Least inclusive session, ever
Absolutely won't use them for training on anything, never mind inclusivity or leadership. The trainer explicitly encouraged - enthusiastically and repeatedly - that people turn on the cameras, as this would make her feel more at ease engaging the audience. She also did the same with pushing for f2f sessions. For most training sessions, you'd expect the trainer to demonstrate respect for individual preferences by saying something along the lines of 'be in a way that you feel comfortable'. Not this one. This one says something like Ford's 100-year-old slogan for selling its car: you can get any colour you'd like, as long as it's black. That's a demonstration of domination, not inclusive leadership.
Everything was said rather than demonstrated - everyone is different, we should respect everyone's preferences, we all have different backgrounds, we all have different contexts, inclusivity isn't about talking about it but creating space for difference...blah blah blah. In her actual talk, though, nothing like this was ever reflected - her preferences were made explicitly clear and oftentimes instructional. For example, she asked everyone to 'pick up an item within the arm's reach' and use it to do a 30-second introduction. As if that wasn't exclusive enough, she then instructed everyone to nominate the next speaker to intensify the pressure to comply for both the person who did the introduction and the nominated. Hello? Inclusive leadership by putting undue pressure so that it would feel 'engaging' by the staged, demanded performances from everyone who, in theory, are 'different' and have their own preferences??!!
This is the worst type of leadership - all talk, no meaning, no reflection, no action. This is NOT 'women', so PLEASE stop going around representing women as such.
I do apologise for sounding more negative than what I typically would expect a review to be, i.e., constructively critical. But I learned from 'the best' to use explicit expression of personal preference and judgment to dominate the affective and collective space for different voices to demonstrate 'inclusive leadership'. I learned well, you see.



