Dec 02 Diversity is Good Business
If you want a new perspective and approach for 2014 (and what business doesn’t?) promote greater diversity and practice more intentional inclusion.
In August I read a Harvard Business Review blog article that explained that a diverse, inclusive workforce significantly improves individual performance. Research also shows that loyalty rates go up by approximately 20 percent. Meanwhile the number of employees who feel deeper commitment and enhanced collaboration increases by 50 percent when diversity and inclusion is present.
So it should come as no surprise that almost eight out of 10 leading executives say that diversity is increasingly important for achieving their company goals. In other words, if you want to add value and design high performance teams characterized by deep insight and broad outlook, make diversity a keystone of your business plan.
In the latter part of the 20th century many companies viewed initiatives to attract minorities as some sort of technicality or formulaic rule. They were more interested in avoiding legal troubles or criticism of their brand and image than they were in looking beyond to discover real substance and value. But today the forward-thinking organizations understand the fantastic opportunity that inclusion represents.
Great synergy or symbiosis is about bringing together teams of people with multiple levels of experience and vision, and that’s the textbook definition of diversity. The marketplace is diverse. The population you are trying to reach through your advertising and branding campaigns is certainly not a one-size-fits-all demographic. Technology is making the global business world smaller every day. If you want to connect, engage, and resonate with a larger market share you have to reflect that cultural variety within your organization.
Don’t let another year go by and miss out on the best opportunity to enrich your organization, leadership, and valuable succession planning pipeline. Celebrate the New Year by celebrating workplace, vendor, partner, and client diversity!
As a pioneering and visionary innovator, Sarah is a certified professional image consultant and brand strategist, speaker, trainer and author. Her company, Illustra Consulting, provides leading-edge image and brand management strategies for top leaders and high achievers who wish to take their career to the next level. She also delivers innovative and inspiring corporate workshops to assist large organizations in strengthening their corporate brand.
Illustra Consulting
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Sarah Hathorn, CEO of Hathorn Consulting Group, is the go-to-expert in working with leaders and companies to create successful corporate DNA. As an executive coach, consultant and speaker she collaborates globally with clients and brands such as Deloitte, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and other leading organizations.
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