Success
A lesson in Obama’s rise to the top: power of inclusiveness
January 19th 2009

"Mr. Obama’s success can be best explained by an emphasis on inclusiveness in all aspects of his campaign." This is the lesson that authors Dietz and Compeau want their readers to take away. With years of experience leading team building adventures - Langford and Company  couldn’t agree more.

The power of inclusiveness allows every team member to feel apart of the whole. It gives all pariticipants a stake in the outcome. Hearing out people’s ideas and embracing all "customer" (internal and external) opinions doesn’t mean the requirement is to do as they say.  Too many business cultures fall into this trap and miss a golden opportunity. To be fair, they fear that the act of an open suggestion box culture is affording too much control to the customer or team member and that the inability to satisfy such a member would be worse. Let’s not open the flood gets, let’s not start something we can’t control.  The culture of such a team becomes known as dictatorial, top down, unfriendly. Team members feel devalued and  under appreciated and the parking lot banter begins to erode confidence in the business or team.

 A skilled and authentic leader, in allowing for inclusiveness, can recognize elements of ideas that are aligned with overall business strategies and thus be appreciative of what lends strength to the overall intended direction. Equally important new ideas proliferate far more readily in inclusive cutlures. Finally "the more people contribute to the service they receive - the more loyal they are as customers". Companies that embrace this power of inclusiveness are best poised in a world that operates in increasingly diverse environments. The "we" in yes we can - rings loudest!

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