The Truth About Diversity -- And Why

It Matters
Diversity is the practice or quality of including or involving people from
a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different
genders, sexual orientations, etc.
With so many companies talking about making diversity a priority but falling
short of the mark, diversity and inclusivity initiatives will only be successful if
everyone experiences a feeling of belonging in the workplace.

It’s not just a feel-good move; it’s good for business. Study after study has
shown that diversity leads to more creative teams and increases a company’s
bottom line. According to McKinsey, companies ranking in the top quartile of
executive-board diversity were 35% likelier to financially outperform the
industry medians. Other research finds that inclusive teams make better
business decisions 87% of the time.

Diversity is an action, inclusivity is cultural, and belonging is a feeling. Change

doesn’t start from top-down leadership; it happens at every level. We
can all be leaders if we choose to be, and we all have a responsibility for
making people we know feel comfortable. When you feel like you belong
somewhere, your work ethic improves because you feel like it’s your company,
too. As a middle manager, you can play a big part in communicating why
creating a sense of belonging at work is needed. For inspiration, I collected
advice from leaders who are prioritizing diversity so that people from all
backgrounds can bring their unique strengths to the table.

Seek Out Different Mindsets.

Diversity isn’t just about gender or race, it’s also about diversity of background
and mindset. A big barrier to diversity, says Gina Grillo, President and CEO of
the Advertising Club of New York, is that “we tend to promote people who we
feel comfortable with, and often that is people who are like us.”

The data shows that those in positions of power still tend to be similar in
terms of race and gender: About 72% of CEOs in top Fortune 500 companies
are white males, while less than 1% are African American females.
Much of “the [advertising and communications] industry is dominated by
white women through middle management, and white men at the top,” says
Lauren Wesley Wilson, founder of ColorComm, a business community for
women of color in the communications industry. “When you look at PR and
advertising agencies, there is often a handful of people of color in leadership
positions and sometimes none at all. Often times, hiring managers hire people
who look like them. They don’t look for diversity or difference, they look for
similarity and compatibility.”

Be Intentional. Be intentional about bringing diversity into meetings and

work opportunities. If we want diversity, we should all be bringing people to
work who are not like us.

The goal of inclusivity is to make sure that everyone feels included in

everything you do and that each individual feels she or he belongs—regardless
of gender, race or sexuality. It’s not only good for morale, but good for your
employees’ performance: Research has found that hiding our true identities
dramatically declines our professional performance. For diversity initiatives to
be successful, we must be open to different points of view and allow workers to
express their individuality.

“It’s not autopilot. The autopilot is to hang out with people who think like you
and look like you,” said Kristin Hayden, Chief Partnership Officer at IGNITE,
in the Equality Lounge at Dreamforce. “It’s actually about being present…it
takes intentionality to do things differently.”

Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable. Accept that achieving

diversity isn’t easy. “Somehow there is this perception that managing diverse
groups is fun, it’s easy, everything is going to be ‘kumbaya’,” said Antonio
Lucio, CMO of HP, Inc., who is helping to make diversity a top priority for HP,
Inc. and their partners, in the Girls’ Lounge at Advertising Week. “It’s damn
hard.”

A study from MIT found what we already know: Diverse teams beat
homogenous teams every time in terms of performance. “What I found
incredibly interesting [about this research] is that homogenous teams felt
great during the process and yet they lost, while diverse teams felt miserable
during the process until they finished and met their target. No one is telling us
how hard it is…but you have to embrace that because the ultimate outcome
will be better.”
As a middle manager, you can act as a role model by showing support for
diversity goals and encouraging your team to push through challenges.
Pinterest found that when managers are made aware of why diversity matters,
these employees took more initiative and got more involved to support the
cause.

Lead With Empathy. Paying attention to employees’ feelings is key for

creating a culture of belonging, and ensuring the success of diverse teams.
You’ll help retain employees of all backgrounds if you make them feel heard,
because how people feel within their company is a reflection of how long
they’ll stay. More than 40% of job turnover happens within the first month of
hiring, according to a study. This might be avoided if new hires had a feeling of
belonging from the start, such as leaders who checked in about how they felt
things were going and mentors to turn to for guidance.

Have Accountability For Change. We need to start becoming more

conscious of our unconscious and know that we can do more and be better
when it comes to creating cultures of inclusivity. Transformation will happen
when we have accountability for change.

Companies should track progress toward well-defined goals. Some companies

have made diversity a part of their review process to incentivize and stay
accountable to diversity goals. Kaiser Permanente, for example, has a National
Diversity Agenda which focuses on building a racially diverse workforce. So
far, their dedication has worked—Kaiser has no racial majority among its
employees and nearly 60% of the staff are people of color. Think about ways
that you as a middle manager can create your own internal diversity goals and
then monitor those metrics.

At the end of the day, treat your employees like your family, embrace and
respect individual strengths, and create a collaborative and safe space. This
will lead to a culture of belonging and inspire your talent to be their best
selves.

Diversity Vocabulary

• to assimilate (verb), assimilation (noun) – to adopt the cultural values of the wider population.

• to integrate (verb), integration (noun) – to retain cultural values and practices while also
participating and contributing to a new society and also to be accepted by that society.

• to segregate (verb), segregation (noun) – to be apart from others or to separate people from
others; the state of being apart from others or the policy of separating people.
• melting pot (noun) – a society in which different cultures 'melt together' towards a common,
homogeneous culture, usually by assimilation.

• salad bowl / cultural mosaic (noun) – a society in which different cultures are integrated while
maintaining their different cultural identities.

• intercultural (adjective), interculturalism (noun) – a community that promotes

communication, understanding and dialogue between different cultures and challenges the self-
segregation of certain members of that community

• Belonging- the feeling of being accepted

Multiculturalism vocabulary comprehension questions

1. Should people from different cultures always assimilate into the majority culture of a country?

2. What are some ways immigrant communities can integrate into society?

3. What are some causes of segregation of immigrant communities? Is it their choice, or is it due to
rejection from wider society?

4. Is it more desirable to promote a melting pot or a salad bowl form of multiculturalism?

5. If you moved to a different country with a different culture, would you prefer to live in a melting pot
or a salad bowl multicultural society?

6. What could governments do to promote an intercultural society?

7. What happens when someone does not feel accepted in a workplace?

8. Have you ever been discriminated against?