Over ten weeks, the Inclusion Habits program aims to transform leadership styles and create psychologically safe team environments. Participants learn new habits via app-based ‘micro-learning’, self-directed workplace ‘experiments’, regular webinars and check-ins with our experienced ‘Inclusion Coaches’. Our DuluxGroup participants also brought an openness to learn and a willingness to reflect on their own behaviours and leadership styles.
Leadership and Personal Reflection
Neil Duggan is the Operations Manager for the Dulux Acratex division of DuluxGroup. He’s been with the company for over 15 years, starting on a short-term contract that has become a successful career.
Neil shared his thoughts about how Inclusion Habits is particularly relevant for operations-based companies post-COVID, helping them to successfully recruit and retain employees:
“The program structure encouraged a lot of reflection. Thinking about how the learnings applied to situations in the workplace led me to the realisation that our world, along with manufacturing and warehouse management, has changed – and continues to change. Today’s recruits are better educated, socially connected, ambitious and more outspoken than previous generations. Through the last five years of COVID and supply chain disruption, we’ve lost half a generation of manufacturing and warehouse employees. We have to adapt and respond to the expectations of these new people about their work/life balance, development, well-being, and diversity and inclusion. If we don’t, our industries are going to be extinct because we just won’t find the workers that we need. The program helped me be clear about that from the start.”
Andrew Holmes, the Operations Manager for Dandenong South and Wyong, is another of the senior leaders who participated in the program. He’s been with DuluxGroup for 17 years working across numerous sites, including a three-and-a-half-year stint in Papua New Guinea.
Like Neil, IHFOL prompted personal reflections from Andrew, specifically around effective communication, vulnerability and leadership.
“In our field, there’s often this expectation that we should have all the answers and always know exactly what we’re doing. I’ve worked with a lot of young engineers, and I think it’s important to be open about the fact that I don’t always have the answers. Showing that vulnerability encourages them to ask questions and continue learning. Some engineers feel like they should know everything, but I try to remind them that it’s okay to not have all the solutions right away.”
Lachlan Taylor, who’s been with DuluxGroup for seven years, also gained insight around the value of communication and interaction:
“(The program) makes you think about the detail that you can skip over. For example, interactions with one of my operators have led me to understand that they have a genuine interest in the sustainability program and want to be involved. My thought was, ‘Well, hang on, let’s provide the space to be equal with them and see how they can contribute’. So now this person is seriously looking into safety glass recycling so that rather than throwing your safety glasses into the rubbish, you would recycle them”.
Each of the Six Habits of Inclusion covered in the program focuses on a core leadership and inclusion principle and is taught in a way that encourages reflection from participants.
Learning More About Equity, Equality and Fairness
In the final Habit of the program participants explore the difference between equality and equity. Andrew shares his experience encountering this concept:
“I remember a time when myself and two other leaders who did the program were discussing equality and equity. Someone asked, ‘Does anyone actually understand what this means?’ We had a young graduate in the room, and he found an image which sparked a powerful conversation. We have a few team members with learning disabilities, so that image really drove home the point. It made us all question whether we’re truly providing an equitable and inclusive framework for everyone in the business. That moment was really powerful for me.”
The Power of Communication and Active Consideration
As DuluxGroup leaders discovered, often it’s through the seemingly small actions of prioritising communication with people that opportunities to demonstrate equity arise.
Kathryn Murphy has been with DuluxGroup for 32 years. An industrial chemist by trade, she started in laboratories and progressed into leadership. Her reflections on how the program influenced her leadership approach relate to her concept of ‘active consideration’ – where before she might have relied on intuition or instinct to determine if there was a problem or if she was including all members of her team equally, she is now actively considering those factors and demonstrating this to her team:
“I reflected on the value of spending more time walking around the labs. As a manager, it’s easy to get stuck at your desk, but it’s important to actively walk around and see what’s happening. The goal isn’t to be the manager who is hovering over people, but rather to be present and visible. I think this is really important because it allows you to spot any issues or areas that might not be running smoothly. It’s about being proactive and staying connected, rather than waiting for problems to be reported.”
Inclusion in Action
Anna Mulligan, DuluxGroup’s Operations Manager for ANZ, Powders, Industrial and Automotive Sectors, shares a wonderful example of inclusion in action and the types of outcomes that flow when a lens of inclusion is applied to a workplace:
“About a year ago, a company site experienced a flooding incident, which led to the renovation of the entire bottom floor office area. During my visit, I discovered a room upstairs. When I attempted to enter, one of the team leaders suggested we knock first, as one of our colleagues might be praying inside. I thought we could do something to make the site more inclusive of different religious beliefs. The man who had been using the room had worked with the company for over 25 years, and when asked about the room, he was reluctant to make any changes. I explained that the room was open to everyone, regardless of religion, and that it was available for anyone who needed it. He agreed, and we proceeded with the idea. We decided to label the room “Prayer Room” and officially open it. Now, the room is used by people from different parts of the company, helping to build relationships, increase belonging and improve communication.”
Experimenting with Different Approaches to Leadership
Inclusion Habits encourages active experimentation with habits as a core part of the program. Neil shares his experience with this component of the learning:
“One of the experiments that was interesting for me was talking with our female staff, particularly as I got closer to the factory floor, about their experiences and the organisation. I always felt that I was being fair and that I was championing female staff, but what surprised me was the response I got when I went and interviewed female staff on the factory floor, and said, ‘Can we just talk about your experiences? What’s it like working here? How did you feel when you first started? Have you got any suggestions for me about what we can do to make it better or easier?’ I got a lot of positive affirmations about working for the company, but ultimately, it’s opened up channels of communication. Several of these employees keep coming back, knocking on my door and asking, ‘Have you got five minutes? I’ve thought of something else…’. It’s fantastic.”
Being Supported to Grow Inclusive Behaviours
When employees step into something different and a bit uncomfortable, such as new ways of interacting, it’s important that they know that if things go a little wrong, they won’t be penalised. It’s also beneficial if they have co-workers who they can share their journey with.
Andrew shares his thoughts on doing the program as part of a group of participants from the same company:
“I think the more people that you know when you’re doing the program helps. If you do the program in isolation, I suspect you probably don’t get the value out that we got. (The program) is now an ongoing conversation. We’ve put the six habits up on the wall and we talk about them as part of our leadership meeting. We share examples of what we’ve practiced.”
Moving Forward with Inclusion
Neil sums things up perfectly, outlining the impact for businesses when inclusion is a core part of how leaders operate:
“The fundamental needs of people haven’t changed, but the way we approach them has evolved. In the past, people were less encouraged to speak up about their needs, but today’s youth are taught to voice their opinions. This shift has helped older generations feel more empowered to share their own needs, as they see younger employees leading the way. As a result, workplaces are having more open, impactful conversations across all age groups, creating a shared understanding. For businesses, this shift can be transformative.”
“After doing the program there’s a sense of positive energy around inclusion. The challenge is not to squeeze the life out of it by making it boring and codifying it, but for it to work and be sustainable. We’re now asking, ‘How do we embed it in our onboarding? How do we tweak our recruiting? How do we maximize the chances of getting the best outcome when we buddy a new female hire?’. There are multiple wins here. You can change from gender to any other kind of diversity, and it’s the same conversation. So how do we do these things better?”
NAWO’s Inclusion Habits for Operations Leaders program was developed in collaboration with Emberin and NAWO member companies. Join a mixed cohort with a team of five or talk to us about registering a fully intact team of 25 people from your organisation. Email [email protected]
