It’s no surprise to state that the modern world, together with the world of work, is radically shifting. Data from meta-analyses suggests that the modern workplace is shifting in three key areas:
The human–AI workforce integration: As businesses continue to rapidly invest in artificial intelligence, the AI-human dynamic will shape the future of work for many years to come. The risks of the dominance of AI as a workplace tool are significant from an inclusion perspective. The key risk, of course, is bias within the AI system. If unchecked, human heuristics become baked into machine thinking and future automated decision-making will amplify current biases that impact key people decisions – hiring, work allocation, performance reviews, pay assessments and promotions. The opportunity for institutional biases will, without question, increase without the right checks and balances.
Hybrid work structures: While there are some efforts to have employees return to the office, these are limited to certain sectors and the main trend will continue to be a three-day office rule. Hybrid working, or more accurately – agile work (anytime, anywhere) – will accelerate with the rise of AI, cloud computing and video technology. Work will remain decentralised, moving away from the traditional office‑centric model. This ‘workplaces without walls’ model has significant inclusion implications. The key one will impact team relationships, and a sense of belonging supported by affinity bias. Proximity bias in this new world order will impact hiring and work allocation decisions, and diverse employees who are carers, disabled, or who have other out-of-work responsibilities will be impacted most. Proximity bias will also impact mentoring and sponsorship relationships, and these will influence promotion opportunities.
Human centred performance and wellbeing priorities: As businesses continue to adapt to new market conditions, workplace culture stress will increase, as will the cognitive load on individual employees. We will continue to see a rise in workplace stress, anxiety and burnout. With the continued attack on DEI from the US Administration, diverse employees will sustain higher levels of anxiety and continue to carry an already high level of emotional tax. Within this context, the need for a human performance reset will continue as a megatrend where workplaces are shifting from productivity theatres to performance enhancers that support capability and reduce stress. Trust between diverse employees, the HR function and wider business units will experience higher levels of strain. The inclusion implications include greater scrutiny on diverse employees, and stress levels will increase, with work performance suffering as a consequence of a lack of co worker and leadership support. We also expect to see high levels of employment tribunal claims, specifically from disabled colleagues, as a result of ineffective workplace policies and non-disabled friendly practices.
Curiosity is one of the most important traits that inclusive – indeed all leadership – can develop in the modern age. Social curiosity is the desire and drive to understand how other people think and feel, and why we all behave in the ways that we do. Psychologists call this a relational intelligence. According to research by Deloitte, curiosity is one of the six key traits of inclusive leadership. Our work at FAIRER suggests that curiosity is a primary trait; that is, it is so important that without it the whole architecture of inclusive leadership begins to crumble. Curiosity drives belonging and psychological safety through a process of active questioning and active listening.
Curiosity has multiple benefits, including bias reduction through greater awareness and insight into the different experiences of diverse colleagues. Through active interest and inquiry, leaders can expand their knowledge of their talent pool. It also supports wider strategic goals by providing insight into the existing work culture and the decision making processes that shape the employee lifecycle. Direct communication removes the HR filter that often leads to groupthink and tunnel thinking.
Curious leaders think and act in certain ways:
They ask insightful questions, for instance, “How did you arrive at that view?”
They listen before trying to fix a solution. Instead of rushing to solutions, they sit with the story, often of unheard and diverse voices, and wait before they act.
They show interest in people as well as tasks: They are interested in what energises colleagues at work. They are also interested in out-of-work responsibilities and stresses.
They check their own assumptions and biases through check-in questions –“Here’s what I’m hearing, am I getting that right?”
They are open to changing their perspective – curious leaders recognise that to innovate and grow they need to expand their own frames of reference, and they can do this by actively speaking to diverse colleagues and other stakeholders.
Perspective‑taking is a key trait of inclusive leadership. It is a leadership cognitive skill that allows leaders to step into the experiences of others. By stepping into different worldviews, perspective-taking has the ability to reduce biases and promote fair and inclusive decisions, as it interrupts a leader’s automatic thought processes. As a result, perspective-taking builds trust and psychological safety amongst leaders and diverse communities. When practised with authentic intent, it can reduce a sense of othering and therefore promote wellness amongst diverse colleagues.
Other positive outcomes of perspective-taking can include:
Promoting wellness and belonging by encouraging diverse colleagues to be their authentic selves, reducing the need to cover at work.
Supporting inter‑group conflict resolution, as awareness of different perspectives and experiences can promote common‑ground bonding.
Promoting fair and equitable decisions, as understanding different life experiences, capabilities, and health conditions can lead to better decisions around flexible working, fairer work allocation, and more inclusive diary scheduling.
Fairness and bias literacy is the ability of leaders to understand, identify, and actively work to mitigate biases and promote fairness in thinking and decision-making in order to support business performance.
Leaders who practice fairness and bias literacy use data to track decision-making patterns across the employee lifecycle. They use data as a system intervention tool, reducing effects that highlight disproportionality in their people decisions; they also use data to fast-track positive areas of impact, using the rules of Appreciative Inquiry and behavioural science.
Bias mitigation often plays out at the system level of decision‑making, and inclusive leaders empower their teams to investigate its impact more deeply through job design, promotion criteria, and performance frameworks.
A key aspect of fairness literacy is the use of inclusion nudges and micro-affirmations to reward inclusive behaviours. When facilitated in the right ways, this type of action can lead to a form of positive social contagion, which can have boundless positive consequences on team behaviours and the wider business culture.
The five key things that inclusive leaders do to drive fairness are:
They slow down their decisions, as they know fast thinking is more likely to lead to biased thinking and unfair decision outcomes.
They ask searching questions – who is missing from the room? Whose ideas am I not hearing?
They use checklists and create objective decision-making structures, as these have shown to mitigate bias and lead to more inclusive decisions and fairer outcomes. Supporting this process is the reliance on objective criteria when hiring, conducting performance reviews and considering promotions.
They invite dissent: inclusive leaders actively encourage open critique, as they understand that this facilitates engagement in System 2 thinking and group reflection.
They apply fair, open and collaborative processes. Inclusive leaders actively involve others in decisions that will involve their diverse colleagues; they share results openly and transparently, recognising the impact decisions have on people’s lives.
Build the skills to become a truly inclusive leader and drive sustainable workplace culture change with our Inclusive Leadership training. Led by our consultants, our evidence-led programme is designed to provide the skills and confidence required to embed inclusion across the employee lifecycle and promote fairness for everyone.
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