THE EIGHT PRECONDITIONS FOR DIVERSITY
Diversity and competitive advantage
In a world where standardization and homogeneity dominate, diversity provides a distinctive source of competitive advantage: Eight preconditions are necessary for a business or team to benefit from identity-group differences.
Overview
Diversity is about understanding and respecting the different perspectives of our employees and customers, and it is a vital issue for a variety of commercial reasons. For example, we know that differences between people contribute significantly to making our businesses more innovative. This is not simply about visible differences such as gender, ethnicity, disability or age: it is about different perspectives on working and leadership, decision-making, managing relationships, innovating and growing our businesses.
Diversity matters because it helps us to keep pace with social and demo-graphic change. It is a diverse world, and to be successful our business needs to reflect that diversity. Understanding and valuing diversity also helps ensure compliance with legal requirements. Finally, a positive approach to diversity matters because it is what our employees want: they feel valued and make better contributions as a result.
The eight preconditions for diversity
1. Leaders must genuinely value variety of insight and opinion.
2. Leaders must be consistent and persevere when encouraging diversity.
3. High standards of performance must be expected from everyone.
4. The leader needs to ensure that the working environment stimulates, encourages and supports personal development.
5. The leader needs to encourage openness, with a high tolerance for debate.
6. The team climate (culture) must make people feel valued and keen to contribute.
7. The vision for the team must be clear, compelling and, crucially, practical – informing and guiding behavior.
8. The team needs to be egalitarian and non-bureaucratic – this helps people exchange ideas and value constructive challenges to the usual way of doing things.