Despite having a diverse team in position, businesses can take advantage of the varying viewpoints of leaders only if they have an appropriate inclusive footing. A study considered the presence of factors allowing diversity to grow and help their diverse management team reconfigure the organization’s improvement efforts.

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Many of the factors include:

• Fair employment practices

• Equal pay

• Participative leadership

• Different views being heard and valued

• CEO led strategic emphasis

• Frequent and open communication

• A vibrant culture of shared ideas and openness

Less than half of people in a survey agreed some of the above factors were descriptive of their organizations, which is emblematic that they have substantial room for improvement. Remarkably, those organizations adhering to these factors admitted greater revenue in part from a renewed innovation culture. 

Read: Our Approach to Diversity & Inclusion

Hiring diverse people is the easy part of the process. The belief is to simply sit back and expect something magical to occur. Passively approaching diversity and inclusion with timid steps is a guarantee for failure.

They must be considerably more proactive if they are to foster diverse viewpoints. Doing so, requires time and attention, with changes exceeding the hiring process.

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Organizations should deal with diversity as they would any other business initiative. Leadership, specifically the CEO must embrace the agenda and show everyone they are leading it.

This can be accomplished by:

• Correctly assessing the company’s starting point

• Establishing specific goals

• Create directions with milestones and clear accountability.  

About Jim Woods

Jim Woods is President of Woods Kovalova Group Training. His firm and partners have advised and trained clients from over 30 countries since 1998. He is an author of 3 leadership books and two children’s. Happily married to his business partner Lucy Kovalova-Woods. Their work has helped individuals and leaders in companies such as MITRE, Whirlpool, U.S. Army, and Chevron. We encourage you to schedule a phone call to see how we can help you build an innovative and diverse employee base that meets the needs of your customers. Schedule an appointment with Jim.