This infographic was created by CoachDiversity Institute, certified diversity professionals
Diversity and inclusion mean more than just policies and programs for your organization. To reap the greatest benefits, you have to create a corporate culture that both incorporates, and listens to the perspectives of many different kinds of individuals. Not only is this kind of culture good for your employees, but it is also good for your business.
Why Is Seeking Diversity Worthwhile?
You probably already realize that gathering diverse viewpoints and perspectives is key to innovation and creativity. If everyone operated exactly the same way, how could anyone be challenged to think in new ways or try fresh possibilities? In the office environment, diversity allows for a greater range of skills and talent, as well as a larger scope of problem-solving and worldviews. Diversity is far more than an abstract benefit, too.
Consider some statistics, reported in the infographic below, that demonstrate its concrete value:
Diversity influences who will work for you. The majority of modern job candidates want to work in cultures that value diversity and inclusion. In fact, 64% say it plays a major factor in which job to accept.
Diversity impacts your bottom line. Research shows that companies with higher cultural and ethnic diversity are 36% more likely than those with the least diversity to have above-average profits. Likewise, those with the highest gender diversity are 25% more likely to have high profits than the companies with the least gender diversity.
Diversity plays into employee satisfaction. Close to 60% of employees want their companies to be more diverse.
Diversity leads to better strategy. When it comes to decision-making, diversity pays off. Teams of diverse individuals have been shown to make better decisions 87% of the time, compared to individual decision-makers on their own.
Diverse fuels innovation. It only makes sense that more people yield more ideas. Research bears this out: More diverse companies are almost two times more innovative than their competitors.
Challenges to Diversity in Business
Given that diversity offers so many benefits to both you and your staff, it makes sense to seek it out—but how? For many brands, actually achieving diversity proves to be much tougher than desiring it. You may know diversity is valuable, but how do you assemble a more diverse team? Why is it so challenging?
One issue is inconsistency between goals and practice. Maybe you want diversity and set policies for diversity but then the reality of day-to-day business chokes out those ideals. Simply aiming at an ambiguous sense of diversity will not work. What can help is getting super specific in your goals. Rather than trying to be “more inclusive,” for example, you can outline tangible action steps to take.
Likewise, a surefire way to fail is to copy what another corporation does, hoping for identical results. Each business has its own unique social and corporate makeup; failing to take yours into account can derail an initiative that was actually designed for another place. Rather than trying to copy what another corporation does, you can brainstorm with your team to create strategies specific to your culture and demands.
Fostering Diversity in Your Company
The beauty of a diverse, inclusive workplace is how it makes everyone, regardless of gender, race, nationality, sexual orientation, age, etc., feel seen and significant; this empowers all team members to put forth their best efforts and fullest contributions. The company reaps the benefits, even while the employees enjoy and take more pride in their jobs.
To learn more about how to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion in your business, take a look at the attached resource. It highlights some of the statistics about the importance of diversity, as well as provides a list of tips for talking about it in your company. Use it to learn how to get your whole team on the same page about promoting understanding and empathy business wide.
Author bio: Dr. Towanna Burrous is President of CoachDiversity Institute and a best-selling author, trainer and ICF Professional Certified Coach based in Washington, D.C. As a highly sought-after executive coach, Burrous’ mission is to empower diverse communities through executive coaching.