Inclusive leadership in the health professions and health professions education

Abstract

What is inclusion and inclusive leadership?In this article, based on the literature and my own experiences, I try to shed light on the concepts of inclusion and inclusive leadership, as well as what leaders need to do in order to be inclusive. Inclusion means the act of including or being included in a group, which creates a sense of belonging as well as empowers individuals to contribute in an authentic and meaningful manner. Inclusive leadership is important in the health professions and health professions education so that health professionals and faculty in health professions education are able to contribute to their work in ways that they find meaningful.What do leaders need to do to be inclusive?To be inclusive leaders need to to do the following: truly believe in inclusion, define the boundaries of acceptable behaviours, make difficult diversity conversations possible, build authentic diverse relationships, develop shared leadership, drive and role model inclusive practices in the organisation, and find the right balance between individual and institutional EDI initiatives. Driving inclusion in a health professions (education) organisation demands changes in the concept of leadership, as well as the organisational policy and culture.

When I say inclusion

“…E. Casey Foundation ) Inclusion refers to being included in a group which creates a sense of belonging as well as empowers individuals to contribute in an authentic and meaningful manner. ( Kusurkar, 2024 ) Thus, inclusion has two components: a sense of belonging and the empowerment to contribute meaningfully. ( Kusurkar, 2024 ) To understand why it is important that inclusion has these two components, we need to consider the inclusion framework proposed by Shore et al , for work groups.…”

“…( Kusurkar, 2024 ) Thus, inclusion has two components: a sense of belonging and the empowerment to contribute meaningfully. ( Kusurkar, 2024 ) To understand why it is important that inclusion has these two components, we need to consider the inclusion framework proposed by Shore et al , for work groups. ( Shore et al , 2011 ) In this framework, the authors make a 2 X 2 table of belongingness and uniqueness.…”