Build An Inclusive Company On These 6 Pillars

If you believe diversity is important, your leadership team ought to reflect that.

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Approaches to diversity in business have evolved over the years. What began in many companies as efforts to segment people by their differences with the goal of neutralizing the problems those differences might create has moved toward understanding and respecting differences, not just out of respect, but also to improve organizational efficiency in a setting free of discrimination.

An increasingly globalized and interconnected society has increased the need to foster diverse, inclusive workplaces. Businesses today also strive to be more proactively inclusive rather than to react to conflicts. Diversity has thus become a source of mutual enrichment; where each person contributes their distinct experience as they collaborate, innovate and grow.

The goal: nurture inclusive teams in order to succeed as a business, but also to learn from unique vantage points without ever losing sight of the dignity of each individual.

Here are six keys to removing barriers and supporting inclusion in organizations, increasing opportunities for all.

Leadership commitment

Leaders must walk the walk, in addition to talking the talk. This means, among other things, investing in policies such as parental leave and flexible work arrangements.

Diverse leaders

If you believe diversity is important, your leadership team ought to reflect that.

A boss who gets it

The line manager has an enormous impact on how “psychologically safe” people feel in their team or unit.

The board on board

Train board members on the issues and co-create a diversity strategy together. Identify sponsors for each strategy area who can coach others and provide accountability.

A safe place to work

Allied to the previous point, the overall work environment has to be free from discrimination, bias and harassment.

Curiosity, courage & consistency

Good leaders get to know their people and understand their needs. Speak up when someone behaves in an inappropriate manner. Set the standards of what is acceptable. And do it every day: being inclusive isn’t a part-time job.

Taking these steps, along with advocating for accessible experiences, increasing awareness, directly engaging with the surrounding community and attracting and cultivating new, diverse talent, will take your business a long way towards the goal of succeeding through the inclusion of diverse viewpoints and backgrounds.

Excerpted, in part, from the IESE Business School Insight report Beyond Diversity.

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