Impact matters – business psychologist urges leaders to champion diversity & inclusion

With National Inclusion Week underway (23rd-29th September), Nottingham-based business psychologist and leadership development expert Penny Strutton is urging leaders to make diversity and inclusion central to their culture.

“This year’s theme is ‘impact matters’, highlighting that everyone holds the potential to make a profound and positive impact,” said Strutton, who has worked with some of the biggest corporations in the world and is the author of The Ultimate Guide To Diversity & Inclusion.

She added: “This is a fantastic theme because employees need to feel valued for who they are as individuals and trust that their ideas and contributions will be listened to and responded to equally.

“Every employee should feel empowered to drive the organisation forward through a diverse and inclusive environment, but they cannot achieve it alone. An effective leadership team that champion diversity and inclusion provide authentic role models from which to embed new beliefs and behaviours.”

Whilst diversity has been on the agenda for the majority of forward thinking businesses for some time now, Strutton is warning against seeing it as a “box-ticking” exercise and is urging business leaders to integrate and champion inclusion far more proactively.

She said: “Some organisations just focus on diversity and for sure, having a healthy mix of gender, ethnicity, disability, age and sexual preference amongst the workforce is a step in the right direction.

“However, if people don’t feel accepted for their individuality and difference, then organisations are merely ticking a box. Inclusion is the utopia all organisations should aim for and that only truly occurs when individuals feel safe to be themselves, regardless of age, sexual preference, gender, ethnicity or disability, They need to feel valued for who they are as individuals and trust that their ideas and contributions will be listened to and responded to equally.

So, what does inclusion look like on an everyday basis? According to Strutton, this is about individuals being asked and encouraged to get involved and have a say, colleagues demonstrating interest in different views and taking time to understand different perspectives.

She said: “Every employee should feel empowered to drive the organisation forward through a diverse and inclusive environment but they cannot achieve it alone. An effective leadership team that champions diversity and inclusion provides authentic role models from which to embed new beliefs and behaviours. With National Inclusion Week underway, now is a great time to make a start or to refine your current strategy and culture.”