Diversity is an ingredient that makes a world of difference. The workforce at Safeway is the most diversified one, says Steve Burd, the former Chairperson, and CEO of Safeway. Additionally, he stated that diversity boosted the organizational culture. While leading a team of people from all religions, races, countries, and ethnic backgrounds, the firm has noticed a flow of innovation. During an interview, Burd elaborated on how skills and abilities enter through diversified working individuals. His association with Safeway for more than 11 years has made him an ardent follower of diversity. At present, he is a member of the republican party and BOD of Kohls. He follows and values this practice throughout his life.
Today, normalizing heterogeneity is the new talk. Every firm at present supports diversified working individuals. The idea has many miracles and advantages, which I will deeply talk about going forward. However, what did the world look like when diversity did not exist? Here, we favor egalitarianism while discussing some past experiences in an organization. Even a decade ago, the hiring in companies used to be very different. Back then, people with different backgrounds were not allowed to work in foreign countries. Often, racism and nationality played a part in the rejection. Those companies who remain unequal during the hiring process gained a high attrition rate. This rate increase was due to employees getting harassed and abused in the workplace. My aim is not to go deep into racism but to oppose it strictly. The most common issue has been where an employee suffered discrimination based on caste and religion. Well, negative criticism never works. Many companies became toxic with inequality and constantly judgmental heads.
With time many leaders stepped up. There are entrepreneurs and business owners who say no to racism and aim at injecting equality into the company’s DNA. Recently, a former employee of Tesla faced discrimination against him being of a different skin color. As an apology, Tesla has shown condemnation towards this behavior by compensating 137 million dollars to him. Such strict actions set an example for other workplaces to follow.
The time has changed. Who would have thought a firm in the US would provide millions of dollars to an NGO in South Africa? Entrepreneurs are finding ways to promote innovation and a healthy culture in their organizations. They are changing policies that have unnecessary cultural and social norms. Also, many business owners have changed their management style to promote this practice. In this era, diversity is now more than gender, religion, or nationality. It now includes the need for normalizing the presence of different views and opinions. These could be political views, education, sexuality, socio-economic backgrounds, and even disabilities.
Diversity and Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs are transforming their organizations by being open to change. Many of them have understood the importance of a diversified workforce both culturally and financially. Enterprises and their management operating in foreign countries are taking a step ahead in maintaining better synchronization among the entire team. It promotes motivation and trust among employees. They tend to work better and achieve better. A great deal of appreciation should go to millennials and Gen Z entrepreneurs who broke the barriers every day and accepted the change. In a report by the We forum, 75% of the global workforce will consist of millennials and young workers. Essentially, they will be responsible for most of the leadership and democratic decision-making. A new style and fresh ideas are certain to come into play at this point. In contrast to the older generation, who have caged their thinking when it comes to diversity. They view diversity through the lens of race, age, and gender, while the Gen Z view diversity as different opinions and perspectives.
By far, it is evident that the flow of diversity has started in the startup and its ecosystem. There is a need to discuss its effects. Diversity in the workplace has been controversial as it is not easy to implement and follow. Organizations have taken their own time and made this a common practice. To understand the need for this practice better, we observed and followed some of its fans. These entrepreneurs, business tycoons, and speakers are well-wishers of entrepreneurship who have noticed visible profits because of a diversified cultured system.
How Does Diversity Create a Balanced Team?
A balanced team is necessary for every entrepreneur to achieve targets. Aubrey Blanche, Director of Culture Amp, has worked with states and countries and understands the impact of a balanced cultural flow. She has emphasized the point that a team can lead to desired targets. Blanke spoke about the need for a team with a balance of ideas, race, gender, and education. She gave an example by stating that diversity for gender will never mean to do women-centric hiring. Diversity is more than 80% of women in an organization.
Hiring should happen by examining technical and mental skills rather than only being confined to a framework of equality. Through this, it becomes easy for leaders as they get many perspectives and ideas. A team is balanced based on two factors. One is the technical aspect of the job, and the second is the diversity. Aubrey has a history of standing up for apt hiring. She explained how only 10% of women obtain jobs in IT, but now recruitment has increased by 70%. This industry-leading practice known as balance teams brings people on board from diverse backgrounds and ideas to work towards a common goal.
