Cloudica CEO Adam Kotecki recently gained a new certificate. In this blog post, he talks about why inclusive leadership is important within Cloudica and how he plans to involve it more in the business moving forward.
Creating diverse workplaces – where each person is valued, heard, and given the opportunity to advance as far as their professional abilities would let them – is a key objective for inclusive leaders.
It’s a crucial element of contemporary leadership, and this is how I see Cloudica over the coming weeks and months. As we grow our company and take it globally, I aim to help our staff feel motivated and develop their professional and interpersonal skills.
Organizations with inclusive leadership are better positioned to succeed in a market with varied customers, clients, and employees.
But first, let’s start with the basics.
What is Inclusive Leadership?
There are numerous strategies for inclusive leadership. One conceptual framework offered by Deloitte describes general characteristics of inclusive leadership. Also known as the “Six Cs”, these are:
- Commitment: Successful leaders invest the time and energy required to cultivate a diverse, productive workforce, motivated by their values, personal responsibility, and a sense of fairness (sometimes rooted in personal experience).
- Courage: It takes courage to challenge entrenched organizational attitudes. Inclusive leaders must also be humble enough to recognize and confront their own limitations.
- Cognizance of Bias: Inclusive leadership entails being aware of organizational biases that limit objective decision-making. It also entails developing standards and policies to prevent organizational and personal biases from impeding diversity and inclusion.
- Curiosity: Inclusive leaders must cultivate a culture that prioritizes learning, exposure to new ideas, and open-mindedness. They seek a variety of perspectives in order to improve their decision-making abilities. They make each team member feel valued and respected while being able to synthesize numerous ideas.
- Cultural Intelligence: Leaders must be aware of other cultures in order to modify their behavior in certain situations. For example, an extroverted and demonstrative leader should exercise restraint when dealing with people from cultures that value modesty or humility.
- Collaborative: Successful leaders are always open to sharing their insights and foster an environment in which everyone is heard, respected, valued, and free to express their opinions. All this stems from the realization that diversity is required for effective collaboration.
Why I feel that Inclusive Leadership is important for Cloudica
Everyone understands why inclusive leadership is a key part of any business operating today. Nobody should be treated disrespectfully, ignored, or unheard. Workplaces function better when all members of staff believe they have a stake in and influence over the company’s success.
In a recent blog post, I wrote that I have observed a “virtualization” of the IT world in recent years, but this does not mean that certain basic human values are not equally – if not more – important than they have ever been.
According to the Harvard Business Journal, teams with inclusive leaders are 17% more likely to succeed. They are also 20% more likely to report making high-quality decisions and 29% more likely to report collaborative behavior. Inclusive leadership that improves perception by 10% was found to increase work attendance by one day per year per employee.
Our company is still young. We recently marked our first five years of business. We have set up four Core Values: Conscientiousness, Openness, Reliability, and Expertise. These are at the very heart of our business. Each one reminds us to stay true to ourselves while driving amazing outcomes for our clients and building something unique with our employees.
But as we grow, we need to keep our compass fixed firmly on our goal: achieve success without leaving anyone behind.
Adam Kotecki gained a diploma “Inclusive Leadership: The Power of Workplace Diversity” from the University of Colorado in September 2022.
