Inclusivity

This mini blog series is about what makes a good leader – particularly in health and care/public sector organisations.

So far, we’ve explored curiosity and humility. This time it’s inclusivity.

The best kind of leaders of teams are inclusive. Inclusive in 3 ways.

Firstly, because they are empowering and nourishing, the best leaders want to include people in the learning and decision-making process. So, for example in shaping the vision and values of an organisation they want people across their team, from all backgrounds and roles to be able to participate and contribute to the process. This is because inclusion creates ownership. It’s amazing when we look at problems from different angles, perspectives, and backgrounds, how frequently solutions come from surprising people. This is because they see things which others cannot. The more inclusive we are, the more welcoming we can be to fresh perspectives.

Secondly, because they are kind and compassionate, the best leaders want to ensure that teams don’t become cliquey or exclusive. Inclusive leaders value the notion of belonging. When team members feel like they belong, they have more skin in the game. Relationships are strong and every contribution matters. This leads to great accountability and agency – because each team member knows that who they are and what they do really matters. Even more importantly, inclusive teams are diverse and celebrate this, because it makes them more effective. When leaders value difference it means there is more equality and diversity, better representation and therefore wiser, kinder decisions are made.

Thirdly, because they are curious and humble, the best leaders listen to, involve and include local communities in co-creating solutions to complex issues. They understand when it comes to finding solutions to wicked problems, the importance of addressing both intrinsic and extrinsic gaze. Intrinsic gaze focuses on recognising what is strong about a community, rather than what is wrong – that there is innate goodness and power within communities and incredible assets that needs to be built on. Extrinsic gaze focuses on how leaders and their teams can join with communities to highlight the systems of injustice which hold communities in places of disempowerment and disadvantage. This kind of inclusivity ensures that people get to be involved in challenging and changing these structures, dismantling and reforming them to bring about meaningful change. The work of inclusivity in communities breaks down our dividing lines, heals our fractures and welcomes everyone around the table. It creates the interstitial spaces necessary for our society to be made new, in which human relationships can really flourish.

So, if you’re a leader – don’t be a cock! Be a chicken!

C – Curiosity

H – Humility

I – Inclusivity

C – Compassion

K – Kindness

E – Encouragement

N – Nourishment

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Humility

In typical style, I started a series and then got distracted!

Had some stuff to finish on the book (out soon) and then life happened… work was full on… but now I’m back!

The series I started was on the hallmarks of good leadership, comparing COCKS to CHICKENS!

As a reminder:

Chickens are values-led leaders who create the kind of cultures in which everyone gets to become their best self. Chickens create an environment where everyone keeps learning. I think these are the core values of CHICKEN leaders:

C – Curiosity

H – Humility

I – Inclusivity

C – Compassion

K – Kindness

E – Empowerment

N – Nourishment

We looked at Curiosity in the last blog, and so this time, we turn our attention to humility.

Humility is not insecurity. Humility is not weakness… Humility is a choice and one which I don’t make nearly often enough…

I often hear leaders described as having a ‘God Complex’ (a label given to megalomaniacal, narcissistic bosses – usually men). It means they are a bit of a Cock! But what if having a God-complex is not about wanting to rule over people but is instead about washing the feet of lepers and being the friend of the most ostracised in society? What does this mean for how we have historically understood and now understand leadership?

Humility is the recognition that who you are as a human being makes you no better and no worse than any other person. Rather, every other human being is your brother or your sister, never someone to be dehumanised, but rather innately valuable and worthy of love. You therefore do not view yourself more highly than you ought to, with haughty eyes which look down on others. You do not feel the need to constantly compare yourself with others or compete with those around you. You have no need to do or talk other people down to make yourself look or feel better. You have no need to use positional power to dominate others. You have no cause to puff yourself up to make others look and feel small.

To be humble is to listen deeply, to keep learning, to accept failure and see it as gift, to know you still have inner work to do, to be able to say sorry, to be able to forgive, to be willing to change, to keep growing. To be humble is to prefer others and make space for them to thrive, to keep serving, to be misunderstood and have no need to promote yourself.

Humility is, I believe, one of the most important but least celebrated qualities of good leadership. Why? Because humility provides the conditions in which we can take stock of where we are and be willing to unlearn and let go of what got us here in order to get to where we need to be.

