Diversity managed well has amazing outcomes, but diversity managed badly – or not managed at all – is a recipe for disaster!
Have your leaders experienced any of the following:
- Overbearing behaviour or dominance by some team members when it comes to problem solving or bringing forward issues?
- Team members being less willing to come forward and talk to you about what’s going on?
- Microaggressions or inconsiderate behaviour in lunchrooms?
- The same people attending meeting consistently and others who stay at their desks, working hard but not engaging?
- A team environment that doesn’t let every member participate?
- Social events that aren’t inclusive of some people’s religious beliefs or personal circumstances.
- Employees forming groups huddling in tribes or excluding others?
- People who undermine processes to get better outcomes for themselves?
If so, your organisation could be struggling with a lack of inclusive systems and leadership.
Diversity without inclusion leads to disastrous outcomes for businesses
When people don’t have a strong sense of belonging at work, they experience significant levels of stress. Leaders will see this as training that doesn’t stick, mistakes being made and high levels of absenteeism.
On an organisation level, companies may be battling high staff turnover and low retention, trouble filling roles and a culture of not speaking up about workplace issues.
All of this leads to lower productivity, less innovation, recurrent safety issues and a potentially high level of complaints. Leaders in these kinds of workplaces will struggle.
Complexity for Leaders is Increasing
Added to the issues that come with poorly managed diversity, complexity for leaders has increased over the past decades. Alongside increased diversity, there are new rules and regulations governing workplace behaviour and interactions.
How do organisations manage diversity well and take the pressure off leaders?
Learn more about Inclusion Habits for Operations Leaders
The Signs of an Inclusive Workplace
A Deloitte study has shown that the behaviour of leaders, no matter their level, can drive up to 70 percentage points of difference between the number of employees who feel highly included and those who do not. Further to this, it’s been found that managers impact our mental health more than doctors (51%), therapists (41%), and just as much as our spouses (69%)! Clearly, the role leaders play is paramount to the performance of individuals and organisations.
In contrast to what you might see in an environment where diversity is not being managed well, the markers of a cohesive environment tell a very different story.
You’ll see:
- People raising concerns in a respectful way.
- Leaders communicating cross-culturally with confidence.
- Respect for one another’s different beliefs.
- Strong collaboration and positive performance markers.
However, this isn’t about luck of the draw, nor is it a case of some leaders just get it, and others don’t. Inclusion, like any other business target, requires active and concerted effort at all levels – starting with leaders.
Organisations Need to Enable Inclusive Leadership
The ability to manage people inclusively is very different to the technical expertise that progresses many operations leaders into positions of management. It’s not even about how many years of management experience leaders have – it’s about understanding what inclusive leadership is, why it’s essential in managing diverse teams well, and how to incorporate it in everyday behaviours.
However, it’s not simply a case of straight theoretical learning. Inclusion is a behaviour, and as we all know, changing behaviour is not as simple as it sounds.
The question for organisations is: Are you supporting your operational leaders to develop their inclusive leadership capability?
Learn more about NAWO's inclusive leadership program
The Only Inclusion Program Tailored for Operations Leaders
NAWO’s Inclusion Habits for Operations Leaders program ensures that front-line operational leaders make the essential connection between how inclusive their behaviour is and business outcomes.
The program is specifically designed to change behaviours, embed new habits and fit within the specific demands of operations environments.
Learning That Works with the Day-to-Day
Leaders are supported to get the most out of the program while maintaining their regular workplace routines. Our program:
- Short, daily app-based modules.
- Structured projects that encourage putting learning into practice.
- Regular opportunities to connect with others in webinars, office hours, and online spaces.
- Support and advice from an ‘Inclusion Coach’ and the NAWO team.
We know front-line leaders often aren’t sitting at a desk all day. That’s why all learning can be done on a mobile phone or tablet, and can be slotted easily in and around the normal workday. It’s designed to complement and support what managers are already doing, not just be another ‘tick and flick’ PD course.
More Than Professional Development
“You can’t leverage diversity without providing an environment where people feel safe to bring their whole selves, and the brilliance of their diversity, to the table – that’s an environment of inclusion.” – Louise Weine, NAWO CEO.
Once this is understood, inclusion becomes the only smart way of leading.
Start your Leadership Journey Today!
Want to register three or more people from the same organisation? Join our July open cohort and save $100 per person! Details below 👇
Program Overview
LEAD YOUR OPERATIONS TEAM INCLUSIVELY, EVERYDAY
Real change starts from the top and needs to be woven into the fabric of daily operations, not just reserved for events like International Women’s Day or left solely to HR.
The Inclusion Habits for Operations Leaders program is designed to drive this transformation.
This 10-week program, developed in collaboration with NAWO member organisations, taps into the power of neuroscience, which tells us that new habits develop in as few as 50 repetitions, technology and personalised coaching to:
- Learn: Complete 10-20 minutes of habit-changing, app-based ‘micro-learning’ a day.
- Experiment: Throughout the program, participants put their newfound learning into action through exploring real-life, operations-industry-based scenarios and resources that bring the concepts of inclusion and equity to life and trying out practical ‘experiments’ that boost personal growth and organisational impact.
- Discuss: Attend regular webinars and benefit from frequent check-ins with experienced ‘Inclusion Coaches’ to reinforce the app-based learning.
Are you ready to lead inclusively?
