Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organizations
The business world is constantly changing. There is more variety in the workforce and the marketplace, as a whole, is globalized. This, perhaps, is the one constant in an otherwise fluctuating landscape. How can an organization thrive in such an atmosphere?
For any organization to maximize client satisfaction, productivity, profits, employee engagement, advancement and retention, they must promote a culture of inclusiveness. By embracing inclusion in the workplace, an organization strengthens its heartbeat and overall environment; employees are valued by their differences and uniqueness. Additionally, valuing employees sends a message to the customer and client base: we value you, too. Companies have demonstrated sustainable competitive advantages through generational alignment with their client base – customer responsiveness increases when the workforce culturally reflects customers.
A culture of inclusion results from an ingrained process that instills a high regard for the talents of others. It balances the needs of the organization and the workforce, ultimately leading to more innovative results. Organizations that succeed in their inclusiveness efforts realize higher productivity, increased engagement and gain a reputation as an employer of first choice. The workplace of the future will exhibit an increasingly diverse and shrinking labor pool, requiring organizations to be the “employer of choice” to attract, retain and advance the best talent!
What Is My Process?
If you have decided to enhance the diversity and inclusion in your workplace because you understand the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive organization, what steps do you take? My consulting and coaching organization can provide consulting and serve as an instructor, a change agent, a coach or a liaison in the process.
Developing or enhancing a diversity and inclusion initiative is an important task and not always easy. There are steps to take so that it can smoothly align with organizational values and goals. This doesn’t require large expenditures of time and money to be effective. A full inclusiveness initiative evolves through a five-step process: Envision, Empower, Explore, Embrace and Enact. An organization can engage with a consultant at any point in this process.
First, an organization must evaluate their internal environment to identify where they are and where they want to go, along with any barriers to achieving desired goals. Having done so, the task is then to evolve the company culture to become a more inclusive environment. My organization’s role will help explore physical, systematic and attitudinal barriers that could impede the process.
Conscious Leadership in the Workplace:
