2014; Jin et al., 2017). Inclusive leadership correlates positively with employee work engagement, creativity, and reduced turnover (Coi et al., 2015; Jin et al., 2017). Inclusive leaders use their skills to build safe “common spaces” in which diverse populations learn to interact to honestly and

The goal is to draw attention to what unites so that the team can face differences together. The GLOBE survey found multiple “universal” leadership characteristics, or characteristics associated with successful leaders, regardless of cultural background (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). Universally accepted characteristics of a successful leader include trustworthy, decisive, encouraging, team builder, and excellence-oriented (House et al., 2004). The universally accepted characteristics appear to describe a champion who encourages the best from his/her employees. Universally accepted leadership characteristics overlap with inclusive leadership style as they relate to transparency, building confidence, encouraging others, and communication (Choi et al., 2015; Dow, 2017; House et al., 2004). It is highly likely that a culturally diverse group would accept many characteristics of inclusive leadership in private spaces, especially if paired with bolder, more traditional universal leadership characteristics initially in public