The Role of Leadership in Creating an Inclusive GCC Culture

As an organization, you must make sure every employee feels included and valued. A US report by JUST Capital revealed that most employers (94%) and workers (74%) say their company makes sure to put in the right amount of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE &I) efforts. While diversity and inclusion have always been important for organizations, very few realize that inclusive leadership is the most important aspect to ensure an inclusive culture. In this article, we’ll be seeing more about what role an inclusive leader plays in fostering a good GCC culture and how it makes a difference to the organization.

Why Inclusive Leadership Matters for Today’s GCCs?

Inclusive Leadership matters in today’s GCC setups, as they are centers that operate from multiple locations and have to manage employees of diverse backgrounds and cultures. Leaders who understand that allowing all employees to share their opinions and ideas succeed at not just fostering an inclusive culture but also enabling higher organizational productivity.

1. Innovation and solving problems easily

A leader who understands the importance of inclusivity allows employees to speak up and share their views and opinions. And employees from diverse backgrounds and experiences have always been known to be more creative and innovative. This is what the GCC gains as well.

2. Better employee engagement and retention

Only when employees feel respected and included in the organization, they feel motivated to stay and perform better as well. Employees feel included only under a good leader who treats everyone fairly and provides everyone a chance to voice their opinion.

3. Higher cross-cultural collaboration

Inclusive leadership skills make sure that GCCs can manage and engage teams of diverse cultures effectively, reducing conflicts and building trust. This can result in better operations and help employees align their goals better.

Builds the reputation of the organization and manages compliance

When a GCC shows that it fosters inclusive practices, its brand looks very desirable to potential employees. Their commitment to having DEI standards and keeping up compliance makes them the employer of choice.

What are the Key Behaviours That Define Inclusive Leaders in GCCs?

There are some key behaviours that tell if a leader fosters a culture of inclusivity or not.

1. Commitment

A leader who is looking to make sure inclusivity is a priority shows a ton of commitment. And this requires a lot of time and energy. A good leader is fully committed to making sure that employees feel valued and feel a sense of belonging in the workplace.

2. Courage

A leader who prioritizes inclusivity shows two signs of courage: one is to make sure they challenge outdated opinions of not making diversity and inclusion their culture, and the second is to understand where they are falling short as a leader. And rebelling against age-old traditional approaches, especially as a leader, isn’t as easy.

3. Cognizance of bias

GCCs, due to their nature of setup, have a lot of individuals coming from diverse backgrounds and experiences, so leaders in GCC mustn’t form biased opinions on anyone. An inclusive leader, even as they become biased, reflects on how it affects those around them. They make sure to establish policies that ensure inclusivity.

4. Curiosity

Curiosity instils hunger to learn. This passion for learning is beneficial for those in leadership positions. Inclusive leaders use their curiosity to encourage employees by actively listening and asking respectful questions. Most importantly, they don’t judge.

5. Cultural Awareness

India a culturally extremely diverse. So naturally, there are employees in a workplace from different backgrounds. A leader is one who is culturally aware and accommodates cultural intelligence in a workplace.

6. Collaboration

The key to building a good team lies in how well they communicate and collaborate with each other. Making sure team members collaborate is the responsibility of a leader. And a leader who understands this makes sure they lead by example.

How Leaders Can Embed Inclusion into Daily Operations in GCCs?

1. Model inclusive behaviour every day.

Start meetings with inclusive check-ins. Listen to the opinions coming from diverse backgrounds of employees and communicate in a way that is culturally appropriate. Leaders must promote talent that has been backward or underrepresented and stop biases while making hiring decisions.

2. Integration into core processes

Inclusion metrics must be integrated into performance evaluations, project operations, and decision-making tools. Use cultural assessments and reverse monitoring to make sure GCC operations match parent organization goals and objectives.

3. Train and build accountability.

One of the very important things is training leaders on how to lead culturally diverse teams while making sure they all feel valued. It’s essential to make sure unconscious bias doesn’t creep in while making important decisions. This could be during hiring or providing opportunities to employees.

4. Encourage collaboration and help them feel a sense of belonging

Promote borderless tools for asynchronous work, joint projects, and ERGs to encourage interaction. Create psychologically safe spaces for experimentation and celebrate diverse contributions publicly.

5. Measure and Iterate

Track DEI KPIs like engagement scores, retention rates, and representation in promotions. Review data quarterly to refine practices and ensure inclusion drives innovation in GCC operations.

What is the Leadership’s Role in Removing Barriers & Biases in GCC Workplaces?

Barriers and biases exist. The sooner we realise this, more easier it will be for leaders to avoid the same.

1. Understand and acknowledge bias

Most of the time, leaders don’t mean to be biased, but it somehow happens. This is where they must be aware and spot which interaction led to it. Think of why you prefer certain team members. Is it solely because of their skills and experience, or is it because they share some kind of similarities with you? Be accountable and reflect on bias by clearly stating what you expect out of your current employees as well as new hires.