How Does Diversity Promote Better Decision-Making?
Companies prioritize change for positive outcomes, and this outpaces the unimaginative factors. According to Cloverpop, businesses with diversified systems see a positive change in ideas and work execution. Because of this, 87% of business decisions become better. A similar ideology is followed by Sara Oliver-Carter, Chief Diversity Officer, Duquesne Light Company. Sara is one of those entrepreneurs who successfully established a smart and diversified workspace. Her goal is the business growth and success of her organization. To achieve this, her team worked diligently to foster a workplace where engagement exists. Employees should feel included, motivated, respected, and empowered. As a result, they will align and coordinate well with each other. Better coordination results in great collaborative ideas. This process creates excellent decision-making among team members.
Decision-making promotes the completion of business goals. When decision-making is supported by a variety of skill sets then the goals are more likely to be achieved. This is a concept of cognitive diversity. An experiment on teams proved to be successful when it happened on cognitive diversity. Here two teams were formed. Team A with equally diversified personnel and the same skill sets. On the other hand, Team B also had equally diversified personnel but with different skill sets. Here, team B with a fresh and diversified skill set came with better decision making, unlike team A whose innovation went restricted due to regular and common ideas.
How Does It Foster Company Culture?
Damien Hooper-Campbell is the Chief Diversity Officer of Zoom Video Communications. He is leading his way by creating a way for voices with #blacklivesmatter. The expertise of Damien was different and is more inclined towards technology and financial markets. Due to changing scenarios and employees’ behavior, he later got involved in understanding diversity and its relation with the company’s profits. In an interview, he spoke about the importance of a company’s culture concerning diversity. Damien believes that in a company where there is diversity, open discussion happens the most. These open discussions promote communication on a new level.
There are many cases where a firm has been restricted to a particular segment of employees and the growth of the overall company became stagnant over the years. The best example could be of a firm expanding its business in a country like Japan and unwelcoming the new change of culture. This rigidness directly impacts the business. Firms fail to adopt the taste and preference of an individual there. This affects business verticals when companies refuse to adapt to the preferred demand.
Sometimes it becomes vital for the company to inculcate different values, experiences, and preferences. This drives innovation in the system. A diverse skill set in employees allows an organization to offer an adaptable range of products and services.
How Young Entrepreneurs Have Stepped Up?
No one can understand this concept better than some exceptions. Ashlee Davis is such an exception who faced racism during her time in the workplace. Davis is the Vice President and Senior Diversity & Inclusion Manager at AllianceBernstein. Her work has shown her as a passionate entrepreneur for cultivating a healthy working environment to attract a diverse workforce. She has been an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community and she has strongly made her mark in Nashville.
Ashlee realized the need for building community partnerships by uplifting the underrated communities in rural America. The communities were backed by the Obama foundation and Ashlee worked with them for six years. As an entrepreneur and a human being, at a very young age, she stood up for talent. By executing her dream project with the Obama Foundation, she has served many individuals and has played a huge role in replenishing the hiring process.
Let Me End with This
It might be a strategic move for many but I see this as a promotion of diversity. McDonald’s came to Japan in 1971. It came into a country where a healthy lifestyle is a compulsion and followed by many. For a successful expansion, McDonald’s adopted some personalized strategies which it adapts in every country. McDonald’s promoted Japanese culture by introducing Shrimp fillet burgers for the very first time. Rather than opening a huge store, it opened a small store to match up with other stores in Japan. Additionally, it also promoted Japanese culture by hiring their workforce and adapting its common greetings. Japanese are amongst those who take their culture very seriously. Hence, this built a trust factor between the company and local customers. As I said above, this was a clever move to promote sales but indirectly McDonald’s welcomed the Japanese culture in its organization.
When a firm achieves diversity, then it empowers its employees and operates with innovation. There was a time when diversity used to be the need of an hour but it is now a compulsion. Also, it is overwhelming to see the new-age entrepreneurs welcoming change and creating a multicultural workplace every day.
Cloverbites By Rupesh Sanghavi 
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