What is The New IQ?

While “inclusion” has long been a buzzword in professional development courses and training programs across the nation, its meaning remains unclear to countless leaders and employees. Contrary to what the word suggests, inclusion is not about including everything and everyone, nor is it about changing an organization’s mission or values. When a work environment is highly inclusive, the talents and skills of all team members are appreciated, utilized, and recognized — no matter what their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or background may be. Everyone feels equally involved, and they are supported in every area of the workplace.  

Unfortunately, with an increasingly challenging and diverse workforce, it is often a struggle to make every team member feel valued while also acknowledging their differences. This is especially true for larger organizations where executives and managers have fewer opportunities to get to know and interact with their subordinates. Employees are consequently left feeling unseen, unappreciated, and devoid of a true sense of belonging, which can ultimately lead to a decline in both job satisfaction and productivity. To realize every person’s full potential, we must first understand how to properly measure and improve an inherently intangible aspect of group interactions — inclusive intelligence.  

Inclusive intelligence refers to a person’s ability to incorporate others into his or her group through deliberate and proactive acts. This process takes place within the workplace when an employer brings in a new employee or when a department head welcomes another team member. However, the objective is to go beyond a simple introduction by making sure everyone feels that they belong and are valued — not just at the initiation stage but for the entirety of their careers. In an article by ThoughtExchange, communications advisor Jackie Tucker Gangnes explains that inclusive intelligence exists “when team members eschew self-interest, move beyond the individualized concept of emotional intelligence, and take up a think-together operating mode that embraces the collective good.” By increasing our work group intelligence, we not only create a sense of unity across all aspects of team dynamics, but we also help to optimize everyone’s job satisfaction and performance levels.  

While measuring and increasing work group intelligence may seem daunting, none of us are expected to go about the process alone. Several years ago, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) made it a top priority to build a more diverse and engaged workforce. To assist in their efforts, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13583 in 2011. This order tasked OPM’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) with creating a coordinated government-wide initiative that would promote diversity and inclusion in all Federal agencies (and other participating organizations) with strategies and best practices for making their workplaces diverse and inclusive.  

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inclusive Diversity Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2019 expounds upon the purpose of Executive Order 13583. The document explains that Obama’s order “directed executive departments and agencies to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of their human resources strategies, including a continuing effort to identify and adopt best practices to promote diversity and inclusion.” Since that time, leaders throughout the country — in both the government and private sectors — have continued to create and foster a workforce that will not only reflect all segments of society but that will also lead to higher job satisfaction and economic growth. 

According to OPM, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) began the initiative long before Executive Order 13583 was issued. In 2002, they produced an organizational climate survey to assess how employees jointly experienced the policies, practices, and procedures characteristic of their agency and its leadership. Although it was first administered as the Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS), the document was renamed the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) in 2010 when it was revised to focus on  more actionable items.  

Since that time, the survey has grown to consist of approximately 100 questions. The FEVS is completely voluntary and is taken by employees of government agencies as well as by members of organizations within the private sector. OPM sends out invitations via email each year, and participants submit their responses electronically. 

To further the initiative, a subset of twenty questions/behavioral statements were added to the FEVS in 2014 when ODI devised the New Inclusion Quotient (New IQ). Dr. Bruce J. Stewart, former deputy director of strategic initiatives, training, and compliance at ODI, notes that all the behavioral statements included within the New IQ were “identified through a rigorous factor analysis trial of OPM’s Employee Viewpoint Survey (EVS).” The statements were subsequently divided into five habits or behaviors that create an inclusive environment: fair, open, cooperative, supportive, and empowering. The purpose of the New IQ is to help measure how inclusive an organization is perceived to be by its members. 

Participants use a five-point Likert scale — never, rarely, sometimes, often, or always — to evaluate how they come across to other people in the workplace. Recent versions of the New IQ included the following behavioral statements:   

• Others would say I do not tolerate arbitrary actions, personal favoritism, and coercion for political purposes.  

• Others would say I do not tolerate prohibited personnel practices. 

• Others would say I take steps to deal with poor performers who cannot or will not improve.  

• Others would say I recognize differences in performance in a meaningful way.  

• Others would say I give out awards based on how well employees perform their jobs.  

• Others would say I reward creativity and innovation. 

• Others would say I actively support policies and programs that promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  

• Others would say I am committed to a workforce representative of all segments of society. 

• Others would say I work well with employees from different backgrounds.  

• Others would say I actively promote communication among different work units.  

• Others would say I actively support collaboration across work units to accomplish my work objectives.  

• Others would say I support the needs of others to balance work and other life issues. 

• Others would say I provide my subordinates with constructive suggestions to improve their job performance.  

• Others would say I make time to listen to what they have to say.  

• Others would say that I treat them with respect.  

• In the last six months, others would say I have talked with them about their performance.  

• Others who depend on me would say they have enough information to do their job well.  

• Others would say I encourage them to come up with new and better ways of doing things.  

• Others would say their talents are used well within the workplace.  

• Others have a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to work processes.  

Results from the survey are used to assist leaders in quantifying their progress in diversity leadership and management. Executive coach and management training consultant James A. White Sr. explains that organizations are encouraged to “leverage the New IQ survey as an organizational tool to help improve performance, innovation, work relationships, employee safety, morale, and job satisfaction.” However, White warns that inclusion-conscious workplaces do not manifest on their own. They are “cultivated through organizational alignment and intention.” In other words, leaders must take deliberate and intentional actions to create unity between their organization’s vision of inclusion and the strategies they use to achieve the desired results. 

If you or someone in your organization would like to learn more about inclusion, the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, and The New Inclusion Quotient, consider enrolling in our highly interactive, two-day course The New IQ.  At JH Miles and Associates, our expert instructors guide participants in understanding the foundations of the New IQ, how the inclusivity of the work environment is measured, and how five positive habits can encourage and increase inclusive behaviors. Visit our website at www.jhmilesandassociates.com.