2. Communicate and converse with your employees

Talk to your employees. Half your problems are solved when you talk to your employees and not in a way where you are just their boss. Talk to them as a peer, encourage them to talk to their managers without fearing what response they may get. Making them comfortable to share their needs, issues, and ideas can truly help. To make sure these conversations are inclusive, have a group of individuals who are from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

3. Keep the conversation culture alive and modify when needed

As their leader, you must make sure that your team and you are both accountable for making a positive change in the workplace environment. Once you start to implement conversations that are transparent, clean, and follow trends in the ongoing engagement surveys, you’ll have data coming in throughout the year. On the whole, do employees feel included or isolated? Do they feel like an insider or an outsider? Are they feeling like they are acknowledged? Use these insights as a base for conversations you have with them.

How Can We Build Leadership Capability Through Training & Enablement?

1. Assess needs and design platforms

You must conduct a thorough feedback, analyse skill gaps, and ensure they match your GCC’s operational goals. VR simulations, soft skills training materials, and modules on emotional intelligence and decision-making can help.

2. Offer blended training experiences

Having hackathons, peer mentorship, rotational assignments, and immersive workshops is useful. Incorporate digital platforms for upskilling in virtual team leadership and stakeholder management.

3. Facilitate on-the-job application

Give leaders real-world scenarios, stretch projects that are linked with outcomes of the business. Provide them with coaching and sponsorship to enhance their interest in learning and help them feel secure.

4. Measure and maintain development

Track key KPIs like promotion rates, ROI, and engagement scores through dashboards. Instill constant learning cultures with succession planning to build solid pipelines.

How to Measure the Impact of Inclusive Leadership in GCCs?

1. Employee experience metrics

Keep in check the engagement scores, psychological safety surveys through pulse checks, and feedback from employees. See how the retention rates are, especially in the underrepresented groups. This can reveal a lot about how inclusive the practices have been.

2. Leadership Behaviour Assessments

Incorporate tools like Inclusive leadership assessments or 360 reviews to rank or score some key traits of leaders, such as curiosity, humility, and being unbiased. Benchmark against GCC-specific cultural intelligence metrics for teams that are working in different locations or time zones.

3. Diversity and equity indicators

Measure representation in large impact projects, promotions, and leadership pipelines simultaneously, along with pay equity audits and participation rates of ERGs. Track idea diversity in innovation to link inclusion to creative output.

4. Business performance outcomes

See how they are doing in terms of inclusion by tracking KPIs like productivity of teams, how fast conflicts have been resolved, and revenue from projects that have diverse teams. Make use of dashboards for quarterly reviews to show ROI in GCC operations.

How can Alp Consulting help GCCs build an Inclusive Leadership Pipeline?

Alp Consulting can help GCCs build an inclusive leadership pipeline by focusing on building and nurturing a high-performing, future-ready workforce and strong leadership bench within Global Capability Centers. We help align talent capabilities with evolving business demands and innovation objectives. By implementing tailored programs that combine recruitment excellence, leadership mentoring, career pathing, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and performance management frameworks, these services help GCCs transform from operational hubs into centers of innovation and growth.

FAQs- Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can GCCs prepare new managers to lead inclusively from day one?

GCCs can prepare new managers to lead from day one by providing thoughtful, structured development as soon as they are appointed. Ensure they are equipped to succeed.

2. What role do global HQs play in shaping inclusive GCC leadership?

Global Headquarters (HQs) play a pivotal role in shaping inclusive GCC leadership by setting the overarching strategy, providing the necessary mandate and resources, and fostering cultural alignment across the organization.

3. How can leaders handle resistance to DEI initiatives within GCC teams?

Leaders must be smart and show that DEI is mandatory for making sure employees feel safe in their workplace. They can use data and storytelling to make their case stronger.

4. What tools can help leaders track inclusion progress at team levels?

Project management tools like ClickUp or Trello are perfect for this. They allow you to set clear goals, outline tasks, and track progress in a way that’s transparent to the entire team.

5. How can GCCs ensure inclusion efforts remain consistent during rapid scaling?

A systemic, data-driven approach with strong leadership accountability and cultural integration strategies can ensure inclusion efforts are also present during rapid scaling.

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Kishore V N

Managing Director

Kishore V N is the Managing Director at ALP Consulting, bringing over 29 years of extensive experience in global recruitment, talent strategy, and workforce solutions. He has been instrumental in building scalable RPO, MSP, and modular talent sourcing models that empower organizations with a competitive edge in talent acquisition. Kishore’s leadership focuses on expanding ALP’s global presence, driving innovation in recruitment technology, and enhancing operational excellence. He also serves as Director at Datacore Technologies, steering digital HR transformation through advanced HRMS and virtual staffing solutions.