The Importance of Diversity
Enrolling new members to your team is a key step in expanding your organization. While doing so, it is important to consider the various qualities and skills of possible candidates. In recent times there's been a shift towards increasing diversity in all sorts of workplace environments. This brings me to today's topic: The Importance of Diversity.
Advantages of Diversity
Diversity relates to the variation of values and beliefs of different members based on their age, ethnicity, gender, and so forth. There are several advantages of diversity for an organization and ones that can lead to growth and expansion a swell. For example, bringing members from different backgrounds onto the team brings an insight into how to expand internationally or reach a larger audience. Another benefit of having diverse perspectives is the innovation and new ideas that come with it. Issues are often more quickly resolved when there are several people who can give their input (having different backgrounds and knowledge gives a more comprehensive understanding as well).
How to create an Inclusive Environment
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs have gained traction as of late due to their beneficial results. The purpose of DEI is to ensure that your team members feel comfortable showing up as their true selves and with confidence that they belong. This type of environment creates more engagement, increases productivity, and contributes to more innovation within the organization. Here are some tips on how to make your environment more DEI:
Build trust - an environment built in trust results in more open discussions and understanding between the different members. Moreover, trust allow for members to feel more comfortable in sharing their ideas.
Communicate effectively - effective communication is an essential aspect of working with others. Ensuring that those preventing miscommunication is crucial as can lead to a hostile rather than welcome environment.
Have uncomfortable but necessary discussions
Be open and respectful - it's important that each member respects the view/values/beliefs of other members and that individuals don't feel ashamed of who they are because of the judgement of others.
Celebrate Differences - rather than not discuss ignores, try building an environment where differences are celebrated. Celebrate all the holidays for instance so that members from different backgrounds feel included and seen.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are all key components to building and maintaining an effective team. In addition to considering diversity while expanding your organization and hiring new members, it's also important to have an environment where members feel welcomed and included.
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