OVERVIEW
I was engaged by a large European organisation to design and deliver an inclusive leadership programme for managers and senior leaders across multiple countries and cultures. The focus was to deepen inclusive leadership from both a DEI and emotional intelligence perspective, going beyond the usual diversity categories to include oftenoverlooked experiences such as childlessness, neurodivergence and different wealth and class backgrounds. The work combined live workshops, reflective coaching and crossculture peer learning to help leaders translate broad DEI principles into everyday behaviours that build belonging, fairness and psychological safety across very different local contexts.
The challenge
The organisation was proud of its diversity but recognised that inclusion was unevenly experienced. Engagement data and listening exercises showed that people’s sense of belonging and safety varied not only by country and function, but also by life experience and identity. Leaders wanted a more consistent culture of inclusion that respected cultural nuance without defaulting to a narrow checklist of identities. The challenge was to move beyond awareness slides into honest reflection on power, privilege and bias, and to equip leaders with the emotional intelligence and practical tools to include people whose experiences might be also invisible or stigmatised.
The intervention
Partnering with the central HR and DEI teams, I designed and facilitated a programme built around two intertwined pillars: inclusive leadership and EQ in practice.
- Foundations and shared language: We started with a live in-person launch to cocreate a shared definition of inclusive leadership grounded in curiosity, empathy, equity and active allyship, and explicitly named dimensions such as neurodivergence, caregiving and childlessness, disability, race, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background.
- EQbased skills for inclusion: Using simple emotional intelligence models, we worked on selfawareness (recognising bias, privilege and emotional triggers), social awareness (reading the room across cultures and identities) and relationship management (having brave, compassionate conversations about difference). Leaders practised listening beyond assumptions and checking how policies, jokes or everyday habits might land for some colleagues.
- Crosscultural peer learning: Participants from different countries were paired and rotated into small groups to explore how inclusion is perceived locally, including taboo or less visible topics as well as some of the more visible ones. This surfaced unspoken norms and gave leaders language and confidence to talk about difference without defaulting to stereotypes.
- Practical tools and commitments: Throughout, I introduced straightforward tools for inclusive decisionmaking, running meetings that genuinely include quieter or neurodivergent voices, designing communications that don’t assume a particular life stage, and noticing where assumptions might be baked into professionalism or progression. Leaders identified specific inclusive habits to trial in their teams and shared back what shifted.
What I am doing
My role covered programme design, facilitation and small group coaching. I worked closely with regional sponsors to ensure examples reflected local realities and legal frameworks, while still holding a coherent organisational standard for inclusion. In workshops, I used real scenarios brought by participants, from performance reviews to offsite planning, as live case studies, helping leaders practise inclusive responses in the moment, including how to respond when someone discloses something sensitive to them. Between sessions, I shared short reflection prompts and experiments so leaders could test new behaviours with their teams and gather feedback.
Emerging impact and next steps
Leaders reported increased confidence in naming bias, inviting in different perspectives and creating space for topics that had previously felt ‘too sensitive’ or ‘not workappropriate’. Many described practical shifts in how they run meetings, allocate opportunities and talk about flexibility, with team members feeding back a greater sense of being seen as whole people rather than only through role or performance. Crossborder relationships also strengthened, as leaders continued to connect informally to share inclusive practices and support one another.
Following the initial rollout, the organisation is now embedding these inclusive leadership capabilities into broader talent and communications frameworks, integrating DEI and EQ principles into manager development, performance conversations and internal storytelling.
