Di­versity wins: turn dif­fer­ences into an ad­vant­age

It is not leadership at all to "just" lead a team of people who look like yourself.

Professor Sara Louise Muhr makes this perhaps provocative statement as she has to describe why managing diversity and inclusion is crucial for public sector leaders.

Leading a team of diverse employees towards inclusion and psychological safety is difficult, it takes longer and it can be frustrating. But it also yields far better results because your opinions, ideas and decisions as a leader are put into perspective, twisted and turned in a completely different way than if you lead a group of people similar to yourself, explains Sara Louise Muhr.

"People have an automatic urge to surround themselves with people who are similar to themselves. Because it's easier, there's less conflict and decisions are made faster. I've met several managers at MPG who struggle with having to stop and get their employees on board. It can be tempting to go for the quicker solution of doing it yourself or with those who think like you do. On the other hand, it makes for better decisions when the way things are done is questioned," she says, stressing that if your organization wants to be an attractive workplace, also for young people and future generations, diversity is a necessity alongside sustainability.

And diversity and inclusion are inextricably linked: "It's super easy to be inclusive if everyone looks the same," she points out.

Diversity is leadership development

Sara Louise Muhr offers a challenge:

"Diversity and inclusion is not just about the other person. It's about my own mindset. Of course it takes longer to include. Of course it takes longer to delegate, but most people burn out if they don't manage to involve people who don't look like themselves. It's about feeling comfortable hiring people who are different and trusting that something good will come out of it."

Diversity is a source of leadership development, she emphasises.

"It's leadership development in itself to want inclusion and diversity, because you become a better leader by standing in an uncertain space. If we do what we usually do, there won't be conflicts, but you and your organisation won't get better either."

This fall, she will be teaching the new MPG course "Managing Diversity and Inclusion" (the course is taught in Danish 🇩🇰). Participants will work on:

• Identify and understand their own and their organisation's biases
• Design strategies to block bias
• Better understand and reflect on the importance of inclusion and psychological safety

"You will become better at ensuring diverse representation in management and professional groups, and you will gain tools to manage diversity in a way that requires an inclusive work culture with room to unfold the individual's unique competencies," says Sara Louise.

Out-smarting the brain

A large part of our thinking draws on automaticity and learned patterns, and they are influenced by gender and other diversity dimensions, explains Sara Louise.

"So it's not just about us becoming more aware of what we are biased by and then we don't discriminate anymore. We need to out-smart our own brains, and it's about everything from job postings to the way we hold meetings and eat lunch," she says.

If you want to start out-smarting your brain, Sara Louise recommends that you follow two tracks: a procedural track, which is about recruitment and retention of employees. For example, don't ask candidates for a photo when they send their application. And then there's a track of inclusive everyday actions. This can be about the conversation at the coffee machine and the meeting culture.

"It's always the same people who speak first. How do you break that dynamic? Social events are also a great place to start. Ask yourself: What are we doing and why are we doing it?"

Sara Louise makes one final suggestion: "Remember: You don't become less biased by saying: Now I'm going to be less biased. You have to design your way out of it. You can't think your way into it. Because if you have a brain, you're biased."