16 Ways to Get Employees Excited About Workplace Diversity
Utilize leaders as teachers. Make leaders the primary teachers about diversity through their own behavior (walk-the-talk). If you're going to be teaching classes on diversity or integrating it into your culture, make your leadership the 'go to' people on diversity. I once saw a global organization transformed by such an initiative. The leadership was trained on diversity by an executive sponsor. Each leader was given a country of their choice where the company had worldwide headquarters. They were given all the proper tools to market it - the sponsor had put together a fun and exciting diversity packet with interactive exercises, there was a country education kit, language tapes and a corresponding mentor in that office for the leader to rely upon. Soon the group became spokespeople for diversity - so much so that HR was requesting their time to attend job fairs and other important recruiting events because they were so passionate about attracting diverse candidates.
Multi-cultural business cards. Each culture has their own way of introducing who they are and how they do business. In her article International Business: Business Card Etiquette, Lauren Nemec sites that "It may seem straightforward - all you need on your business card is your name, job title and contact information, right? Depending on where you are doing business, more information may be necessary." Offering your employees the ability to obtain a multi-cultural business card shows that you have respect for how business is conducted in their country.
Diversity News/Reporting. Designate a central location (i.e., an intranet site) where you can post news related to diversity and a host in essence a database of diversity. You might highlight diversity councils, mentoring groups, activities and have a place for people to publicize the languages they speak.
Focus on the Individual. Recognizing that change happens one person at a time and that everyone is different, develop different learning solutions to meet individual needs. Include coaching and mentoring as part of the process so individuals can examine themselves in a safe environment. In one of the companies I worked for, we opened a worldwide headquarters in India. Assigned to the India office was a phenomenal trainer that learned everything she could about the culture. She spent time observing how the individuals interacted with one another, with management and with trainers. She designed a training curriculum that catered to the specific learning style of their culture and it was wildly successful.
Multi-cultural Food Day and Lunch and Learns. Make arrangements for each department have a multi-cultural food day once or twice a year where everyone brings a dish to share that is from their heritage; or, put together lunch and learns where people can share information, artifacts and history about their cultures.
Instate a Diversity Council. Designate a group of individuals that really cares about diversity in the workplace to act as a voice for the diverse population within your business. In addition to addressing deficiencies in the diversity program or discussing difficult diversity situations, this council can also be responsible for initiating fun, cultural events to enhance the diversity initiatives within the business.
Diversity Marketing. Investigate the specifics of marketing to a diverse audience. Ethnic marketing requires more basic infrastructure changes to the company's marketing and customer service organizations in order to maximize its benefits. This could help in the attraction and retention of your diverse population.
Incorporate Diversity into your company's Values, Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan. Create and disseminate a statement of values regarding diversity that is endorsed by the Executive Leadership Team and Board. Integrate diversity inclusion concepts into the company's overall Mission, Vision, and Strategic Plan. Include progress toward your company's diversity goals as a factor in the annual evaluation processes of your company's board or executive team.
Create a Mentoring Network/Buddy System. These are two really terrific options for easily integrating diversity into your culture. A buddy system would be two individuals with different backgrounds/cultures that are teamed up and meet every so often to learn about each others cultures. After a set time, the entire buddy network meets and shares what they have learned. A mentoring system would be two individuals with different backgrounds and cultures that are teamed up and meet weekly. The purpose of the mentorship is to give the diverse individual (mentee) the opportunity to learn the work habits, social habits and cultural habits of the job in which they are engaged. This becomes a two-way learning opportunity as the mentor learns about cultural differences and has the opportunity to teach the mentee how to deal with those differences in their new assignment. I recently had a team lead that was originally from India and had spent the last 20 years in the US partner up with a new India associate that was struggling. The mentor had learned the ins and outs of American culture and spent time working with her mentee to help the individual become comfortable working with her American counterparts. The transition was astonishing. The mentor shared with me that some of the reasons the mentee was struggling was due in part to her unfamiliarity with American customs and communication. Once the mentor helped coach the individual through it, the mentee became one of the most valuable members of the team.
Conduct Trans-Continental Team Meetings. Make sure that your cross-continental partners are included in your team meetings. In addition to regular business-related content, have individuals share things that are different here in America that we as Americans need to know when we communicate. Items to discuss might include differences in body language, communication, and mannerisms.
Diversity Training and Orientation. Develop a marketing campaign/video to introduce to all employees. Make it multi-purpose so it can be incorporated into Orientation. Emphasize diversity inclusion in company handbooks and orientation materials. A successful way to do this might be to ask individuals with diverse backgrounds to share the responsibility of teaching this piece of the orientation so new employees can get exposure to the importance of diversity within the organization.
Award Presentations and Diversity Inclusion Incentives. Develop a National Diversity Award to recognize a prominent diversity leader each year. Recognition Award Programs can be designed to incent people to focus on diversity. One of the companies I worked for used to have an annual publication that had a portion dedicated to the recognition of diversity. Departments that incorporated diversity into their research, training, and service activities had their picture taken and each one received an award for stellar service within the organization.
EEO Reporting and Affirmative Action Programs. One way to disclose the importance of diversity and publicly track it is to voluntarily disclose your EEO reporting on your website as part of your HR career search portal. In addition, investigate the US Department of Labor's affirmative action programs. These programs emerged from the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and required all large corporations to address potential problems with racial discrimination by attempting to have their workforce reflect the ethnic makeup of the general population.
Become a Member and Recruit at Ethnic American, Cultural or Professional Events. Seek out multi-cultural organizations and events and find ways to incorporate your company's presence there to publicly reinforce your diversity commitment. You can also work to partner with professional organizations and universities that support the career advancement of women, minorities and other diverse populations.
Work with diverse suppliers. Minority and women business enterprise (MWBE) programs were originally created when major corporations began looking for ways to find qualified MWBE suppliers on government contracts. MWBEnetwork.com LLC, founded in 2002. Their network is 100% minority owned and their mission is the collaboration of seasoned business professionals, with extensive experience in business development, management, marketing, communications, finance, and technology and supplier diversity program management.
Diverse Presenters. Encourage speakers who are invited to your company for presentations to address diversity inclusion as part of their presentations where relevant. Even when diversity is not their primary topic, if the presenter knows the importance of diversity within your company, they will usually work with you to include content to cater to this initiative.
Diversity can be a fun and exciting way to infuse your organization with unique cultures and perspectives. Even implementing one of the above suggestions will help you begin cultivating diversity within your organization.
*Developed in conjunction with Patti Gilhooley, Senior Director of Training Development for ADP
by Dawn M. Kaye
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