Ascent is an organization committed to assessing and developing leaders and organizations in ways that matter. Inevitably, this includes concerns about diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. This can be a delicate space to tread in, because, while we have experience working in this area, our company’s focus is on leadership. And, according to our deep research on leaders, we can say this:
The best leaders value and leverage all their employees.
In other words, inclusive leadership is simply good leadership.
That doesn’t make it easy for leaders to engage everyone well. Even highly experienced executives have told us that they fear that they will “say the wrong thing,” and thus remain silent – sacrificing potentially critical insights into their employees and what they face.
So how does a leader grapple with the evolving real-life problems of an increasingly complicated and global workforce, when they are willing but not always able or confident to do so?
Providing lectures, documents, presentations, or even speakers are simply not enough[1]. And the wrong content is problematic. For example, studies of implicit bias training have shown that simple education does not reduce bias significantly, and can sometimes even work in reverse, either by assuring people falsely that they have been “cured” of bias[2], or arousing feelings of defensiveness[3].
We prefer to start with a methodology that we call Inclusive Listening, or sometimes “unbiased discussions.”
What is Inclusive Listening?
Ascent’s Inclusive Listening enables a listener to understand people in their own context. Anchored in anthropological critical incident interviewing[4], using Inclusive Listening invites another person to share their thoughts, feelings, and actions - without imposing an interviewer’s bias.
We teach people to ask for stories of inclusion and exclusion in a simple, structured way that is designed to build trust, asking first for a positive (inclusion) story of inclusion, belonging, feeling heard or valued.
We do not ask for generalized or interpreted experiences. Instead, we ask for specific, real-life experiences from the recent and memorable past. Then we invite considerable detail of the thoughts, feelings, statements, and action.
We do not challenge the person’s story. Instead, we listen: We show respectful attention to the “storyteller,” using a curated set of simple, neutral questions that avoid bias, assumptions or confrontation, but show deep interest in their story.
Step by step, the listener builds a sense of safety and respect. This earns the ability to ask for a story of exclusion, difference, or alienation. And, again, they ask questions, that invite the storyteller to bring the story to life with their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Since people naturally recall events as stories, storytellers can find themselves virtually reliving the story, even reproducing verbatim dialogue, gestures, and expressions. Listeners can feel as if they were “in the room” with the storyteller, watching things unfold.
Why do this?
Fundamentally, because it works! Inclusive Listening creates a number of positive effects:
· The stories provoke empathy in the listener. Listeners experience the story as the storyteller did, through their thoughts, feelings and perceptions of the event.[5]
· The questions prevent bias or “leading the witness.” The carefully curated questions prevent anyone from revealing bias or implied judgment, e.g., “did you try to get her to agree with you?” This implies a correct answer, or that the storyteller made a mistake. This shuts down openness and trust.
· It reduces anxiety on both sides. It reduces anxiety about saying “the wrong thing” - because they can’t. We even teach people to “translate” their potentially biased or leading questions into neutral ones. It also reduces anxiety in the employee revealing something their manager may reject – because they can’t do that, either.
· It focuses on listening well. The key to working with anyone is to listen and try to understand their perspective.
· It leads to action. Research shows that making an individual, emotional connection – feeling the story – energizes leaders’ interest in taking action[6]. In other words, when your employee has a problem, a good manager acts to help fix it.
Does it work?
Ask our clients:[7]
“Individuals were very grateful that you asked them about challenging issues, and it quickly went deep and sometimes they became emotional.”
“A by-product of this meeting is that the interviewee and myself got a much deeper appreciation of each other.”
“This is life-changing for me. I thought I was pretty much the coolest guy around, and thought I got all this, but I didn’t.”
“Had 7-8 discussions total, and they were helping ME develop. It took the onus off them, made it a more open discussion. Exclusion stories came instantly…once they knew it was safe.”
Or, as another executive commented in amazement on a trained Inclusive Listener: “What did you do to him?” We just provided the tools he needed to connect with his people more effectively. He did the rest.
We see this as a powerful method to build trust and engagement even in sensitive issues such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, and help grow a sense of belonging. And, when done systematically, it offers leaders a chance to gather rich data regarding organizational issues and the implicit motivation of the storyteller, to guide future action.
If this sounds like a tool you can use, call us. We’re happy not only to teach it, but also to train organizations to teach it to themselves.
[1] Olson M. A. & Gill, L. J. (2022), Implicit Bias Is a Public-Health Problem, and Hearts and Minds Are Part of the Solution. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2022, Vol. 23(1) 7–40.
[2] The Behavioural Insights Team (UK Government (2020). Unconscious bias and diversity training – what the evidence says.
[3] Creary, S. J. (2021). Taking a LEAP: How Dominant Group Members’ Felt Experiences of Racial and Gender Inequity Shape Intended Allyship Behavior. Presentation at Emotional Intelligence Consortium.
[4] Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), 327–358.
[5] In fact, it is a means to learn and demonstrate Emotional Intelligence.
[6] Greenwald, A. G., et al. (2022). Implicit-Bias Remedies: Treating Discriminatory Bias as a Public-Health Problem. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2022, Vol. 23(1) 7–40.
[7] All quotes come from Fortune 500 executives who learned the method and applied it repeatedly as part of corporate Inclusion initiatives.