Organizations are strengthened through Diversity
If everyone comes from a similar background and thinks alike, groups often reach consensus quickly and seem to be in agreement most of the time. But a workforce that is not diverse and inclusive has to work harder to stay in touch with what customers want.
When organizations create a diverse workforce, they’re also creating diversity of thought on teams within the company. This diverse perspective makes it easier to identify the needs of varied customer groups. And when companies promote an inclusive environment, they retain the diverse workforce they worked so hard to create.
CASE STUDY:
Industry Sector: Health Care
Representative Project: Diversity Leadership Program
The nation’s largest non-profit health plan & hospital system noticed that there was a gap in mid-level management diversity; although they had a fairly diverse front-line work force and were making progress in diversifying senior leadership, there was very little diversity in the manager to vice president levels. An initial assessment showed that, although there was a desire to advance within the company, they key skills that managers and directors needed to succeed were not found in internal candidates for those roles. This posed a problem when the company began to do succession planning.
A program was created to identify talented individual contributors who had the potential to advance into management roles, then guide them through a syllabus that would highlight key skills necessary for their success at the next level. There were both structured and self-guided elements of the program, and each participant was paired with an executive mentor within the company. In the final phase of the project, participants were given a current issue that the organization was facing and were tasked with doing an analysis of the problem and making detailed recommendations as to how to resolve it. At the conclusion of the program, all participants had the necessary skills to succeed at the next level and most were promoted within 12 months.