When employed in the corporate world I recall vividly going through some of the first diversity training workshops put on by the company. These were all focused around the women versus men working together topic and the relevant issues which arose from that.

As things progressed the voices of individuals from the other many dimensions of diversity started to be heard and; now it is clearly acknowledged that we need to pay attention to employees from all of the dimensions Of diversity in order to craft out effective diversity strategies which lead organizations developing and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

So what are these dimensions Of Diversity of which we speak? Well, there are many and here are some to consider:- thinking styles, language, ethnicity, religion, perspectives, experiences, nationality, job level, race, culture, skills, gender, physical abilities, sexual orientation, age and sex. These dimensions Of diversity lead to us acting in a particular fashion and carrying out our day to day work activities in our own particular style.

Each individual whilst acting within their particular style according to their view of the world have the basic needs of being appreciated and acknowledged. Their ideas of how a company should design and develop and product or service and; sell that product or service into the marketplace need to be incorporated into the decision making process. This is especially important when we bear in mind that the organization’s products and services are being sold into an ever increasing diverse marketplace.

With the makeup of the typical management structures of today’s companies it is critical to have the structure and processes in place which ensure that effective career progression, recognition, acknowledgment and reward for all employees. The higher level management will need to go through relevant training and to fully embrace diversity with the lead of the human resources department.

The way this is implemented will of course differ from organization to organization but we may well see management spending time with individuals in order to understand the world from their point of view. This could take the form of one of meetings and/or social events. However I would advise a mentoring / mentee relationship which gives both parties a view into each others world.

It may be the case that a high level corporate manager comes from a middle class background, attended private schools and went straight through to a prestigious university and from there through various programs is managing as expected. And it must be said, is well equipped to do so. However, this individual may well have no real life experience of dealing with members of the community that are not like themselves so, when they are faced with dealing with individuals like this within the workplace they are left outside of their comfort zones.

In the same organization you may have some other well educated individuals from say the black and ethnic minority communities who is very talented however, the manager may not have life experience of dealing with this type of individual.

(The above is for illustration purposes only, we could use an example where the managers are strictly religious and have to deal with employees who are well capable and may be in a gay relationship this could cause the manager not to value that individual and in turn that individual’s career may not be progressed as it otherwise would have and the company ends up not running in the most efficient way)

The way this individual’s ideas, suggestions and opinions are processed due to the manager’s bias may lead to inefficient development and marketing strategies. These will all in turn lead onto the company not operating in an as efficient a manner as it otherwise would be if all of the quality ideas and suggestions were taken on board.

This illustrated some of my thought processes behind devising an effective diversity strategy in bringing together the management team, human resources and individuals from the differing dimensions of diversity in order to improve company efficiency and overall employee satisfaction as well as enhancing the company’s competitive advantage.

Stephen C Campbell (MBA, MSc, MCIM) has worked on diversity programs throughout Europe, Far East & U.S. He runs a Business Consultancy & has a keen interest in working with corporations on the link between Diversity and the Bottomline.
http://www.StephenCCampbell.Com

Often within organizations the question is asked (by varying sections of the workforce) “why are we bothering with Diversity”? The point being, “things have not been so bad up until this point so why divert time, energy and money into this thing called Diversity which only seems to be in existence to help certain sections of the workforce” and often can be interpreted as acting as a career progression disadvantage to the employees who come from the dominant sections of the workforce. Today more that ever there is a need to establish the business case for Diversity and to ensure that the message is passed down throughout al levels of the organization.

It is fair to say that Diversity is often greeted with a certain amount of skepticism and doubt, is normally ‘owned’ by the Human Resources department whose task it is to ensure that Diversity is implemented throughout the organization. In some cases the individuals with the Human Resources who are tasked with rolling out the program may not be fully up to speed with Diversity themselves and with the root cause as to why it is essential in today business landscape to have a coherent Diversity program which is understood by all within the organization.

This is where establishing the business case for Diversity comes into play, it moves the emotional aspect out of focus and gives employees the ‘real reason why it is so important for their organization to have a coherent Diversity strategy in place i.e. it is down to the effect on the bottom line business results as the company continually strives to establish its competitive advantage over and against the other companies operating in the same market space.

Diversity is not just a “Feel Good Issue” in fact it may be more of a correct statement to classify Diversity as “A Critical Business Issue” i.e. there is a compelling business case for diversity. Today’s customers have a choice in purchasing products and services and; with the internet enable world that choice is becoming more and more global on a daily basis. In fact, companies who want to be the winners in their market space and particularly those who want to be big winners, simply cannot afford to practice and conduct business with policies of exclusion in existence.

