Integrating Diversity and Inclusion in the Organization

Diversity and inclusion have been hot topics for decades. Several prominent leaders have vowed to make their company’s culture diverse by fostering the two quintessential elements in the firm to keep pace with change and survive. In order to keep up, CEOs and their firms may be holding rallies, introducing policies, campaigning on gender heterogeneity, running webinars, and offering perks. Yet, the progress of organizations in creating racial and cultural diversity needs to accelerate. 

Please read on!

Inclusion is Not an Option

There is much to peek into the corporate cultures that successfully foster diversity and inclusivity in their workforce. Companies that are on the front lines of becoming more diverse and inclusive are most effective in using their efforts to fuel corporate strategy and results. Capturing the benefits of a more diverse, fair, and inclusive workforce requires recruiting diverse candidates using strategies that can be measured, tracked, and improved over time. It is also important to note that inclusive strategies are better executed through a lens that cultivates a more positive, diverse, creative workforce, not based on numbers. 

Inclusion allows organizations to maximize their talented people’s potential and deepen engagement with diverse customers. To create truly inclusive organizations, companies must begin by understanding the experiences of their diverse employees and customers. Building inclusive cultures mean creating workplaces where everyone feels valued and heard. Before diving in, it is important to understand the differences between diversity, equity, and inclusivity within a workplace context.

Start from the Top

Why do I ask leaders and their C-suite clan to chip in and be the reason for the change? 

They illuminate the path for the entire workforce. Referring to this topic, the top management can help a firm cultivate or restore the desired culture. By maintaining diverse talent for the long haul, particularly at the middle and senior levels, companies can formulate an inclusive culture supported by a suite of practices, policies, and programs that attract employees. This will make them feel connected with their diverse perspectives and realize that their experiences are valued understood, and appreciated. By formalizing commitments to diversity into official practices and policies, companies can institutionalize a culture of inclusion with clear expectations and goals. Diversity-friendly, inclusive companies attract and retain top talent, improve employee engagement, and increase customers’ willingness to buy. 

I still remember the time when I was mapping out the strategy to foster a great culture at Ergode, my main focus was to demonstrate solidarity and support in my approach for the underrepresented employees. My team and I knew that increasing diversity and inclusivity in a company wouldn’t just benefit the business but the whole community. Recognizing the workplace as a community to work and learn from a growing and increasingly diverse workforce has made us all more sensitive to the need to keep up the conversation, education, and HR training on diversity, equity, and inclusiveness. Creating professional development programs and inclusive leadership training can help diverse employees envision their futures in an organization. Truly cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusivity means attending to those responses and embedding inclusive hiring practices into every aspect of your business–from sources, interviews, and hiring, to how you advance or promote people.

Weave the Culture

Inclusion and diversity are responsibilities that should be taken on by the top management rather than HR alone. A successful firm with a stellar line-up knows how to fill up the firm with multiple brilliant-diverse minds, skin, and language – working together to serve a single purpose. Instead of focusing on what separates us, they emphasize what unites us. It not only benefits the workplace but by fostering inclusion in organizations, everyone flourishes in the diversity of their surroundings. In such scenarios, the workforce tends to work harder with a sense of shared cause, creativity, and resiliency to embrace difference.