Denisse Portuhondo

Frasier

HDF 413

9 November 2021

Inclusive Leadership Assessment

Through inclusive leadership, people are able to feel a sense of belonging amongst those
around them. By being inclusive, we offer people the space to be represented and seen as equal.
To me, this is important because everyone deserves to be recognized in a group. In order to be
inclusive, it is essential to acknowledge the experiences and cultures of everyone and use
inclusive language. This helps people feel empowered, which is an essential part of the
Relational Leadership model. In the chapter about the model in Exploring Leadership it states,
“thriving on change demands the empowerment of every person in the organization.” (Peters,
1989) Everyone in the group must feel as if they have a place in order to practice inclusive
leadership.
The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity has helped me acknowledge the
stage that I see myself in, in terms of how I experience cultural differences between myself and
others. At the beginning of the semester, I saw myself in the acceptance or adaptation stage of
the model (Komives, Lucas & McMahon, 2013). Although I still have not fully immersed myself
in other cultures, I feel as though I am more comfortable learning about and integrating into the
lives and cultures of others if given the opportunity to. In HDF 413 and SOLC, we learn about
different facilitation activities in order to apply them to distinct groups and organizations.
Working with people from organizations that are not familiar to me helps me expand my
horizons and stay firm on my commitment to respect the cultural backgrounds of others. Two of
my values, kindness and love of learning, help me strengthen myself in the application of this
model (VIA). Kindness helps me make everyone feel respected and included. Love of learning
helps me educate myself and learn about others in order to fulfill that role as a leader.
SafeZone Training was very beneficial because it taught me how to address students and
handle situations relating to gender and sexuality. I will apply this knowledge to educate others
and create a safe environment when facilitating. A portion of the SafeZone training that stuck out
to me was the possible scenarios I can be confronted with and learning how to manage them
(Gender and sexuality center). When facilitating, it is important to start off with an activity that
allows people to introduce themselves and get to know those around them. This is an effective
way to work with students, because you do not want anyone to be misgendered or offended.
From the knowledge gained through this training, I anticipate conducting facilitations about
inclusivity with groups in the future. My top strength of communication along with my kindness
value will help me use appropriate and inclusive terminology when working with people (Rath
T., 2007).
 References

Gender and sexuality center. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.uri.edu/gender-sexuality/safe-

zone/.

Komives, S. R., Lucas, N. and MacMahon, T.R. (2013). Exploring leadership: For college
students who want to make a difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths finder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press.

VIA. (n.d.)., from https://www.viacharacter.org/reports.