Workforce Equity and Inclusive Leadership

The Office of Workforce Equity and Inclusive Leadership:

• Provides development opportunities for all staff and faculty members to grow in their understanding of identity and best practices for inclusion.
• Works through campus partnerships to strengthen the work and efficacy of each division and to positively impact communities within and beyond the college.
• Through research, planning and development, works to incorporate DEI best practices throughout the college in order to promote a culture of intentional inclusion.

Through our engagement with individuals and departments, we foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where all employees feel a validated experience of belonging and actively create inclusion for others, whereby organizational policies and practices support a highly engaged, diverse workforce.

See our specific goals and action list.

At Amherst College, all people embody the potential to be an inclusive leader. Inclusive leadership describes the attitudes and behaviors that help drive meaningful and necessary change.

Inclusive leadership encompasses initiative, influence, integrity and vision; setting examples by doing, challenging oneself to grow both personally and professionally, and effectively collaborating. Not all people hold traditional leadership roles or titles, but all people can develop their inclusive leadership capabilities in order to strengthen their skills and positively impact the culture of the college.

We have learned from both empirical studies and experience that highly engaged, well-managed, diverse teams far out-perform their counterparts. At Amherst College, we firmly believe that Inclusive Leadership is a key component to each of these conditions.

People don’t change just because they’re educated and motivated; they change because the cultures that they are a part of begin to call them to new behaviors.”   ∼Howard Ross, Reinventing Diversity

Inclusive Leadership:

• Creates an inclusive culture that leverages diverse talents
• Builds trust through equity, candor, transparency
• Motivates all employees to innovate, excel, grow personally and professionally; clears the path for them to do so
• Champions the value and importance of D&I through equitable practices including hiring, development, promotion & retention
• Helps position staff as key partners in building a diverse and inclusive community
• Empowers and supports change agents
• Allows all employees to bring their best selves to their work
• Furthers the mission and values of the institution

Diversity and ability complement one another: the better the individual fruits, the better the fruit basket, and the better the other fruit, the better the apple.”   ∼Scott Page, The Differencey