⭐ Introduction
For International Women’s Day 2023, Elemed invited senior leaders in the medical device and IVD space from differing cultural backgrounds to discuss all about leading inclusively in a global environment.
Hosted by Elemed’s CEO Elena Kyria, the guests sharing their insights are:
Andreas Stange, Senior Vice President at TÜV SÜD
Kristine Tucker, Sr. Vice President Global Regulatory Affairs at Bausch + Lomb
Matthew Schabacker, Worldwide VP at Becton Dickinson
Meg Mucha, Director Internal Audit at Philips
Here are some of the exciting topics that were discussed by the guests, make sure to listen to the full podcast!
🤔 What does it actually mean to be an inclusive leader?
If you’re in a position where you are responsible for leading people across the globe, it’s really important to be humble and to understand that people have different points of view and and are shaped differently by their own culture. You need to embrace these differences in your team and allow them to be their true selves, and make sure everyone’s voice is heard.
Being truly empathetic to cultural differences will allow you to understand changes and issues affecting your team outside of work, and will help you be an inclusive leader that inspires people.
😊 What are the benefits of pushing an agenda of inclusivity and building diverse teams?
One benefit of encouraging an agenda of inclusivity as an organisation is that you have new viewpoints, new ways to solve problems, and new ways of approaching certain issues. Which, in a homogeneous group, you would never reach or you would never be able to see.
It can be a really eye opening experience for teams to talk about their cultural backgrounds, where they came from and how things work in their country, and it can really help you see matters in a new light. Doing so can help bring your team closer together because they can all feel that they understand each other a little better.
💡 What is a scenario where you learnt something about inclusive leadership that really marked you as a leader and changed how you lead?
An example given by Kristine is about managing a team in France. With this particular team, it was really important for them to make connections early in the morningor right after lunch. An important aspect of this was taking a quick 10 minute coffee break to chat with a colleague. Kristine made sure to leave a 15 minute window and not book any meetings in for those important bonding moments, and made sure to go for a coffee with a colleague when asked. In these discussions, they would speak about their families, activities outside of work, weekends and so forth. It didn’t matter what anyone’s job title or roles were, these opportunities allowed Kristine to connect with a lot of different people on a personal level, which really helped to build a sense of unity in the team.
In many workplaces, people can be quick to ignore opportunities to bond with colleagues, and to avoid small talk at all costs. It’s important to remember that little actions like 10 minute coffee breaks -a cultural phenomenon in France but one that can easily be transcended to other countries – can really help make a difference in team morale, cohesions, and even productivity.
🎙️ Summary
These are just some of the points that were discussed by our guest leader in Elemed’s fresh take on International Women’s Day. The key message is that leading inclusively brings about great benefits, from increasing the cohesion of teams and diversity of viewpoints to a group’s ability to solve issues.
Listen to the full podcast to hear the insightful discussion, and learn more about how you can lead inclusively in your own organisation and reap the great benefits of it!
