Abstract
This chapter focuses on the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) as critical workforce and leadership issues in health care. It highlights the business case for EDI, and shows how inclusivity leads to employee engagement that directly impacts services and outcomes. Inclusive leadership is offered as the best practice in optimizing diversity and creating cultures of inclusion where all people are valued equally with proportional representation and equitable inclusion. Four inclusive leadership competencies are singled out to be of particular importance in the health care context, namely: (1) engagement through relational practice, (2) enablement by creating environments for others to flourish, (3) empowerment by building confidence and communities, and (4) recognizing and developing talent. This chapter also features examples of everyday workplace triggering events that make inequity or discrimination noticeable, that might spark diversity-based conflict, and poses corrective boundary spanning organizational strategies to deal with these conflicts. The section on managing inequities and insensitivities focuses on practical applications dealing with LGBTQi issues and sexual harassment in the workplace and concludes with a case study of action taken by an exemplary health care institution in an effort to raise awareness about unconscious bias in light of the #MeToo movement. Lastly, this chapter identifies pearls and pitfalls in leading EDI and concludes with a clear message: The absence of effective EDI practices comes at a significant cost. Courageous and bold inclusive leadership action is needed to develop and sustain a strong EDI culture in the health care industry.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Useem J. At work, expertise is falling out of favor. The Atlantic. July 2019. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/future-of-work-expertise-navy/590647/.
Livingston S. Racism is still a problem in health care’s c-suite: efforts aimed at boosting diversity in health care leadership fail to make progress. J Best Pract Health Prof Divers. 2018;11(1):60–5.
Landi H. The 21st century leadership challenge: advancing diversity and equity in HIT. 2018. Retrieved from https://www.hcinnovationgroup.com/leadership-professional-development/article/13030899/the-21st-century-leadership-challenge-advancing-diversity-and-equity-in-hit.
Gill P. Validation of a process for the leadership development of women and ethnic minorities in a health care organization (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale. 2017.
Boston Consulting Group, Lorenzo R, Voigt N, Tsusaka M, Krentz M, Abouzahr K. How diverse leadership teams boost innovation. Boston Consulting Group Report, January 23, 2018.
Smedley BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR, editors. Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2002.
Amin M, Till A, Mckimm J. Inclusive and person-centered leadership: creating a culture that involves everyone. Br J Hosp Med. 2018;79(7):402.
Ferdman B, Deane B. Diversity at work: the practice of inclusion. New York: Jossey Bass Wiley; 2014.
Mcfeeters B, Hannum K, Booysen L, editors. Facilitator’s guide to using understanding and leading across differences: cases and perspectives. New York: Pfeiffer; 2010.
Comstock DL, Hammer TR, Strentzsch J, Cannon K, Parsons J, Salazar GS. Relational-cultural theory: a framework for bridging relational, multicultural, and social justice competencies. J Couns Dev. 2008;86(3):279–87.
France TJ, Menaker R, Thielen KR. The importance of a radiologist-administrator partnership to future health care. J Am Coll Radiol. 2019;16(8):1114–8.
Sherbin L, Rashid R. diversity doesn’t stick without inclusion. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2017;2–5. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=121272865&site=ehost-live.
Booysen LAE. Chapter 10. The development of inclusive leadership practice and processes. In: Ferdman B, Deane B, editors. Diversity at work: the practice of inclusion. New York: Jossey Bass Wiley; 2014.
Hannum K, Mcfeeters B, Booysen L, editors. Understanding and leading across differences: cases and perspectives. New York: Pfeiffer; 2010.
Booysen LAE, Wishik H. A comparison of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights in South Africa and the USA. In: Klarsfeld A, Ng E, Booysen LAE, Christianson C, Kuvaas B, editors. Research handbook of international and comparative perspectives on diversity management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing; 2016. p. 171–98.
Dzau VJ, Johnson PA. Ending sexual harassment in academic medicine. N Engl J Med. 2018;379(17):1589.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sexual harassment of women: climate, culture, and consequences in academic sciences, engineering, and medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2018. https://doi.org/10.17226/24994.
Gill P, France T. Accelerating diverse leader readiness through foresight and futures thinking. In: Schreiber D, Berge Z, editors. Managing rapid change in technology, globalization and workforce diversity: using foresight and organizational policy to ensure futures thinking. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing; 2018. p. 327–45.
Recommended Readings and Resources
Arao B, Clemens K. From safe spaces to brave spaces, Chapter 8, pp. 135–150. https://ssw.umich.edu/sites/default/files/documents/events/colc/from-safe-spaces-to-brave-spaces.pdf.
Dreachslin JL, Weech-Maldonado R, Jordan LR, Gail J, Epané JP, Wainio JA. Blueprint for sustainable change in diversity management and cultural competence: lessons from the National Center for Health care Leadership Diversity Demonstration Project, Foundation for the American College of Health care Executives. 2017.
Ernst C, Chrobot-Mason D. Flat world, hard boundaries—how to lead across them. MIT Sloan. Manag Rev. 2011;52(3):81–8.
Implicit Bias Test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html.
Landreman LM. The art of effective facilitation: reflections from social justice educators. 1st ed. Sterling/Washington, DC: Stylus Publishing, LLC/Acpa; 2013.
Lee L, Horth DM, Ernst C. Boundary spanning in action tactics for transforming today’s borders into tomorrow’s frontiers center for creative leadership white paper. 2014.
Shore LM, Cleveland JN, Sanchez D. Inclusive workplaces: a review and model. Hum Resour Manag Rev. 2018;28(2):176–89.
Soltes E. Where is your company most prone to lapses in integrity?: a simple survey to identify the danger zones. Harvard Business Review. 2019, Jul-Aug.
The Workforce Development Racial Equity Readiness Assessment. https://www.raceforward.org/practice/tools/workforce-development-racial-equity-readiness-assessment.
Yip J, Ernst C, Campbell M. Boundary spanning leadership mission critical perspectives from the executive suite. Center for Creative leadership White Paper. 2016.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Booysen, L.A.E., Gill, P. (2020). Creating a Culture of Inclusion Through Diversity and Equity. In: Viera, A.J., Kramer, R. (eds) Management and Leadership Skills for Medical Faculty and Healthcare Executives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45425-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45425-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45424-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-45425-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)