We can schedule the program for intact teams (all participants are from the same company) for whatever dates work best for you and your employees. Contact us on [email protected] to discuss. We will also be running one ‘open cohort’ for anyone to join, from 14 July to 28 September 2025.
Contact us about running an intact team for your workplace
INCLUSION HABITS FOR OPERATIONS LEADERS IS RECOMMENDED FOR MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE:
- Emerging leaders
- Front line managers
- Middle managers
- Senior leaders
- P&C Business Partners
$799 +GST per participant for NAWO members
Register for the July-September open cohort
Program Development
A program developed by Ops Leaders for Ops Leaders
What makes Inclusion Habits for Operations Leaders so impactful is that the course was developed in direct collaboration with operations leaders like you, ensuring that it speaks your language and addresses your specific needs.
This means that the corporate scenarios, imagery and language reflect real-world experiences and that you’ll find yourself in familiar territory with terminology, situations and examples drawn directly from the challenges and triumphs of your peers.
Our development partners
We’d like to thank the following organisations for supporting the pilot program and helping make the course content so powerful:
GWF
- Linfox
- Opal
- Programmed
- Orora
- Sydney Water
- dss+
Developed in collaboration with Emberin.
Capabilities
A SYLLABUS LEADING TO RESULTS
Our pilot program delivered impressive results, generating a total of 2,886 tangible benefits across the participating organisations. The impact of these was evident in various areas of business performance including enhanced customer and employee engagement, improved safety and wellbeing, increased diversity, boosted productivity, agile leadership development, optimised asset utilisation and strengthened talent pipelines.
At a personal level, participants gained insights into:
- The importance of inclusion and consequences of exclusion and a lack of diversity on individuals, teams and organisations.
- The difference between ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’, and between equality and equity.
- Different types of bias, and strategies to mitigate their own biases and effectively address bias in others.
- How to have difficult and courageous conversations about inclusion and difference in the workplace, and how to lead teams towards a more inclusive environment.
- How to make the connection between the daily practice of inclusive leadership and bottom line results.
Join us and prepare to embark on a journey of growth and empowerment with our program.
THE 6 CORE HABITS FOR INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP:
- Courageous curiosity: identify how to embrace our differences and collaborate to work better together.
- Effective communication: learn how to understand each individual and break down barriers to make every team member count.
- Vulnerability in leadership: understand how to listen, grow and experiment with new approaches beyond your comfort zone.
- Positive management of difference: how to foster trust by embracing vulnerability and encouraging others to do the same.
- Questioning and challenging the status quo: learn how to be bold, ask difficult questions and ask for more.
- Equitable fairness: how to change your leadership approach to bring out the best out of YOU – and others.
Are you ready to embark on your journey towards inclusive leadership? Learn more about the program structure and what’s in store here
What our pilot participants say
As part of an experiment we walked the factory and asked many team members what they’d change to improve their jobs. The response was outstanding, and offered up some issues that we could fix immediately. Team members can see that we care about them and are listening to their feedback.
Program participant
The program prompted me to reflect upon my perception, habits and biases. It empowered me with the knowledge that by changing my own behaviour and outlook I can be a great leader to my team.
Program participant
The program shed a light on how much more we can learn about DEI, as individuals, teams, businesses and communities by engaging with our people. As a result, I’m getting better at being OK with the discomfort of asking questions and challenging norms.
Program participant
FAQs
General FAQs
Q: What's the time investment for participants?
A: The online learning takes approximately 10-20 minutes each weekday to complete, and can be done on any mobile device over seven weeks. Participants are also invited to attend four one-hour webinars, and conduct and document five ‘experiments’. These experiments are not meant to be additional work – instead, they’re intended to be opportunities for participants to try different approaches to their existing work. In total, the maximum estimated time commitment across the 10 weeks is 15-20 hours.
The regular repetition and practice builds habit, encourages participants to apply and experiment with the habits as part of your daily to do list and helps you make the connection between the daily practice of inclusive leadership and bottom line results.
Q: How is the program delivered?
A: To make the program easily accessible to members, participants access the daily course content via EdApp, which is available both on iPhone and Android. It can also be accessed via a browser if necessary.
The app contains all the modules and content that you will be prompted to complete as a daily 10-20 minute ritual.
There are also four live webinars scheduled over the 10 weeks that are compulsory to attend.
Over the course of the 10 week program you will be asked to conduct five experiments where you actively apply the inclusion habits to your everyday work.
Your participation and progress will be tracked and you will be assigned an Inclusion Journey Coach who will touch base with you to ensure you are having a positive experience and navigating your way through the program successful.
Upon completion of all components, you will graduate and be awarded a digital certificate and badge that you can activate on your LinkedIn profile.
Q: Who is the program suitable for?
A: This program is suitable for operational line managers and leaders at all levels. It has been designed to cater specifically for those who work in dynamic manufacturing, energy and resources, supply chain, warehousing, transport and logistics, and field based and customer facing roles.
Individual contributors (those with no direct reports) will also benefit from the program, particularly if aspiring to leadership positions in future.
Q: What does it cost to participate?
A:
NAWO members: $799 plus GST + booking fees
Non NAWO members: $1,200 plus GST + booking fees
When is the program running in 2025?
We can schedule the program for intact teams (all participants are from the same company) for whatever dates work best for you and your employees. Contact us on [email protected] to discuss. We will also be running one ‘open cohort’ for anyone to join, from 14 July to 28 September 2025 – find out more here about this intake.