VICDOC Winter 2022 - Magazine - Page 57
COMMITMENT TO INCLUSIVIT Y
––
Doctors have a diverse population to serve and the
opportunity exists for a diverse workforce to reflect
and serve this. Let’s challenge ourselves to take up
personal and professional goals to become better at
inclusive leadership practices. These are not warm and
fluffy nice-to-haves. They are basic, effective leadership
practices that benefit everyone and are necessary for
effective collaboration in complex settings.
Learning and changing new behaviours takes effort
and is time consuming work. The best way to approach
it is by working out 1 to 3 concrete goals that specify
behaviours that you can realistically do in your role.
For example, to build more inclusive leadership skills
you could commit to the following action plan:
I COMMIT TO:
––
1 Knowing the names of my team members
and importantly, how to pronounce their
names correctly. When I don’t know, I can
practice asking the person, conveying my
professional interest and care in them and
their role and effectiveness in my team.
2 Trying not to talk more than necessary,
and to making time and space for others to
talk. I commit to making time and space to
listen and ask good questions in follow-up.
Simple but not easy. To add some motivation
and accountability, tell a friend or colleague
about what you’re going to try to get better at.
Best of luck!
––
ANNA CLARK
AMAV Leadership development
consultant, coach and educator
To talk about these issues further, and how
to cultivate inclusive leadership practices in
your own leadership work and area, you can
talk to Anna by scheduling a leader check-in,
leadership consult, or one of our leadership
coaching programs.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
––
Click here for
Diversity Council
of Australia website
1 Diversity Council of Australia website
(above link)
2 Diversity Council Australia
(O’Leary, J., Russell, G. and Tilly, J.).
(2015). Building Inclusion:
An Evidence-Based Model of
Inclusive Leadership, Sydney.
3 Jordan, J., & Sorell, M. (2019). Why reverse
mentoring works and how to do it right.
Harvard Business Review.
4 Clark, A., (2022). Leadership Insight #3
– 2022: The role of controlled processing
and intentional behaviour in combatting
unconscious bias. AMA Victoria,
Leadership Insight #3.
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