The ability to have inclusive conversations is a critical skill for leaders and organizations to successfully navigate the increasingly changing landscape. At Inclusive Leadership Strategies (ILS), we specialize in facilitating candid communication and collaboration across differences to increase productivity. 

Research has demonstrated that diverse teams and organizations produce stronger results than homogeneous ones, yet across organizations, rooms where decisions are made remain strikingly similar. Diversity in hiring at the entry level has increased in some organizations. The data reveals, however, that most of those hires leave within a few years.

After decades of diversity programs, compliance, and training, heightened attention to long-standing issues of racial disparity provides an opportunity for real and lasting change. The question remains: How? What actions can organizations take to effectively create inclusive work environments where professionals across differences become leaders at the decision-making table?

Inclusivity is a leadership skill. Building and managing an inclusive professional organization is not a task that can be delegated. It requires leadership at all levels, from C-Suite executives to first-time managers.

We help leaders and organizations communicate productively about race and difference in the workplace in order to:

• Develop genuine relationships across differences that improve collaboration and efficiency
• Consider and incorporate a range of different perspectives in strategic planning, product development, and decision-making
• Adjust systems and processes in ways that produce greater results

We believe everyone wants to belong, and we “walk the walk” of inclusive work environments.

We are a diverse group of colleagues with deep coaching experience, outstanding facilitation skills, and impressive consulting backgrounds who live the experience of collaborating across differences on a daily basis to help clients reach their goals.

We understand that innovation is long overdue in changing systems and processes and leverage our consulting experience to address structures and policies that get in the way of organizational goals. Partnering with internal teams, we apply change management principles to help organizations realize the benefits that the changes were intended to produce.

We also understand that structural changes alone are not sufficient to produce results. Success requires that people change their behavior. To support that change, we provide leadership coaching for individual leaders and groups, facilitate candid conversations that result in learning on all sides of the table, and deliver skill-building programs to strengthen clarity in communication and well-being.