Leah Zoszak, Eva Zellman, Daniela Andrei, and Sharon Parker
This report provides insights on leading for an inclusive workforce. As the population ages, the plan to ensure Australia’s economic success will inevitably include strategies that harness the contribution of mature workers. With up to five generations currently in the workforce, it is important that these strategies also focus on age-diversity to promote cohesion across intergenerational work groups. Previous research suggests that leaders hold a pivotal role in influencing team productivity and wellbeing. Unfortunately, very few Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) strategies specifically address age as a factor. For example, age is rarely part of inclusive leadership training despite the fact that leaders often do not know how to achieve age-beneficial outcomes. The Ascent Leadership Program presented in this report is an innovative, evidence-based approach to improve how we lead for age-diversity. The report shows that leaders do experience challenges in leading age-diverse workforce, but that Include, Individualise, and Integrate (“3I”) meta-strategies can be used by leaders to address these challenges. When organisations employ evidence-based leadership development like the “3I” framework, they cultivate the growth of leaders who are motivated and able to build more age-inclusive workplaces.
This report will be of interest to HR, D&I, and Learning & Development professionals. Business leaders wishing to attract and engage an age-diverse workforce may also benefit from these results and adopting a proactive approach to embedding the “3I” model into organisational D&I strategies.
