Inclusion Lives in the Tension: Lessons From a Year of Tough Calls

Diversity Isn’t Inclusion. High Performance Lives in the Tension.

As this year draws to a close, I amreflecting on one of the most profound lessons I’ve helped others learn - in the last twelve months: diversity does not equal inclusion. The power of diversity, the magic of it, lies not in assembling differences, but in learning to harness them. And that doesn’t happen without conflict.

Yes, conflict.

The word itself often sends shivers down leaders’ spines. It evokes images of tension, emotions, raised voices, and broken relationships. But here’s the truth: the energy that makes diversity so powerful is the very energy that creates conflict. And ignoring or marginalising that conflict doesn’t make it go away; it simply makes organisations weaker.

This year, I leaned even more into that tension - and I invited my clients to do the same.

Leaning Into the Tough Conversations

2024 was a year of tough conversations. Across all levels - 360 degrees within my own work and within my clients’ organisations - I found myself facilitating and inviting dialogue that people often shy away from. These weren’t your garden-variety disagreements. These were raw, uncomfortable, deeply human moments. Moments where vulnerability met resistance. Moments where hidden biases surfaced, power dynamics clashed, and assumptions were tested.

They were hard. But they were necessary.

I’ve spent much of this year equipping organisations to navigate this tension constructively - fostering conversations not with the goal of avoiding discomfort, but with the goal of growing through it. Leaders learned to address difficult truths, teams learned to disagree with respect, and entire organisations started to see the value in facing challenges with heart and purpose.

Conflict: The Forge of High Performance

Here’s what I’ve come to believe:

...the very ingredients that make diversity powerful are forged in the heat of conflict. It’s in the disagreement of perspectives that new ideas emerge. It’s in challenging each other that innovation takes root. It’s in the tension between “your way” and “my way” that we discover our way.

But this doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentionality. It requires building cultures where conflict isn’t avoided or silenced, but welcomed, understood, and used as a tool for growth. It requires leaders who don’t shy away from tough calls, but lean into them with courage and empathy. Leaders who can look a room full of tension in the eye and say,

“This discomfort is where we grow.”

With Heart and In Service

The work I’ve done this year has been some of the most challenging of my career. But it’s also been the most rewarding. I’ve witnessed organisations transform by learning to have tough conversations in service of their people and their purpose. I’ve seen teams move from avoidance to alignment, from fragmentation to cohesion.

And as I leave this year, I do so stronger than I entered it. My clients are stronger too. Not because we avoided the hard stuff, but because we embraced it. Together, we leaned into the heart of the matter - literally and figuratively - and came out the other side with a deeper understanding of what inclusion truly means.

Inclusion Is the Work

Inclusion is the heat. It’s the process. It’s the work of turning raw potential into something extraordinary.

Diversity without inclusion is like assembling the ingredients for a gourmet meal but never cooking it.

As leaders, our task is not to smooth over the differences in our teams, but to constructvely amplify them in a way that serves the greater good. And that requires training our team on how to do conflict in a healthy way - in a way that does not damage relationships - to navigate conflict not with fear, but with curiosity, courage, and care.

If this year has taught me anything, it’s that the work of inclusion isn’t easy. It’s messy, it’s emotional, and it’s deeply human. But it’s also THE path to true high performance.

As you step into the new year, I challenge you to ask yourself:

1. Where are you avoiding necessary conflict?
2. Where are you smoothing over tension instead of leaning into it?
3. And what would be possible if you chose to embrace it instead?

High performance is waiting on the other side.

Let’s step into it - together in 2025!