The companies who want to succeed are the ones who take Diversity beyond the Human Resources department and make it a part of the fabric of the everyday business transactions. These companies take Diversity to a level where they become role models to other companies in terms of inclusion as they welcome employees with different styles, different perspectives, different ideas, different passports, different accents and different skin colors into all levels of the business. These employees are welcomed and are used to make decisions, develop products, engage with customers as a matter of course based upon their skill set.

As companies deliver their products and services to wider and wider profile of target customers it is imperative that more minorities, people of color and women are encouraged to be part of organizations and importantly are seen to be operating throughout their chosen organization at all levels.

The companies which innovate and reinvent themselves on a continuous basis are the companies which will retain their competitive advantage in the market place. Invention and innovation requires creativity and creativity requires true diversity.

Indeed the message that needs to be propagated throughout the organization is one that creativity is driven by true Diversity and, in turn creativity is the main driving force behind innovation and invention. It is this innovation and invention which enable companies to maintain their competitive advantage, this advantage drives profitability and this profitability continually establishes the business case for Diversity.

Stephen C Campbell (MBA, MSc, MCIM) has worked on diversity programs throughout Europe, Far East & U.S. He runs a Business Consultancy and has a keen interest in working with corporations on the link between Diversity and Marketing.
http://www.StephenCCampbell.Com

It is blatantly obvious to state but all organizations are made of individuals who basically go to work to fulfill their basic needs and more. The amount of effort, thought and pride that employees put into their work is proportional to how they feel within the organization. i.e how valued do they feel, are they able to voice their opinion, do they have a bearing on the operation of the company and importantly are they able to progress within the organization and fulfill and desire they have to rise up the corporate ladders and in turn have more of an influence on the workings of the company.

Whilst Diversity used to be focused on the ‘Women And Men Working Together’ issue; it is widely recognized and accepted that Diversity is much more than that. Employees come in all shapes, forms, backgrounds, colors and experiences this in turn leads to us all being motivated in different ways and by different things. We all however, are employed to perform a function within an organization and the better we perform that function, the better the company performs. Adding up small performance improvements we know, leads to significant improvements of the operation of the whole company.

With this in mind and with the makeup of today’s company’s being multi cultural and multi dimensional, the organization which chooses not to take advantage of the inherent skill set of every employee is by definition not operating at peak efficiency. Many organizations have Diversity initiatives and programs in place yet some may not be fully functioning or, not seen as important enough to devote significant time and energy to. The message for managers and Human Resources is that in essence it is the organization as whole that misses out when Diversity is not fully incorporated into the organizations business strategy and goals.

Yes, there may well be section of the workforce which are threatened by Diversity initiatives and the opening up of management positions to Women, Disabled and the Black And Minority Ethnics however, talent and ability is talent and ability no matter how it happens to be packaged.

It is imperative for company’s to fully grasp Diversity and the fact that the objective is to fully release the potential in all employees, no matter what their background, how they are motivated, how they look, walk or talk.

In today’s marketplace is has become more and more necessary for management to get to grips with the different mentality, and modes of operations of the employees from the different dimensions of diversity. Their talents must be harnessed and harvested for the good of the organization. For this to happen, Diversity really needs to be something which Human Resources and the management teams fully embrace and incorporate into their day to day activities.

It may be true that managers feel more comfortable by hiring and being surrounded by individuals who are more like themselves but the overriding factor must be the organization operating at its maximum efficiency. Management may have to go through some pain in order to understand different points of view and different ways of doing things but, this must be done for the good of the organization. i.e. some sacrifice of the short term must be made with the long term gain in mind.

In reality, it is the company which loses out by not implementing effective Diversity strategies which pulls in Diversity into all of the company’s departments and plans. When effectively implemented Diversity harnesses the talents of all of the workforce and leads to company’s which operate more efficiently than it otherwise would be which in turn leads to the company developing a competitive advantage in the marketplace and this is one of the main reasons why the organization is in existence.

Stephen C Campbell (MBA, MSc, MCIM) has worked on diversity programs throughout Europe, Far East & U.S. whilst employed in the corporate sector. He now runs a Business Consultancy and has a keen interest in working with corporations on the link between Diversity and their Marketing Strategies.
http://www.CapidHouser.Com