Abstract
Executives in contemporary organisations face several issues, including developing a sustainable workforce, retaining suitable competent workers, and maintaining strong employee morale. There is a need to build a culture that boosts overall staff productivity and recognises and values everyone's unique abilities. Leadership plays a vital role in creating an inclusive environment where the diverse workforce feels a sense of belonging due to the meaningful relationships that employees form. Being part of an inclusive work environment improves employees' productivity and well-being, motivating them to work even harder and innovatively. The study explored the influence of inclusive leadership in fostering inclusivity and belonging in the workplace. It utilised a qualitative phenomenological approach where nine participants were purposefully sampled to participate in virtual focus group interviews. Three focus group interviews of three participants per group were formed. These focus groups were conducted via the Microsoft Teams platform. The study's findings showed that inclusive leadership must foster belonging and inclusivity, and there are visible disparities in how academic and support staff are treated, which undermines inclusivity in the institution under study. The findings also show traces of fear and intimidation among the institution's support and young employees. The contribution of certain university community groups is excluded from the institution's decision-making processes. The two main recommendations are that the institutional leadership be inclusive and create a sense of mission for employees to think and feel that they are part of the organisation as per the mission and vision of the organisation so that they can operate optimally. Secondly, the institution’s leadership should create an awareness campaign on how support staff contributes to achieving the university’s strategic objectives.