Even though senior leaders understand the importance of implementing inclusive leadership into the workplace and its direct impact on organizational performance, it remains one of the areas organizations continue struggling with. There are many reasons this is the case: lack of education for people leaders, lack of consistency across the organization, and difficulty in implementation for large groups.

Here are some numbers to emphasize the importance of inclusion in the workplace:

• Organizations that promote an inclusive culture are 3x more likely to perform at a higher level, 6x more likely to be adaptive and innovative, and 8x more likely to produce better results. [1]

• Inclusive and diverse organizations are 35% more likely to outperform their business competitors.[2]

• What leaders say and do makes up to a 70% differencein whether an employee feels included.[3]

The six signature traits of inclusive leadership research[4] defines commitment, courage, curiosity, cognizance of bias, cultural intelligence, and collaboration as key differentiators of inclusive leaders.

While these traits and their principles are applicable to any workplace, in this article I focus on manufacturing.

If you have ever been on a production floor, you know that it is different from the corporate and office environment. It is fast-paced, metrics-driven, repetitive, and process-focused. There may be up to 50-70 production technicians supervised by one manufacturing supervisor. As such, it is challenging for a people leader of such a large group to make sure that every associate feels included.

Informed by my 17 years of Human Resources (HR) consulting and in-house HR for a medical device manufacturing facility, below is a  summary of some best practices for inclusivity for manufacturing people leaders.

Assumed favoritism. Be mindful about the way you interact with your employees. It can build a bad perception when employees see their leader interacting more with certain employees than others while on the production floor or during breaks, lunches, events, etc. It can be as simple as providing greetings to all employees at the beginning of the shift. A good practice is starting the shift by touring the production room, greeting all employees, and having short discussions (small talk). These discussions will help you to get to know your employees better, to understand what makes them happy, what assignment / tasks they enjoy most, etc.

Involving off shifts into decision making. Day shift is usually the shift when most management and support functions are on site. As such, many decisions are made during the day shift and cascaded to off shifts for execution. This can lead off-shift teams to feel that they are not included into the process of brainstorming and decision making. They also may not have an opportunity to share their opinion or experience to add their voice to the discussion. If it is not a true business emergency, it may be a good practice to postpone the decision for a day and ask off-shift teams to provide their input – giving them an authentic “seat at the table.”

Team meetings / events time. When planning a corporate event (Town hall, wellness initiatives, benefits fairs, employee appreciation activities, etc.), make sure that there are options for all shifts to participate. Otherwise, off-shift employees may not feel included into corporate activities.

It is also important to remember that the number of part-time associates and employees with flexible schedules is now increasing in the workplace. Following COVID, more people are interested in having a flexible work policy, and manufacturing organizations cannot ignore this trend. Flexible workers can feel excluded if they are overlooked and missed for team communications. If it isn’t possible to find a time that will accommodate all employees, it is important to follow up with these associates afterwards to make sure that they have the same information as the rest of the team.

Equal opportunities. As mentioned above, manufacturing is a fast-paced, metrics-driven environment. It is easy to make a habit of reaching out to the same high-performing employees in the event of a special project or urgent task. And, while this may guarantee you fast results, it can build a perception of favoritism and limit other associates’ professional developmental opportunities.

Closing the loop. One of the most frequent types of feedback received from associates is that people leaders and management are not interested in ideas from employees. Even if management asks for feedback, employees believe that no action will be taken after that. In many cases it is just a perception because leaders do listen, spend significant amounts of time on discussing it, and take actions implementing it. Unfortunately, implementation may take time – several months or longer. Because of this gap between providing feedback and final action, associates may not connect the dots and may not realize that certain changes happen due to their suggestions.

Cross-functional education. Employees feel included when they feel they are a part of the group and add value to the entire process. Cross-functional education helps to show employees how their work affects other departments. How will a production error impact quality, labeling, and distribution processes? Cross-functional tours or trainings can help employees understand specifics of each other’s work and empower them to better collaborate.

Providing different avenues for feedback. Technology makes it simpler to receive employee feedback more frequently. We have new mobile apps, IT systems, QR codes, etc. to make it easier for employees to provide feedback via surveys or other feedback vehicles. It is important to remember that production employees frequently don’t have workplace access to computers and other technologies and may not be comfortable with computers and mobile apps. It is also difficult to overcome a perception that these surveys are not anonymous. If a portion of your employees are not comfortable with technology, explore other options get their thoughts.

Inclusive leaders are the leaders who create an environment where employees feel like they belong to the team, are safe to be themselves and speak up, and have an opportunity to participate and influence. Consistency is particularly important when managing large groups and multiple shifts. Whatever leaders offer it should be consistent across the board. It is not only about big programs and events. It is also about small things they do every day. These small things may have an enormous impact on the morale and culture of the team and the leader’s image.

[1] Deloitte Review. The diversity and inclusion revolution. Eight powerful truths. January 2018.

[2] McKinsey. Why diversity matters. January 1, 2015.

[3] Harvard Business Review. The Key to Inclusive leadership. March 6, 2020.

[4] Deloitte University Press. The six signature traits of inclusive leadership. Thriving in a diverse new world. 2016