Diversity

A global world is a diverse world, but most organisations have still not grasped what diversity means today, and how they need to organise to manage it. Today, diversity involves more than gender or race or nationality. 

Diversity makes commercial and moral sense. It isn’t just about fairness, though we do think that equal respect, dignity and opportunity are fundamental human rights. Our work inside Global-500 companies tells us that whatever the (predominantly white-male) “top” think about the way difference is treated, lower in the organisation “different” still means feeling disenfranchised and being excluded from important opportunities.

There is a business rationale for diversity: the “war for talent” isn’t won when someone enters the organisation. Retention and morale remain critical. Furthermore, research shows that diverse teams can be considerably more effective and creative (when that diversity is acknowledged, respected and harnessed).

Action is imperative. Talking a good game, while remaining inactive, or under-active, can make the issues worse and generate criticism and scepticism of political correctness. Fundamentally, this is about attitude and behavioural change at all levels. In order to work together there needs to be awareness of the ‘intention and impact’ of words and actions from a variety of perspectives.  There needs to be the courage to move beyond fear of the current climate and conflict to begin to understand each other as individuals as human beings and as members of different groups to which we belong. Once that is in place, those issues can be tackled more widely in the organisation, and changes to people systems and processes can be brought into line.