Get the organisational culture right and diversity will follow - Viewpoint - careers advice blog Viewpoint careers advice blog

Get the organisational culture right and diversity will follow - Viewpoint - careers advice blog In my previous post I looked at some of the business benefits of a diverse workforce â€" which many businesses have recognised or are increasingly recognising. However, in order to realise the benefits that come from a diverse workforce, you need to first establish an environment where the impact of ‘difference’ is understood, celebrated and captured through key influencers, change agents and organisational structures. Implementing these changes will help create a culture of inclusion that often results in the sustained success or failure of diversity linked programmes and commitments.  There is no silver bullet or quick fix to achieving an inclusive culture and there is always more to do, but what follows is a review of some of the approaches that can be taken by businesses to improve diverse representation and their impact on driving a positive change in culture. Where do we draw the line? To what extent should businesses encourage and endorse positive action policies? How much of a say should government really have in the hiring practice of private businesses? What role should lobbying groups like the 30% club, Stonewall, the Business Disability Forum and Race for Opportunity play? My colleague Jonathan Sampson, who has led Hays businesses in both Japan and Brazil, comments that regulations introduced by government are only a “basic framework”, and in order to tackle the real root of discrimination “companies should take the initiative to implement specific measures that match their own organisation”. This belief is corroborated by Hays Global Gender Diversity Survey 2015 which found that only four per cent of respondents believed quotas have a significant impact. “The majority believe that practical measures and internally set   targets, rather than formal quotas, are the answer,” says Jon. The problem comes down to organisational culture. If you force a business to register a certain quota of people of various ethnicity, sexuality and gender then you are not tackling the cause of the problem. You may statistically end up with a more diverse workforce, but it does very little to foster support for long-term, sustainable change. You won’t be able to reap the full rewards unless you establish a culture of openness and inclusion. Manchester City are a prime example of an organisation who have incorporated this culture into their workforce. As their official recruitment partner, Hays caught up with Danny Wilson, Operations Director, Manchester City. Danny explains how “in the world’s most global sport, diversity is simply part of who we are. Whether on the pitch or in the stands, there should be a place for everyone and we are richer for it. From player and staff recruitment, to how we engage our fans, we believe passionately in a diverse and inclusive approach.” A commitment to ambitious but proportional targets seems to me to be a better and more sustainable route to take. However, from the above, we can also gather that the key lies in cultural change rooted in leadership, education and encouragement. A cultural contention So, how do you do this? How can you establish a culture of openness and inclusion? The short answer here is that this doesn’t happen overnight and there really are no short cuts. Charlotte Sweeney, an expert in diversity and inclusion and founder of ‘Creating Inclusive Cultures’ (a partner of Hays) states that there are many components to creating a culture where people feel they can give their best. She outlines the three key aspects as being: 1. Building trust Increasingly, there has been noise in the business world about the level of trust both within companies and externally. Charlotte argues that you can’t create a truly inclusive culture without building trust. Why would someone openly speak their mind and share their perspectives on a business issue for fear of being ignored, side-lined or ridiculed? Why would someone bear all if they don’t trust that their manager will treat that information with respect? Without building trust employees will not feel safe to share the thoughts and perspectives that are important to them. 2. Creating the clear line of sight Hays  CEO Alistair Cox has some sound advice for leaders on how to create the clear line of sight and get your workforce all pulling in the same direction in his LinkedIn Influencer blog. ‘Get your employees thinking big’. He identifies a key part of a leader’s role as “being able to help all your employees see the bigger picture of what you are trying to achieve and understand how they personally fit into this vision”, which in, relation to the topic of diversity, means a commitment to diversity and the benefits that come from it. “Encouraging their thinking about the bigger picture,” continues Alistair, “provides employees with context, encourages loyalty and helps to foster a feeling of connectedness and common purpose”. This, by proxy, will help create the culture of openness and inclusion that you require. Every person in the company has the potential to create a culture around them by how they behave around others and the decisions they make. By showing employees the clear line of sight between their behaviours, decisions and the impact for those around them, you can give them a new found respect for the impact that they personally have. 3. Answering ‘What’s in it for me?’ Finally, you have to address ‘What’s in it for me?’ By clearly showing people how creating a more inclusive culture can have a positive impact on their working lives (through increased productivity, increased morale and increased collaboration) you can in turn increase their commitment and desire to create that around them. We have all experienced times when we felt both excluded and included from the main group. An effective tool is to ask people what it felt like to be included and the impact it had on their motivation and morale versus what it felt like to be excluded. It may be a simple question; however everybody has examples of each, even if they happened decades ago. A final thought If you get the organisational culture right then the diversity will follow. There are many things that businesses across the globe could tactically be doing better to quash bias and discrimination. However,  while of course they can statistically improve the diversity of your business,  they won’t get to the heart of resolving the real issue â€" an authentic business culture and personality of trust, openness and a clear understanding of the benefits to be secured from a more diverse and inclusive organisation. This commitment needs to become a shared vision, a desired goal and, vitally, a collective effort from the bottom to the top, from both inside out and outside in. Once we achieve this or even get the journey underway with real commitment, we start to understand and realise the real and tangible benefits of a diverse and inclusive organisation that I detailed in my previous blog. I hope you found my post interesting and useful please see below for links to  other diversity related blogs which may be of interest to you and your teams: 4 business benefits of diversity Tales from the top: Gender Diversity Gender diversity: still a long way from equality Facing diversity More female leaders, please