In his excellent book, Theory U, Otto Scharmer explores how the most ‘successful’ companies in the world are good at recognising that when they reach a certain point, they cannot get to where they want to be without embracing humility and deep listening.

I believe we are at such a point in the NHS and wider public sector, here in the UK. We have reached something of a precipice. There are insufficient funds, staffing shortages (due to retention and recruitment issues), a widening health inequity gap, a lack of preventative services, low staff morale, high burnout rates, major infrastructure problems, growing patient waiting times, public dissatisfaction and huge gaps in social care provision. And so, we cannot simply build a bridge across the deep ravine before us.

No. Humility accepts the reality of where we are and is willing to do some deep listening. We must listen to the painful truths of how many people in our communities are living. We must recognise the dual challenges of climate change and social injustice. And we must sit in the pain of this reality long enough for us to embrace the truth that our ‘go to’ methods of how to fix things are no longer able to cut it. We can’t stick hundreds of improvement projects onto the cracks and hope that it will be enough. Slashing services and rearranging our current models into ever more lean and joyless ‘models of care’ will never create the kind of wellbeing we long for together.

Instead, we must listen to what actually matters to our communities. We must learn to recognise the power and potential they hold. And together with them, we must co-create a future which enables our communities to thrive and our ecology to regenerate. It is the only way to tackle our financial deficit whilst also changing the inequities in our society.

People of humility know that this is only possible through radical participative communities, in which everyone gets to contribute and play their part. Where radical relationships across lines of difference allow us to embrace new solutions together. What humility does is to allow the heroes to stop trying to lead people up the next mountain, and instead to recognise that the mountains and the valleys need levelling out into a fair playing field for everyone. Humility gives birth to hope that there really might be a future for us that is altogether more beautiful than our current divisive hell… but that requires the ability to become like little children… because they are the ones who know the way… but only the humble will listen to them and let them show us.

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Previous 10 Posts

Curiosity killed the Kat?

This is a blog mini series on leadership and culture. In the introductory post, I explained why I think cocks make terrible leaders but CHICKENs make great leaders! To refresh your memory, CHICKENs are leaders who outwork the values of: Curiosity Humility Inclusivity Compassion Kindness Empowerment Nourishment My wife, Kat, is hands down the best [Continue Reading …]

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Don’t be a COCK! Be a CHICKEN!

I’ve not been blogging for a while…… because I’ve been writing my first book. Whoop! “Your first BOOK?!” you say. That’s right, people! – It’s called ‘Sick Society: Reimaging How we Live Well Together’ – it’ll be out in the Autumn and I’m pretty excited about it! I’ll let you know when you can pre-order, [Continue Reading …]

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The NHS in a Mess – WHY?

It is dominating the headlines – the winter crisis in the NHS. Long waits for ambulances, huge pressures on the Emergency Departments, people dying in hospital corridors, difficulties getting in to see a GP, Nurses and Paramedics going on strike, low staff morale, a growing sense of anger in the public. Why is this happening? [Continue Reading …]

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Apocalypse Now?

It’s a while since I last wrote a blog. That’s because I’ve been concentrating on finishing my first book and there are only so many hours in a day! It is called ‘Sick Society’ and will hopefully be out soon.   However, now that it’s done, I will hopefully have a bit more time for [Continue Reading …]

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Mental Health Help – 7 Top Tips

Many of us are struggling with our Mental Health right now. Here are seven top tips to help you take care of yourself and those around you during these difficult times. Share This:

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6 Tips in 2 Minutes to Help You Stay Healthy and Well This Winter!

I’ve done this 2 minute video with 6 quick tips about you can stay healthy and well this winter. More to follow, but hope this helps!   Share This:

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Let Them Eat Cake

Despite petitions and public protestations, The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is sticking by his guns. The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock is insisting that the Government are already doing enough, with an array of other white men in suits telling us why he’s right, whilst ignoring the voices of over 2000 leading Paediatricians (what do they know, anyway?!).  Whilst [Continue Reading …]

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While Children Go Hungry…….

I love Marcus Rashford! His statement on child hunger is brilliant, but I don’t entirely agree with him. In his impassioned plea for us to take child hunger seriously (which I could not agree with more), especially through the school holidays, he says: “this is not politics, this is humanity.” The reality is that EVERYTHING [Continue Reading …]

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