Inclusive leadership: turning diverse perspectives into innovation and impact

Solar and storage are advancing rapidly. But are the ways we lead people evolving at the same pace? That question brought industry leaders together for WiSEu and Solar+ panels at Solar & Storage Live UK.

The discussion around inclusion moved beyond whether people feel welcome. It examined whether they can influence decisions, contribute ideas and take ownership of solutions. For a sector that needs to attract talent, innovate and grow responsibly, inclusive leadership is a practical capability.

Belonging creates the conditions for contribution

“Belonging on its own just gets you a room where everyone feels welcome. It doesn’t get you the breakthrough,” said Liam Tattershall, Group CEO at Solarport. What moves a team from comfort to innovation, he argued, is whether people feel able to challenge each other and build on each other’s ideas.

At Solarport, cross-departmental “sandpit sessions” put real problems in front of people from every part of the business. Some of the company’s best breakthroughs have come from people who sit nowhere near the innovation team. Its suggestion scheme follows the same principle: every idea receives feedback, and the ideas taken forward are championed by the people who proposed them.

Tattershall also made the case for widening access to the industry. A sector growing this quickly cannot keep recruiting from the same small pool. It needs career changers, people entering through less conventional routes and people who have not previously seen someone like them in a leadership role.

Hollie Carek, General Manager UK and Head of Partner Experience at OpenSolar, questioned whether established ways of working are keeping pace with technological change. Top-down decisions, layers of approval and measuring people by hours rather than outcomes can all limit their ability to contribute. “We work in an industry that’s constantly pushing boundaries on technology, but I’m not sure we always challenge ourselves in the same way when it comes to how we lead people,” she said.

For Carek, empowerment means giving people room to act as well as permission to challenge. It also depends on everyday habits: inviting quieter voices into the discussion, rotating who leads meetings, asking “what are we missing?” and recognising the person behind an idea.

Make room for expertise at every level

Liz Cammack, Non-Executive Director at Solar Energy UK, cautioned against treating seniority as a measure of expertise, particularly as solar increasingly intersects with other sectors. “The role of an experienced leader should not always be to provide the answer,” she said. “Sometimes it is to ask the right questions, bring together the right people and create the conditions in which a better answer can emerge.”

Ruth Nash, Senior HR Business Partner and DEI Lead at NextEnergy Group, urged leaders to examine the quick assumptions that can prevent talent and ideas from being heard. She described how NextEnergy Group puts inclusion into practice through NEXTogether. The programme brings together belonging groups for women, neurodivergent colleagues and LGBTQ+ colleagues, while giving employees at every level a voice in shaping priorities. Senior leaders opened its first education sessions by sharing why each topic mattered to them personally.

“The biggest differentiator is authentic leadership sponsorship,” Nash said. “The organisations that succeed combine visible leadership commitment with genuine employee ownership. That’s when DEI becomes part of the culture rather than just a programme.”

That commitment is tested when projects face pressure. Tattershall warned that speed and cost can become reasons to set inclusive practices aside. When that happens repeatedly, people lose opportunities to contribute and develop as leaders. The effect reaches beyond a single project: the sector weakens the leadership pipeline it will need for future growth.

“Inclusive leadership is what turns diverse talent into collective intelligence,” said Carmen Madrid, founder of Women in Solar+ Europe and Solar+ Leaders, closing the panel. “When people can challenge decisions, contribute their expertise and see their ideas taken seriously, we create stronger teams and better solutions for the energy transition.”

From team decisions to wider impact

The Solar+ Leaders panel the previous day took the conversation beyond the organisation, asking how leadership decisions shape the experiences of customers, communities and partners. It returned to a theme from the WiSEu discussion: better outcomes depend on whose perspectives are heard and how much influence those people have.

That responsibility cannot rest with a few individual champions. Stephen Rosser, Investment Director and UK Legal Counsel at NextEnergy Capital, described leadership as creating the conditions for change across organisations and the wider sector. “Our job as leaders is to create the environments, within and outside our organisations, where the change we’re driving becomes an inevitability,” he said.

For communities, having influence starts with being involved in how projects are developed. “The energy transition will be judged less by the gigawatts we build than by whether people believe it was done with them, rather than to them,” said Alessandra De Zottis, Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Sonnedix.

Public trust also depends on how the sector communicates as solar becomes a larger part of the power mix. Molly Morgan, Senior Market Analyst at SolarPower Europe, noted that solar has long enjoyed broad public support, but its growing visibility also makes it a greater target for misinformation and disinformation. Clearly explaining its benefits for the climate, energy costs and energy independence is part of the leadership task.

“Our sector has the difficult task of helping Europe out of this crisis, standing out as a solution for governments, businesses and citizens, while ensuring strong support from the general public,” she said.

Gemma Buckley, General Counsel and Chief Corporate Officer at Solarport, brought a supplier’s perspective. She leads the company’s Legal, People and ESG teams and recently helped guide Solarport to become the first solar mounting systems and carport specialist to achieve B Corp certification.

For Buckley, the process demonstrated what it takes to turn stated values into decisions and accountability. It requires attention to the whole supply chain and the local economy, as well as honest questions about the gap between the industry’s sustainability commitments and the factors that drive purchasing decisions. “Leadership only counts when it becomes what you actually do, not what you say,” she said.

Leadership that gives others influence

Across the two panels, a common principle emerged: people need more than an invitation to participate. They need the opportunity to influence what happens next.

That applies to a team member whose idea challenges an established approach, and to a community whose experience should shape how a project is delivered. The energy transition will need technology and investment. Its long-term success will also depend on leaders who make space for expertise, share ownership and act on what they hear.

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