Beyond “Diversity Days” to Embracing Diversity for Competitive Advantage
If your Diversity & Inclusion strategy to date, has focussed on hiring Diverse Talent and celebrating the stories of under-represented people on days of significance such as International Women’s Day; Harmony Week; and many more, then you’re potentially missing out on the commercial value Diversity offers organisations and teams.
Unlock the Collective Intelligence in your team to achieve the competitive advantage that comes from consciously leveraging Diversity.
Please note: we’ve also written blogs on how to create Cultural Safety in the workplace focussed on organisational systems and policies, Interpersonal Cultural Appreciation, the impact of Cultural Identity on Wellbeing, and Belonging and the importance of Language. The common core of wellbeing for all minority groups is a helpful guide to creating psychologically safe and psychosocially safe workplaces.
Achieve a Diversity Dividend
To achieve this dual business and human dividend, organisations and leaders need to focus on enabling and valuing the contribution of everyone equally.
Given both business and people flourish in environments which value everyone equally for their unique perspectives - it’s well worth exploring how to achieve this - and it’s by no means as complex as you might expect.
A Powerful Example
A sales team I worked with, augmented their usually highly assertive and somewhat confrontational communicators who historically lead in client negotiations, with team members with sophisticated relationship building and flexible problem solving skills.
Rather than having a singular approach to finalising a deal, multiple channels were opened, increasing the intelligence the team were able to bring to achieving an optimal outcome, in a complex and often chaotic situation.
Where do you Begin with so many different types of potential Diversity?
With the focus on so many different types of Diversity; Diversity of Thought; Communication Styles; Thinking Preferences, Cultures, Genders and Generations, it can be hard to know where to begin the journey.
That’s why, we suggest a different approach:
We recommend consciously flipping your brain to spot the genius or the value, someone’s “you-nique” difference offers.
How do you turn Intention into Action?
The key is to take the conscious step of INTEGRATING everyone’s unique value, into everyday team discussions and decision making processes.
The Value of Genius Spotting
“Genius Spotting” makes it safe for everyone equally to be valued BECAUSE of their difference, not DESPITE it.
All the evidence points to better outcomes, with Inclusive teams making 87% better decisions and being valued BECAUSE of their differences, rather than DESPITE them. It’s also a key contributor to Belonging.
If you’d like to explore how to unlock collective intelligence and achieve competitive advantage by leveraging the collective strengths and diverse perspectives in your team, we can act as your guide.